Concealed Hinges

Every kitchen cupboard will use what is known as concealed hinges, but unfortunately there are a variety of types and sizes used all over the World, so it is important to identify which type is fitted to your doors when looking for replacements.

Concealed hinges are made up of two parts, a mounting plate (which is screwed to the side of the cupboard) and the hinge itself (which is screwed to the door and usually fits into a 35mm diameter hole in the door) – when the door is attached to the cupboard, the arm of the hinge is attached to the mounting plate. The carcass thickness is important when choosing replacements as different hinges typically suit either 15 or 18mm thick material.

Concealed hinges provide varying opening angles from 90 degrees (where the open door is parallel to the side of the cupboard) to 180 degrees (which allows the door to be full opened back onto an adjoining cupboard).

The three common hinges used on the doors of kitchen units are often broken down by the following types:

Full Overlay Concealed Hinge

This type of hinge is used as the top choice for kitchen manufacturers in the UK, as it completely hides the cabinets that the doors are attached to.   It will have a straight arm and allows the cupboard door edge to be in line with edge of the cabinet.  It is also fully adjustable using up to 3 little screws that can fine tune all the angles and allow the door frame to be totally concealed.

Half Overlay Concealed Hinge

Similar in style to the Full Overlay hinge, but the half overlay allows for half of the cabinet to be on show.  It will have a slightly cranked arm as opposed to the straight arm of the full overlay type hinge.  This allows the cupboard door edge to cover half the side panel, leaving the other half exposed.  This type of hinge is also often used in bedroom cabinets and cupboards.

Inset Concealed Hinge

This hinge will look a lot different to the other 2 types as it has a large crank in the arm which allows the cupboard door to be inset inside the cabinet frame showing the outer edge of the cupboard.  Typically you find these hinges on more traditional solid wood furniture to expose the wooden frame around the door.  This type of hinge is also often used with glass doors – ie kitchen display cabinets.

For more information on Concealed Hinges visit https://www.eurofitdirect.co.uk/collections/concealed-hinges