Updating kitchen on a budget - cabinet doors only?

[LordHaveMurci]

I painted our doors, they started off as dated dark wood & are now a light cream colour, looks much brighter & cleaner. Had the worktops & sink/hob replaced too which finished it off nicely.

It was a bit of chore though, you can get trades people that specialise in it if you don't fancy it.

[FreeLitres]

UPDATE

We went into B&Q today and ordered a load of doors!

We spoke to their kitchen person and showed them our measurements so hopefully everything will fit. (She wasn't very good to be honest and costed up a slightly wrong order at first and we went back after a few minutes with the reciept to double check it)

We went for a plain ivory colour design from their cheapest range which looks fairly modern. 2 week delivery. All the doors and draws fronts cost us £130 in total. I need to find some handles on the cheap now.

Fingers crossed that they right stuff is sent and it actually fits ok!

[dazwalsh]

I tell ya what thats not a bad price!

[FreeLitres]

Will hopefully go from this


To this


The doors dont come with handles though. I've found some long handles similar to those in the photo on ebay - £10 for 20. Might go for them.

Propper bargain basement action!

[tumble dryer]

I don't want to pee on anyone's bonfire, but you should know that there's some pain ahead.

The first obvious one is hinge & hinge plate alignment. The new hinges that you'll fit to the new doors will dictate where their relevant hinge plates should be for all tops and bottoms to line up (ish).

You'll have to fit these plates VERY accurately, two on each gable, by drilling two pilot holes for the screws provided for each plate.

That's a ballache of a learning curve, and I'm sorry, but I don't know any way round it, and it's fraught with very-difficult-to-put-right scenarios that require greater technical skills in direct proportion to the elastoplasts currently in play at any given time.

You wouldn't know anyone in the kitchen fitting game, would you? Doing that stuff is a ballache to them too, but at least they know where they need to be to get things to work.

Sorry.

[CAPP0]

tumble dryer said:

I don't want to pee on anyone's bonfire, but you should know that there's some pain ahead.

The first obvious one is hinge & hinge plate alignment. The new hinges that you'll fit to the new doors will dictate where their relevant hinge plates should be for all tops and bottoms to line up (ish).

You'll have to fit these plates VERY accurately, two on each gable, by drilling two pilot holes for the screws provided for each plate.

That's a ballache of a learning curve, and I'm sorry, but I don't know any way round it, and it's fraught with very-difficult-to-put-right scenarios that require greater technical skills in direct proportion to the elastoplasts currently in play at any given time.

You wouldn't know anyone in the kitchen fitting game, would you? Doing that stuff is a ballache to them too, but at least they know where they need to be to get things to work.

Sorry.

The point you make above was raised earlier in the thread. It really isn't difficult. I've done it myself in the past, for much the same reasons as the OP.

A combination square (worth it's weight on gold!) will make it very easy to mark out the distance in from the carcass edge for both pilot holes for each hinge. Height-wise, you have only got to offer up the door against the carcass and mark the centreline of the hinge on the door then transfer that across to the carcass.

Remember also that you have a small degree of height adjustment on the hinges, so a couple of mm out either way isn't going to cause a disaster.

Provided you are reasonable competent with a straight line and a pencil and you know how to drill a hole in a marked spot, it's easy. OP, don't be put off by what has been said above.

[singlecoil]

CAPP0 said:

Remember also that you have a small degree of height adjustment on the hinges, so a couple of mm out either way isn't going to cause a disaster.

But you won't want to use up any of that adjustment by sloppy measurement. There's 2mm up and 2mm down available when the door is correctly fitted and the hinges perfectly placed. Drill one hinge plate 2mm up or down from where it should be and that's your adjustment gone, and you will want that adjustment afterwards when it's time to line the doors up.

[CAPP0]

singlecoil said:

CAPP0 said:

Remember also that you have a small degree of height adjustment on the hinges, so a couple of mm out either way isn't going to cause a disaster.

But you won't want to use up any of that adjustment by sloppy measurement. There's 2mm up and 2mm down available when the door is correctly fitted and the hinges perfectly placed. Drill one hinge plate 2mm up or down from where it should be and that's your adjustment gone, and you will want that adjustment afterwards when it's time to line the doors up.

True enough, but it does give you a small degree of leeway.

[singlecoil]

CAPP0 said:

singlecoil said:

CAPP0 said:

Remember also that you have a small degree of height adjustment on the hinges, so a couple of mm out either way isn't going to cause a disaster.

But you won't want to use up any of that adjustment by sloppy measurement. There's 2mm up and 2mm down available when the door is correctly fitted and the hinges perfectly placed. Drill one hinge plate 2mm up or down from where it should be and that's your adjustment gone, and you will want that adjustment afterwards when it's time to line the doors up.

