Friday, August 28, 2009

Cabinet Door Hinges - Just A Piece Of The Decorating Puzzle When It Comes To Your Cabinetry

You have decided that you are going to change up the look of your cabinets and want to refinish them. Now, this is a big undertaking and if you're going to do it, you should do it right. So, when you're finished, don't just put the old cabinet hardware back on them because that would defeat the purpose. And, that includes the cabinet door hinges that are on them.

If you don't install new hardware on your refurbished cabinets, then what's the point of doing all the work in the first place? You're going to end up with this these cabinets that have a mismatched appearance about them that will have people thinking you don't have any style or taste. For example, let's say that the new look you went for your cabinets was for them to have a very modern, sleek appearance and then you decide to put the traditional hardware on them that you had from before, including the cabinet door hinges. This will look pretty awkward, won't it?

Okay, so now that you understand the importance of going with new hardware for your cabinetry, you can start to go shopping for what you will need. That list will include knobs, drawer pulls, drawer slides, and those cabinet door hinges. With the last one, you actually have a lot of different options to choose from in terms of the styles that you can get along with the type of hinge that it is.

For example, you can get cabinet door hinges that are modern as mentioned above made from stainless steel that feature a brushed finish or others on the traditional side crafted from brass that have a polished finish. Since they are so decorative, these options would surface mounted so you can see their gorgeous appearance. Or maybe you don't want to see them at all, then the way to go would be concealed hinges that actually are installed on the inside of the cabinet and door itself. They still will be pretty pleasing to the eye since you can see them from the outside, but they will not be as extravagant as the surfaced mounted variety.

Some of the other cabinet door hinges that are available include ones that have an antique feel, others that are more colonial, some that are contemporary, and you can even get European ones that are a little more trendy and artsy. Along with the style options, there are other kinds of hinges that you can pick from as well including pivot hinges, semi-concealed hinges, overlay hinges, and demountable hinges.

For a great way to find just the right cabinet door hinges and the other hardware for your cabinetry, just go online and do your shopping there. You don't have to step foot outside of your home to do it and when you find what you want, it will be shipped right to your home.

So, if you don't think that the hardware, like cabinet door hinges, on your cabinetry carries any decorative weight, think again. What's great is that there are a ton of eye-catching options to choose from, making it easy to cap off that refurbishing project of yours.

How to Install Cabinet Door Pulls

Once you finish a cabinet remodel you still need to install the new cabinet pulls. There are a few simple tricks to use to ensure the job goes quickly, smoothly and will look great. So here's a quick guide on how to install cabinet door pulls.

The first thing you'll need to do is figure out just where you want to put up the new door pulls. Use a little bit of paste to tack the first cabinet pull up onto the cabinet door. You can adjust the pull up, down, left or right until it looks just right.

Now go to the furthest cabinet and stick up another knob in the same general location. Adjust it until it's in line with the first handle you stuck into place.

Grab a chalk line and a buddy.

Snap the chalk line across the row of cabinets above and below the two knobs you stuck up with the paste. This gives you a reference point for the height of the door pulls. You won't have to worry about them sitting uneven on the door fronts.

Now you can just measure how deep the door pull is from the edge of the cabinet and you have the measurements you need to install all of the cabinet door pulls.

Now you'll want to construct a quick template so that all the pulls go up in the same location.

Grab a piece of wood and mark off the offset you just measured.

Drill holes through the wood that line up with the cabinet door pull and attach bolts.

Now you can take the template and hold it up to cabinet door. Stick a pencil through the door and mark the front of the cabinet.

Next use a cordless drill to put holes in all the cabinet doors at the same time. This will save you time from having to switch out between screwdriver and drill after each cabinet.

Once you drilled out all the pilot holes grab one of the bolts from the cabinet and use it as a test fit. Increase the size of your drill bits until you reach the size of the bolt.

Go back and enlarge all the holes to the same size.

Now you can put down the drill and switch to the screwdriver for good.

Slide each bolt through the back of the cabinet doors. Use the screwdriver to tighten the cabinet pulls to the door facing. You don't want to crank down too hard on the screws you'll risk stripping the screws and warping the door pulls.

All that's left to do is clean up all the saw dust from the drilling. Just vacuum it all up and you're finished!

Hopefully this guide on how to install cabinet door pulls will make your remodeling job a little easier. These are but a few tips to make the job go smoothly. Just snap a few chalk lines make a template and you'll have new cabinet pulls up in a few short hours.