Setting butt hinges into beaded face frame

[mikefab]

Hello,

I'm going to be building our kitchen soon. The plan is for birch ply cabinets with painted hardwood (sycamore) beaded face frames and frame and panel doors with an ovolo moulding on the rails and stiles.

I'm thinking about using butt hinges rather than soft-close euro hinges, and wonder whether these would look better morticed into the face frame, so that the barrel of the hinge lines up with the beading, rather than morticed into the door stiles which would mean that the hinge barrels would be offset to the side of the beading which wouldn't be quite so pleasing to the eye. I suppose that the idea of a beaded frame is to replicate the visual effect of a drawer or door with cockbead around it, in which case the hinge barrel would likely line up as I am aiming for.

This would seem to be a no-brainer to me, except that my wanderings around the web have not found any reference to morticing cabinet hinges into the face frame at all. Does anyone have any experience of this, or comments please?

Also, am I being mad going for butt hinges over euro hinges? This kitchen is a project for me rather than the quickest/cheapest way to get a kitchen into our new house, so I want to do it nicely! Presumably if the doors fit nicely I will still be able to achieve a softish-close, and I can use hidden magnets to hold the doors shut.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[custard]

Setting the knuckle of the hinge into a matching sized bead looks absolutely fantastic. The problem is that it limits the door opening. I've used it once or twice on solid wood corner cupboards where, because the walls on either side, you don't need much of a door opening, and I can vouch that it's classier than a classy thing, but unfortunately there hasn't been much demand for hand crafted, solid wood, corner cabinets since about 1840 so I don't get to make many!

 

[mikefab]

Thanks Custard, that is the sort of really helpful insight I was hoping for.

Does it limit it by more than the standard 95 euro hinge? I think I might need to have a play with this over the weekend... Probably not worth compromising the basic function of the cupboards in the name of aesthetics though, especially when it would take a cabinet-maker's eye to notice!!

 

[Nelsun]

This isn't directly related to your question but I figured you're maybe not 100% decided on which way you're going so it may help. Anyroad, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxeclRWwhoA proved to be a big help in picking door type and hinges for my first kitchen cupboard. I went with inset doors and butt hinges which is proving challenging to a noob like me.

Not being a whizz with hand tools I made a router jig to do the hinge mortices in the styles and face frame before glueing anything up. That worked really well and means my hinges will at least match up perfectly... even if nothing else does!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

As per Custard - they look sooo neat when lined up with the bead. You can probably get a router bit to match the knuckle without any problem (unless you're a hand tool fan )

 

[Peter Sefton]

I have done this a few times over the years and on our own kitchen. I wrote this article a couple of years ago which might give you some insight.

http://www.peterseftonfurnitureschool.c ... hinges.pdf

Hope it helps, cheers Peter

 

[mikefab]

Peter,

Thank you so much for the link to your article, that is exactly the information I was looking for.

phil.p - Looks like a job for a custom-made paring block to feather those hinges into the correct angle with a chisel - maybe easier done prior to running the bead? (which will most certainly done on the router table!)

 

[Nelsun]

Wish I'd seen your hinge article a month ago Peter. I just learned plenty I didn't know I didn't even know

 

[Adam9453]

Very informative article peter, a very useful guide

 

[Paul200]

Really useful stuff here. Building a new kitchen soon and wondering whether I should attempt to fit it out myself. These posts are a mine of information. Thanks guys.

 

[mikefab]

Hi Paul. I don't know if you have seen this great thread by JonnyD but it is well worth a look for some inspiration. walnut-and-painted-wip-t62569.html

 

[Paul200]

Fascinating WIP - started reading it an hour ago and couldn't leave it alone! Great workmanship and, like you say, inspirational. Thank you

 

[xy mosian]

Hi,
I made a corner cupboard with butt hinges aligned in beading here:- bow-fronted-cupboard-at-last-t75606.html.

If you match the bead to the hinge exactly, then the door is tight to the bead when closed. Luckily my hinges were brassed steel. Clamping them in the, metal working, vice and adjusting with a calibrated clout from a hammer sorted the problem. A little gentle step in one plate was all that was needed. Suitable packing would do just as well.

xy

 

[mikefab]

Thanks xy. That's a nice cabinet you made there - with curves too! Nice to see the hinges in line with the bead - it looks good.

 

[xy mosian]

Thanks Mike
xy

 

[Max Power]

I'm trying to access the link to Peters article on hinges above , but it's not working .
Any ideas ?

 

[mikefab]

I've had a look at his website and all his published magazine articles are indexed here: http://www.peterseftonfurnitureschool.c ... -articles/

The article is called 'choosing the right hardware: Part 1 Hinges'

Mike

 

[Max Power]

Thanks Mike

 

[Dave.L]

Hi Mike,

I very recently made my first foray into fitted furniture and put together some alcove units for our living room. Having seen your recent wardrobes for your neighbour, I'm sure you'll sail through this - they were very nice indeed!
The units I made were done with oak beaded face frame and inset butt hinges - I referred to Peter Seftons excellent article at several points and for a novice I'm pretty happy with the results.

as you can see- not actually finished it all yet. still some drawers to make which are making me a wee bit nervous.
here's the beading and hinge knuckle.

I did find mitring the beading a little tricky - I've seen other use a specific router bit for this, which would make sense if you're doing a lot or if time is of the essence, I made a simply jig for my chisel and just chopped away, admittedly this achieved acceptable rather than stellar results.

For the beading I used Wealden, on this list, the 1/2" version of the T2503B: http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... ge_70.html
I found it to be excellent, and then I used hinges from ironmongery direct, looking at their product drawings to find a knuckle that matched the bead.

actually, thinking about it, I'm not going to be doing any beading for quite a while - I notice you're pretty nearby - If it's of use and you're ever in town, I'd be very happy to lend you the router bit.
Cheers,
Dave

 

[Max Power]

Do you have a link to the hinges Dave ?