Our Guide on How to Adjust Kitchen Cupboard Doors

Having kitchen cupboard doors that don't hang straight can have a negative impact on the way your kitchen looks.

On top of that, it can impede the way your kitchen works: doors that aren't properly fitted or have started to sag can get in the way, leave cupboards open and vulnerable or increase the risk of coming away from the unit entirely.

However, the majority of these problems can be solved with a screwdriver, a little bit of know-how, and a few small adjustments.

Let's take a look at some of the most common problems and the best ways to tackle them.

Know your cabinet door hinges

Most people tend to assume that when their kitchen cupboard doors look a bit wonky, it's because the hinges have become worn. In truth, it tends to be because they simply need readjusting. Knowing your hinge can really help make the job a lot quicker and a lot less hassle.

Most cabinet door hinges today come in two parts. The first part screws to the cupboard door, while the other part is attached to the frame of the cupboard.

Cabinet door hinges are held together with a locking screw that tightens up and holds the door in place. In addition, most modern hinges have an adjusting bolt that you can use to change the 'angle of the dangle' or move the door to the left or right.

Solving common problems with cabinet doors - step by step guide.

Your kitchen cabinet doors will not always be properly aligned when you first fit them. Also, there may be instances when they do not close properly, or become loose. These situations are common, and you can deal with them easily.

Therefore, here are a few things you need to know to adjust your kitchen cabinet doors and correct 3 common errors:

Loose Cabinet Doors.
Misaligned Doors.
Not Closing Properly.

Let's take a look at each of these in more detail...

1. Loose Cabinet Doors

Step 1. Locate the hinge adjustment screws on the inside of the cabinet.

Step 2. Fully tighten the locking screws.

Step 3. Tighten fixed door screws.

Step 4. Tighten door adjustment screws.

Step 5. Check doors are now tightly in position.

Fixing loose doors usually means you have to adjust kitchen door hinges a bit. To get started, open the cabinet doors and locate the two adjustable cupboard screws on the hinges. Each hinge has two vertical hinge adjustment screws and two horizontal adjustment screws.

Generally, the left hand screw is for adjustments and the right one is a locking screw. You need to tighten the locking screw and the two fixed door screws to tighten the kitchen cabinet doors.

2. Misaligned Doors

Step 1. Locate the hinge alignment screws on the inside of the cabinet.

Step 2. Make lateral adjustments with horizontal adjusting screws.

Step 3. Make up/down adjustments with vertical adjusting screws.

Step 4. Adjust one hinge at a time to correct misalignments.

Step 5. Routinely close doors to check door alignment.

Badly aligned doors can usually be straightened by taking a look at the screws on the cupboard frame. The ones that hold the hinge in place usually have slotted holes, giving you room to loosen the screws, move the hinges up or down by a few millimetres and then retighten them.

Depending on the misalignment, you will have to concentrate on either the vertical adjustment screws, for up and down adjustment, or the horizontal screws adjust the door laterally.

If both doors are badly aligned, then it's worth getting an extra pair of hands in, so that you can ensure that both doors are straightened in relation to each other.

3. Cabinet Doors Not Closing Properly

Step 1. Close cabinet doors.

Step 2. Check where the door is pinching the unit - this is the cause of the door not closing.

Step 3. Locate the locking screws on the inside of the cabinet.

Step 4. Loosen locking screws.

Step 5. Adjust kitchen doors slightly away from the cabinet to create a small gap.

Step 6. Hold the door in pace and tighten the locking screws.

Step 7. Open and close the doors to check they are now closing properly.

Cabinet doors not closing properly are said to be ‘binding'. This tends to mean that the hinges have moved closer together and the hinged edge of the door is rubbing or stopping against the frame itself.

This can be resolved by adjusting the adjustable cupboard screws so that it is fixed further away from the frame. The best way to solve this is to unscrew the adjusting screw and ease the door out and then retighten the screw.

Restoring your kitchen to its former glory

Your kitchen cabinet doors are an integral part of the way your kitchen looks. Adjusting them is a simple way to restore it to its former glory. However, if things are really serious, you might want to consider finding a refurbishment company and replacing the kitchen cabinet doors entirely.

The more you use your kitchen cabinet doors, the more chance they will become loose, misaligned, or not close properly. This is not something to be concerned about and it is perfectly normal. Kitchen cabinet door hinges are designed to take this into consideration.

Indeed, hinges are designed specifically to enable quick and easy correction of these common problems.

Hopefully, now you understand how to correct these issues with a few basic tools. With this knowledge, you can maintain the look, feel, and functionality of your kitchen for years to come.