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Clicking Cabinet Hinges

December 26th, 2008 Leave a comment Go to comments

blum clicking cabinet hingeThere are several reasons why you may have clicking cabinet hinges. It is possible that the noise you are hearing has more do with the adjustment on the cabinet door ( it’s binding so it clicks) rather than the actual hinge it’s self. In the following paragraphs,  I will address a few of the possibilities that may be causing the click noise coming from you cabinet door. Problem hinges can be really annoying. The thing about an adjustment problem or a hinge that is not working properly is they both act the same way.  You will generally have difficulty opening the door and getting it to stay open in either case.

  • Tip: The brand name of a European hinge is usually inside of the cup or on the back side of the hinge. It may be necessary to remove it from the door to find the name. Blum puts their name inside of the cup on the outside of the hinge..

Broken Hinges Clicking


If there is a cabinet door that has broken hinges that are clicking,  it’s quite possible that they are under warranty. There’s a company that manufactures European style concealed hinges called Blum. They mass produced a particular hinge style, which comes with a lifetime guaranty that has had recurring problems.

The concealed hinges begin to cause a cabinet door to click whenever a small internal piece of plastic breaks. The plastic piece is actually responsible for making the hinge self closing. So, when the plastic breaks, oftentimes the doors do not close properly and they are difficult to open.

Blum has fixed the defect by using a nylon piece rather than breakable plastic.

The Blum representatives in your area will gladly exchange the broken hinges for new ones, but  you will have to make the exchange on the cabinet door or hire a cabinetry professional to do the work for you. The guarantee does not include the labor to replace kitchen cabinet hinges.

Out of Adjustment Cabinet Door Clicks

The other possibility that may be causing the unpleasant noise to be heard from your cabinet is an out of alignment cabinet door. Clicks of this nature are usually related to the European hinge having a loose screw somewhere and the weight of the door is causing it to rub against the cabinet.

If this is the case, get a Phillips screw driver and open the cabinet door all the way. Discover which screw is responsible for keeping the door on the hinge plate and tighten it while applying pressure on the door as it is fully open.

  • Tip: When a cabinet door is clicking because it is out of adjustment, the screw that should be tightened is usually in the far rear of the European hinge or in the middle.

Clicking cabinetry door hinges can be very annoying. Please understand that the possibility of just one hinge going bad is very unlikely. This particular problem eventually effects all of the hinges in the entire kitchen or bathroom.

If you have been having problems for a while, you may have  damage in the cup hinge area of the cabinet door. This would be caused by the additional stress placed on the door because of it binding all of the time.

It’s my suggestion th hire a professional to replace all of the broken door parts and even the ones that don’t have clicks happening yet. If they aren’t broken,  the warranty won’t cover replacing the part but it will be less expensive to have your cabinet man replace even the ones that are not broken yet in relation to what it will cost to have him return in a year and go through diagnosing the problem hinges all over again.

While your cabinet guy is there, make sure to have him check all of the cabinet doors in your home. He/She will know exactly  how to fix out of alignment cabinet doors. They can generally make the adjustments in about a third of the time that it would take you or me.

This will guarantee that that once he leaves the problem is fixed completely. While he’s replacing the old ones, each cabinetry door will need adjustments.

  1. Matt
    January 13th, 2009 at 21:22 | #1

    When you say “you will have to make the exchange on the cabinet door” what exactly do you mean? Does that mean I’ll have to remove the broken hinges, bring them to the blum representative, and then replace them with the new ones?

  2. admin
    January 14th, 2009 at 05:14 | #2

    Yes, you will have to take the bad hinges off of the door, get them replaced by a Blum Representative and then put the new ones on your door.

    I guess the wording is a bit confusing I’ll change it to say “hinge exchange on the cabinet door.”

    Thanks for tour participating,
    Jordy

  3. David A. Latch
    March 28th, 2009 at 05:55 | #3

    the door of one cabinet in our kitchen now closes on it’s own. The house (and cabinets) are 10 years old (we’re the original owners). I put a level against the cabinet and see that the bottom needs to be pulled out to make the face of the cabinet plumb. I’m guessing if I did that, the door would stop closing on it’s own – but then I’m left with a gap between the wall and bottom cabinet. Are there replacement hinges I can install that would hold the door open?

  4. admin
    March 28th, 2009 at 07:45 | #4

    If your talking about European hinges, I would find replacement hinges. If the door hinge is out of adjustment and it is causing the door to bind against the cabinet, this could create the same type of problem. By what you have described I would either adjust the hinge or get different ones.

    It is not uncommon for cabinets to be installed out of plumb. Especially if the entire wall is running out of plumb. This often depends upon the seriousness of the situation when the cabinet installer is hanging the boxes.

    If the door used to stay open then it is either a hinge problem or it could be that that door is binding. I just thought of another possibility. If the door is warped then it could be binding as well.

    I hope this helps!

  5. Sandy Marx
    October 15th, 2010 at 08:13 | #5

    Just had new cabinet doors installed in our bathroom. Now the doors fly all the back and hit the closet door or wall. they used to Not do this with the old doors and hinges. They would stay open at a certain range. Are there hinges that would work this way? Our installer says no, but we never had this trouble for 14 years.

  6. admin
    October 18th, 2010 at 18:14 | #6

    Sandy, it really depends upon the hinge brand your cabinet company is using. The installer may have been refering to the brand they used on your cupboards not having what you need.

    There are thousands of cabinet hinge variations on the market.

    If it were me, I’d press the issue with them. The customer is “supposed” to always be right in business.

  7. Kathy
    June 7th, 2012 at 10:42 | #7

    My Blum hinges are 15 yrs old ( the kitchen ) and they are starting to click-one by one. More like a loud Snap! Some have even stopped making the sound and don’t close-stay ajar. I assume that means the hinges are broken. they are the European style. Can I salvage the rest that are Snapping and should I check the rest for loose screws. I am a little hesitant to start monkeying around with the hinges. I don’t feel that I have enough information yet. Got any more hints or videos-especially regarding doors that are at the level of not closing..
    Thanks, K

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