Home > All About Cabinet Doors > Fixing Out of Alignment Cabinet Doors

Fixing Out of Alignment Cabinet Doors

January 28th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

The best way of fixing kitchen or bathroom vanity cabinet doors properly, that are out of alignment, is to step back and take a good look at all of the doors. Study the cupboards and image what will happen if you adjust one door; how will the other ones need to be adjusted.

I’ve been a cabinetry professional for over twenty years. These tips will help you achieve successful results. The number one thing to remember is: DO NOT over extend the out of alignment hinges too much. Make all of the screw turns small ones and the end result will turn out to be fine. It’s when you try to take out a lot of the crooked look by adjusting one door that you run into trouble.


It is very possible that some of the problem you are having with the doors not lining up properly is due to the adjustment screws were over-extended and the hinge parts separated. If this is the case, you will have to remove the door completely and re-assemble the cabinet hinge. This is a real pain in the…you know what.

When cupboard doors get crooked it’s a time consuming task to re-align them. This is not a process that should be undertaken without having a plan before you begin to turn adjustment screws with your Phillips screw driver.

Most modern face-frame and European hinges have a three-way adjusting system that works well for getting crooked cabinet doors back into the proper alignment. Adjusting cabinet doors can be a real challenge if you have never done it. However, you should not let this discourage you. Give it a try first. If it turns out to be too difficult, then consider hiring a professional.

One of the screws is designed to align the cupboard door to the left and right position. Another one will move the alignment up or down. There is also an aligning screw that adjusts the door in and out from the cabinet face. Usually all three screw adjustments need to be done while fixing the out of alignment doors.

Don’t over extend the screw’s maximum tolerance when you are making the necessary adjustments to the hinge. If you do you will end up with parts that separate from one another. When this happens it’s a frustrating task getting them back together.

Use some intelligence and common sense when you are working on aligning the crooked cabinet doors. Don’t get in a hurry when fixing this problem because that will only lead to disaster.

Aligning Face-Frame or European Hinged Cabinet Doors

1)    Move an adjusting screw and notice which way the door is moving in relation to the direction that you are turning the screw driver.
2)    Only turn the screws about one eight of an inch at a time.
3)    Make a couple of minor adjustments to the out of adjustment door you are working on re-aligning and then step back and see if it’s better. At the same time think about the door next to the one that you are aligning and imagine what you are going to need to do to it next. Sometimes you should just move to the next one and turn a couple of screws and step back again and see what the alignment looks like.

Remember, you can always go back over the doors and make minor adjustments after you have adjusted the majority of them. It’s hard to envision how everything is going to turn out as you are fixing the doors to have straighter lines until you adjust them all. Just keep fixing one kitchen or bathroom door at a time as best as you can. As long as you don’t over extend the adjusting screws everything will come out in the wash just fine.

  1. No comments yet.
  1. No trackbacks yet.

*