Note 07 · a measured page
Hinges, runners, and catches
When a door droops or a drawer stops halfway, the moving part is often a hinge, a runner, or a catch. The useful work, before anything is removed, is a photograph and three or four sizes.
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HINGE
What kind of pivot it is
A butt hinge is the familiar pair of leaves on a cupboard or a door. A concealed cup hinge, often called a European hinge, sits in a round recess in the door and clips to a plate on the cabinet. A piano hinge runs the whole edge. A flap stay or a lid hinge is a different part again, and it may include a stay that holds a fall flap level.
Photograph the hinge with the door still on, from inside, so the arm and the plate are both visible. If you must take the door off, support it. A tall wardrobe door is heavier than it looks and the last screw is the one that lets it drop. Two people are a reasonable precaution. Do not leave a door hanging on a single screw while you look for a screwdriver.
Note whether the door sits on the face of the cabinet (overlay) or inside the opening (inset). The same cup hinge is sold in different crank angles for those two positions. The angle is sometimes stamped on the arm. Write the stamp down. Also write the diameter of the cup if you can see the rim, often 35 mm on kitchen doors and sometimes 26 mm on smaller doors. Measure rather than assume.
RUNNER
Side, under, or a wooden slip
Side-mounted runners fix to the drawer side and the cabinet. Under-mount runners hide beneath the box and often clip on. Older drawers may run on wooden slips with no metal at all. A soft-close device can be part of the runner or a separate damper. If the drawer shuts and then bounces open, the damper or the catch at the end of the travel is the place to look, not the handle.
Measure the runner length with the drawer out, from the front of the member to the back, in millimetres. Note side or under. Note whether the drawer box is timber or metal-sided. A photograph of the clip at the front of an under-mount runner saves a long description. If the screw holes in the cabinet side are stripped, the joint note on particleboard holes is the relevant warning: a fatter screw in dust does not restore the side.
CATCH
What keeps it shut
Magnetic catches, ball catches, roller catches, and push latches all fail differently. A magnet that no longer meets its plate needs a look at alignment before it needs a new magnet. A door that has dropped on a loose hinge will miss the catch even when the catch is fine. Adjust the hinge or the plate only after you know which part moved. On a push-to-open door there may be no handle and a spring cartridge. Do not drill a handle hole to solve a tired cartridge unless you have decided the front can carry one.
Related reading: door materials on the veneer page, and heat near appliance housings on the light and heat page. The full list of notes is in the catalogue.
Write these down before removal
- Overlay or inset, and the gap around the door in millimetres.
- Any number stamped on the hinge arm, and the cup diameter if it is a cup hinge.
- Runner length, and whether it is side-mount or under-mount.
- A photograph of the fitting in place, then of the screw hole if it spins.