True enough, but it does give you a small degree of leeway.

My point is that it's best not to use up that leeway at the door drilling stage, it might well be needed later. I used to do quite a lot of kitchen revamps (new doors onto existing cabinets) and soon learned that a high degree of precision at the early stages paid dividends later.

[FreeLitres]

Hmmm not sure how to proceed with the fitting now.

Is there ANY chance that the bracket holes in the new doors will allign with the holes in the old doors? i.e is there a chance that I could leave the hinges on the carcass and pop the new doors on?

I think I already know the answer

[singlecoil]

FreeLitres said:

Hmmm not sure how to proceed with the fitting now.

Is there ANY chance that the bracket holes in the new doors will allign with the holes in the old doors? i.e is there a chance that I could leave the hinges on the carcass and pop the new doors on?

I think I already know the answer

Generally speaking hinges are installed into kitchen doors a specific distance from the top and bottom edges. Sometimes it will be (to the centre of the 35mm hole) 60mm, 70mm, or more. Different makers use the same or different spacings. Try measuring some of your existing doors, it will nearly always follow a rule and be a round figure. Once you know what your figure is, you can measure the new doors and you might get lucky

[Neil - YVM]

The vast majority of manufacturers place their hinges at 100mm centres, ie centre of the hinge 100mm from the top and bottom of the carcass. Set in 35mm from the front of the carcass.

But first get your doors, then measure the centre of the 35mm hinge hole to the edge of the door.
For 100 centres the door will be 98mm as the doors are 4mm smaller than the carcass.

Then, just carefully set it out.

If the originals are the same position, then you may be lucky and be able to reuse the 5mm Euroscrew holes. If these are blown, then just drill out and plug the hole, then use wood screws to attach.

[DocJock]

OP, when your doors arrive, do your measurements carefully and make up a little jig with a piece of acrylic/plastic.

B&Q sell a little plastic sheet with a grid printed on it. Use one of these to mark up your drilling points as they will be the same for each cabinet.

[CorradoTDI]

OP - what brand are your existing hinges?

If they're not Blum then worth getting a load on eBay - usually can be had for £1 each when buying a few.

You can then get the clip on soft closer's which are another £1 each so £3 a door total if you need new hinges too.

You can also rebuild your drawer boxes for around £25 each.

[FreeLitres]

Gentlemen - have I just stumbled across my solution?

I watched a youtube video on hanging cabinet doors and the chap produced a "jig" template that shows you where to drill the holes.

One of these jobbies;



eBay claims "SAVE TIME AND MONEY BY REDUCING MISTAKES"

Anyone used one of these?

EDIT: Probably what DocJock just said!

Edited by FreeLitres on Saturday 2nd April 21:57

[singlecoil]

FreeLitres said:

Gentlemen - have I just stumbled across my solution?

I watched a youtube video on hanging cabinet doors and the chap produced a "jig" template that shows you where to drill the holes.

One of these jobbies;



eBay claims "SAVE TIME AND MONEY BY REDUCING MISTAKES"

Anyone used one of these?

The jig shown will certainly help you get the hinge plate holes the correct distance from the cabinet edge, and IF you mark the front edge of the cabinet correctly, it will get the height of the holes right too.

So the issue is to transfer the information on the position of the hinge holes in the door to the cabinet edge. Offering the door up and position its lower edge in line with the base of the cabinet will help, as will an automatic pencil with a .5mm lead.

[DrDeAtH]

FreeLitres said:

Gentlemen - have I just stumbled across my solution?

I watched a youtube video on hanging cabinet doors and the chap produced a "jig" template that shows you where to drill the holes.

One of these jobbies;



eBay claims "SAVE TIME AND MONEY BY REDUCING MISTAKES"

Anyone used one of these?

EDIT: Probably what DocJock just said!

Edited by FreeLitres on Saturday 2nd April 21:57

Yes. Works quite well.
Look on www.kitchenwarehouseltd.com for replacement doors. Have used them before. Doors were pretty good, as was the customer service.

[Gtom]

I don't really get the fuss about the hinges being in different places!

If you think it's any issue or are struggling you really aren't up to doing it, best leave it to someone who knows what they are doing.

[eliot]

Assuming the existing hinges are ok, i would make some sort of jig that transfers the location of the existing holes on the doors onto the new doors, rather than trying to pickup the locations from the carcass.

[Welshbeef]

FreeLitres said:

Will hopefully go from this


To this


The doors dont come with handles though. I've found some long handles similar to those in the photo on ebay - £10 for 20. Might go for them.

Propper bargain basement action!

On the fact of it £130 for the change but you have lost the white Kitchen said that's £450 down!!!