Built in wardrobe door spacing with flush infills

[Woodworking Chancer]

Thanks everyone, some great input here. I agree that it looks to me like the Blum hinges negate any issue with small gaps due to the way they open (I spent a good few minutes opening and closing my parents' kitchen cabinets to look at the action on them!).

I'll have to spend a bit of time figuring out how to drill the cup holes accurately to allow the slight gap for the little bump stops, but that shouldn't be too taxing I hope.

My very last questions if anyone's able to help: I'm going for slab doors rather than shaker or faker shaker as I think they will look a wee bit better for my wardrobe and rest of room decoration.

I can't decide between 18mm and 22mm. 22mm should have less tendency to bend despite being a bit less dense overall, but it's very weighty and I'm using Kronospan MFC for carcasses, which seems good quality MFC, but it IS MFC so I'm worried about stresses on the hinges. A decent MR MDF like Medite or Hidrofugo at 18mm I'd hope would be pretty straight?

The tall doors are 497mm by 2011mm.

Also, some Blum hinges seem to have little plastic rawl plug style inserts, some with screws and some not. Any ideas which ones would be best for MFC?

Thanks again everyone for the great input.
Pete

 

[Distinterior]

I tend to use the hinges & hinge back plates with the nylon inserts.
I feel it helps to spread the load over a larger area rather than just relying on a wood screw alone.

Regarding the back plates, I tend to stick with the Cruciform style, as again, I think it gives the back plate more rigidity as the load is spread over a larger area. The thinner, inline back plates look tidier ....but the adjustability isn't as good.

 

[Woodworking Chancer]

I tend to use the hinges & hinge back plates with the nylon inserts.
I feel it helps to spread the load over a larger area rather than just relying on a wood screw alone.

Regarding the back plates, I tend to stick with the Cruciform style, as again, I think it gives the back plate more rigidity as the load is spread over a larger area. The thinner, inline back plates look tidier ....but the adjustability isn't as good.

Great info again, thanks. I hadn't spotted there was more than one type. The cruciform ones are the ones I'm more familiar with and appear the better option.

 

[Doug71]

One of these is handy for marking/drilling the mounting plate holes

https://www.trade-hinges.co.uk/hinge-mounting-plate-template-108-p.asp

 

[Woodworking Chancer]

One of these is handy for marking/drilling the mounting plate holes

https://www.trade-hinges.co.uk/hinge-mounting-plate-template-108-p.asp

Looks useful! Thanks.

 

[user 40558]

Thanks everyone, some great input here. I agree that it looks to me like the Blum hinges negate any issue with small gaps due to the way they open (I spent a good few minutes opening and closing my parents' kitchen cabinets to look at the action on them!).

I'll have to spend a bit of time figuring out how to drill the cup holes accurately to allow the slight gap for the little bump stops, but that shouldn't be too taxing I hope.

My very last questions if anyone's able to help: I'm going for slab doors rather than shaker or faker shaker as I think they will look a wee bit better for my wardrobe and rest of room decoration.

I can't decide between 18mm and 22mm. 22mm should have less tendency to bend despite being a bit less dense overall, but it's very weighty and I'm using Kronospan MFC for carcasses, which seems good quality MFC, but it IS MFC so I'm worried about stresses on the hinges. A decent MR MDF like Medite or Hidrofugo at 18mm I'd hope would be pretty straight?

The tall doors are 497mm by 2011mm.

Also, some Blum hinges seem to have little plastic rawl plug style inserts, some with screws and some not. Any ideas which ones would be best for MFC?

Thanks again everyone for the great input.
Pete

Hi Pete.

The gap at the back of the doors doesn't need any thought on your part. On Blum hinges it's factory set at 1.5mm, as long as you mount your hinge plates on the carcase in the right place (37mm to holes from the edge for cruciform or 20mm to first hole for inline). The jig Doug mentioned is super helpful for this.

Re MDF - I prefer 22mm for doors but 18mm is totally fine. With 18mm doors you could probably get away with 4 hinges in that height, but I would most likely have 5 on 22mm doors. ANY boards can arrive bent from the merchants regardless of brand (it's been a big bugbear of mine with a couple of different suppliers as they don't seem to care for careful storage or transport). I would say that you should expect that the boards for the doors will be at least a little bent along the length, but that you should drill them for hinges so that the convex face of the bow is out towards you (belly out)- that way the top/bottom corners of the doors on the meeting edge will contact the cabinet.

I would definitely say that Finsa Hidrofugo will give you a good edge finish much more easily than other boards currently on the market, but it depends on what kind of finish you are putting on them as to whether the expense is warranted. Quality of MDF in general is not quite what it was. I had quite a few issues with Medite face quality in 2018 so swapped over to Finsa HF, but some people have found issues with that too.

Good luck with it all. You're definitely putting in the thought that will lead to a good outcome. Don't stress too much about the 0.5mms - they're easily ironed out with hinge adjustment, as long as your cup holes are pretty much where they should be. We aim for consistency of gaps rather than absolute millimetre perfection.

Cheers, Mike

 

[Woodworking Chancer]

Hi Pete.

The gap at the back of the doors doesn't need any thought on your part. On Blum hinges it's factory set at 1.5mm, as long as you mount your hinge plates on the carcase in the right place (37mm to holes from the edge for cruciform or 20mm to first hole for inline). The jig Doug mentioned is super helpful for this.

Re MDF - I prefer 22mm for doors but 18mm is totally fine. With 18mm doors you could probably get away with 4 hinges in that height, but I would most likely have 5 on 22mm doors. ANY boards can arrive bent from the merchants regardless of brand (it's been a big bugbear of mine with a couple of different suppliers as they don't seem to care for careful storage or transport). I would say that you should expect that the boards for the doors will be at least a little bent along the length, but that you should drill them for hinges so that the convex face of the bow is out towards you (belly out)- that way the top/bottom corners of the doors on the meeting edge will contact the cabinet.

I would definitely say that Finsa Hidrofugo will give you a good edge finish much more easily than other boards currently on the market, but it depends on what kind of finish you are putting on them as to whether the expense is warranted. Quality of MDF in general is not quite what it was. I had quite a few issues with Medite face quality in 2018 so swapped over to Finsa HF, but some people have found issues with that too.

Good luck with it all. You're definitely putting in the thought that will lead to a good outcome. Don't stress too much about the 0.5mms - they're easily ironed out with hinge adjustment, as long as your cup holes are pretty much where they should be. We aim for consistency of gaps rather than absolute millimetre perfection.

Cheers, Mike

Thanks Mike,

That's brilliant. I think I'll go for Hidrofugo 22mm. I've seen a fair bit of info that suggests it will take paint better than the Medite so I'll give it a go!

And that's really helpful on the slight bend too, as I'm not sure I'd have thought of that at all.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[Mibuck]

Thanks Mike,

That's brilliant. I think I'll go for Hidrofugo 22mm. I've seen a fair bit of info that suggests it will take paint better than the Medite so I'll give it a go!

And that's really helpful on the slight bend too, as I'm not sure I'd have thought of that at all.

Cheers,
Pete

Hi,

I wondered how you got on with your project. I have put birch ply frames in and am looking at the hydrofugo for the doors. I also have some large doors so keen to get something that hopefully will not warp.

Thanks

Kristina