# Butt hinge or something else...



## thomashenry (23 Jul 2019)

Hi all

Been working on a built in cabinet for a niche in the bathroom where the boiler lives. The frame is in place, and is made from regular 38x63 C16 construction timber, but the two outer stiles are faced with 30mm oak:







I am going to hang 3 inset doors from the left hand stile. These consist of a mortise and tenon frame made from 18x69 softwood, onto which a series of 10x50 horizontal oak slats are glued, with 2mm gaps:











I normally swear by mortised butt hinges, and I could use them gere, provided I can get a hinge with screw hole centres that correspond approximately to the centre of the softwood frames. However, this would break up the lines of the door. Though if I was able to use 50mm tall hinges and align them with a horizontal slat, that would reduce the visual imapact quite a bit.

What other hinge options are there?

I know there are concealed blum euro hinges for inset doors, but I've got a pathological dislike of these hinges, and I'm not sure if the door thickness of 28mm would hamper me? Maybe I need to get over myself and try this type of hinge for once...

I think soss hinges are probably out too


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## Doug71 (23 Jul 2019)

You can get the Blum inset hinges for thicker doors

https://www.trade-hinges.co.uk/soft-clo ... -572-p.asp

I know some people prefer butt hinges on high end stuff but I don't mind the euro style hinges in some situations. I built my own kitchen, it's a very traditional style but I used blum hinges. I just like the fact that the doors close themselves rather than having to actually shut them like you do with butt hinges.
I always find it amusing that in posh kitchens the doors are on butts but the drawers are on blumotion runners, I totally understand why but it just seems a mix of styles.


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## thomashenry (23 Jul 2019)

Doug71":7hkwacsw said:


> You can get the Blum inset hinges for thicker doors
> 
> https://www.trade-hinges.co.uk/soft-clo ... -572-p.asp
> 
> ...



Are those what you'd go for in this instance? How many do you think I'd need.. the doors are about 130cm tall and weigh aroud 8kg. Two enough or would you use three?


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## ColeyS1 (23 Jul 2019)

3 would be belt and braces.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk


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## Doug71 (23 Jul 2019)

As Coley says 3 hinges, stop door bending in middle.

Those are the hinges I would use if you want soft close. I would go for the hinge only option though and get a better mounting plate, think it's this one you want

https://www.trade-hinges.co.uk/die-cast ... -233-p.asp


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## thomashenry (23 Jul 2019)

Doug71":360br6p9 said:


> As Coley says 3 hinges, stop door bending in middle.
> 
> Those are the hinges I would use if you want soft close. I would go for the hinge only option though and get a better mounting plate, think it's this one you want
> 
> https://www.trade-hinges.co.uk/die-cast ... -233-p.asp



I don't really want soft close tbh. What do you mean by the door bending in the middle? What would cause that? Is it an issue specific to using euro hinges?


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## Doug71 (23 Jul 2019)

If it's a boiler cupboard there is a chance the door might bend inwards in the middle if it's warmer inside the cupboard than outside it, would happen with any type of hinge, you put a hinge in the middle to stop this, won't stop it bending at the unhinged side though.

There is a small switch on the hinge that allows you to turn off the soft close but they will still be self closing.

If you don't want self closing or want to use push to open style latches you need the unsprung version of the hinges.


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## thomashenry (23 Jul 2019)

Doug71":1n1sru1b said:


> *If it's a boiler cupboard there is a chance the door might bend inwards in the middle if it's warmer inside the cupboard than outside it*, would happen with any type of hinge, you put a hinge in the middle to stop this, won't stop it bending at the unhinged side though.
> 
> There is a small switch on the hinge that allows you to turn off the soft close but they will still be self closing.
> 
> If you don't want self closing or want to use push to open style latches you need the unsprung version of the hinges.



Got you. If I can turn off the soft close then that's fine. Maybe I'll end up liking it. I'll give these a shot. Thanks for the help. one last thing - if these are supplied without screws, is there a particular type of screw that's recommened?


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## Doug71 (23 Jul 2019)

Any 3.5 mm gauge countersunk screws will do if you go with the mounting plates I linked to, some of the other mounting plates take the 5 mm euro screws.

The hinges are better with the soft close on, they will close quickly without it. You can experiment and try the soft close on only one hinge and then on two to see which works best in your situation, all 3 soft close will probably be too slow. You could probably save a little bit of money by buying 2 soft close hinges and one normal hinge for each door but I think that just complicates things unless you need lots.


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