Mounting Cabinet Doors With Amerock Hinges

Mounting doors can be a frustrating activity. The gaps around the doors need to be uniformly narrow and the door needs to fit flush to the cabinet frame. European hinges provide all sorts of adjustments, but the door mounts over a frameless cabinet instead of inside a face frame. Furniture-like cabinets use inset doors inside a face frame. Installing these doors require more demanding tolerances and skill to mount, but they look more professional than a door laying over a frameless cabinet.

Although many commercial cabinets are frameless and use 35mm European hinges, I think these lack woodworker craftsmanship. For door hinges on face framed cabinets, I like to use the Amerock full wrap, full inset hinges. To make things a little more challenging, hinges can either support a face frame attached flush to the inside wall of the cabinet, or a frame that is proud of the cabinet side. I prefer the frame to be flush with the cabinet side which allows items to be removed from the cabinet without scraping your knuckles on the frame.

This hinge has been designed for ¾" wide doors, but doors can be accommodated ± ¹/₁₆" by adjusting the mounting the hinge on the frame. Unfortunately there is no slot for adjusting the door in or out of the frame. You just need to drill the mounting holes exactly.

The slots on the frame wing allow the door to be adjusted ³/₁₆" vertically. The hinge's door wing slots allow the door to be adjusted horizontally, however I typically use the door edge screw and door side screw to attach the door, otherwise the door can rock in the hinge. Using the horizontal door adjustment moves the door away from the bracket with the edge screw making these slots useless.

Attaching the Hinge: Frame or Door First?

I like to attach the hinge to the cabinet frame first. The challenge is where to drill the mounting holes in the frame. The goal is to have the surface of the door be flush to the edge of the frame. Since there is no slot in the Amerock hinge that allows adjusting door slightly into or out of the frame, exact mounting of the hinge is required.

This diagram shows what hole distance that must be determined. If the door is exactly ¾" thick, the hinge screws should be ⅜" from the corner of the frame. Since door thickness will vary, I verify the hole distance using a jig to try the hinge with a piece of scrap wood that is the same thickness as my door.

I use a wheeled marking gauge that scribes a fine line ⅜" from the edge of the scrap piece. The orange circle shows the cut. I attach the hinge to the wood.

Setting a piece of scrap into the hinge representing the door, I verify how flush the door is with the frame. If adjustments are needed, I adjust the cutting wheel on the gauge slightly in or out for another test. I remount the hinge using the new gauge setting, and keep trying again until I've determined that critical distance.

When the door is flush, the gauge is at the required distance for the hinge mounting. If I need the gauge for something else, I can replicate the distance by inserting the gauge wheel into the scribed line and adjusting the gauge so the brass shoe is flush to side of the jig.

Mounting the Hinge on the Frame

I usually mount a hinge a couple of inches from the top and bottom of the frame. The door size will define what "looks" right for hinge placement.

The Amerock hinge is 2 ½" tall and the holes on the Amerock hinges are 1 ¹¹/₁₆" apart.

Accurately Mounting the Hinges on the Frame

Using the gauge to mark the set back distance for the mounting holes, and marking the distance between the holes, I'm ready to drill holes into the frame. I use a marking knife to scribe the vertical position of the hinge screw locations. An X-Acto knife will work as well. Lightly drag a center punch across the intersecting scribes to locate the cross and tap the punch to mark the center of the cross to guide the drill. Drill the mounting holes and attach the hinge to the frame.




Mounting the Hinge to the Door

The door should be correctly cut for the frame. Slight cut adjustments to the door may be required (usually in my case) for a uniform gap to show between the door and the frame. After these cuts have been made, the hinge can be mounted.

With the hinge mounted on the frame, measure the distance from the top of the frame to the top of the hinge's door edge hole.  The hinges allow for a small vertical correction (³/₁₆") in door position to allow a symmetrical gap to show above and below the door.