Kitchen Cabinet Hardware

European Hinges

A lot like the types of hinges you find in IKEA furniture and cabinets, these are found more often all across Europe and are becoming commonplace in kitchen cabinets due to their practicality and function. Unlike other hinges you find in the US, these can be adjusted for alignment when they’re attached to your cabinet doors.

Full crank (inset)

These are installed behind your cabinet door and come in a variety of sizes to accommodate the door itself. These special hinges are only used when doors are inset within the cabinet frame also allow your door to remain flush when they are closed. Since they are spring-loaded, they stay securely shut. All of these Euro hinges can further be adjusted to best match the door alignment.

Half crank (partial)

These are used when two cabinet doors are next to each other and need to open without interfering while opening while they are back to back. This is why they will sit between cabinet frames and will typically have a small gap between each frame door.

Full overlay

This hinge is best used for cabinet doors that are located on a corner of your cabinet and aren’t back to back with any other hinge. They are designed to sit flush against the edge of the outside of the cabinet so they are sitting squarely along the cabinet’s edge.

---

Surface Mount Hinges

This type of hinge is considered the most decorative version and is always mounted outside any cabinet door. Since these attach to the outside of the door you see the hinge and screw attachments that hold a cabinet door in place.

T-style

This is the type of hinge that looks good on any outdoor garden door gate you’ll find this design is a classic echo of the past and has a lot of country charm on any kitchen cabinet. It’s also mounted to the outer door with a longer wing attachment that is attached to the top and bottom of your cabinet door.

---

Inset Hinges

The standard set of cabinet hardware hinges can be attached to the inside or outside of your cabinet depending on the style you like. These hinges don’t have any spring recoil so cabinet doors need to have magnet closures so the door itself will stay closed.

Butt hinge

The butt of every joke starts with this type of hinge that attaches to the inside of cabinet doors. To ensure there is room for cabinet doors to sit flush, the frame must have rectangular notches carved into the cabinet so this hinge can sit flush.

Flush hinge

A hinge flush is nearly the same as the butt hinge except it will fold into itself so it sits tighter inside the carved notch. The unique feature of this hinge is the outside barrel hinge is seen from the outside edge of your cabinets giving it a classy rustic look.

Semi-concealed

When you want to have a more decorative effect, you choose a semi-concealed hinge that will have a portion of the mounting hinge left outside. This doesn’t require a notched groove to sit outside of cabinet doors when attached either and is attached to the back of a cabinet door frame.

Wrap Around

This type of hinge is often considered outdated but is still charming enough for rustic and farmhouse cabinets. The outer barrel is seen on the outside of each cabinet and the inner hardware attaches to the inner cabinet frame and the outside door edge. It folds in on itself much like the flush hinge typically does.

---

Cabinet door slides

Cabinet doors don’t always have hinges especially when they slide out if they use kitchen drawers on lower cabinets. Their function is as simple but thanks to modern hardware, these newer slides replace the tongue-in-groove design that was used on wooden furniture in the old days.

Roller slides

This is an older design that runs on a rail and uses wheels to allow a draw to slide out smoothly. There is less upkeep if this design but because the newer version is replacing this type of roller slide version, you don’t see them so often. Thanks to price considerations and budget restraints, this type of roller slide is always a good alternative for saving money. These slides are attached to the upper opening edge of the drawers.

Ball-bearing slides

This is an upgrade to the older roller slide and is constructed with ball bearings to allow for a very smooth drawer open and close function. These bearing slides also attach to the upper edge of drawers. They slide within a rail that fits inside a similar setup with wheels on bearings all the way down its track. It can also hold heavier loads inside when you have bigger drawers filled with pots and pans.

Under-mount draw slides

This is a design that is more or less a load-bearing slide that is mounted underneath a drawer so it carries more weight load for especially heavy kitchen appliances. The advantage is that this slide system isn’t seen when you open the drawer but works the same as the top-mounted slide.

Side-mount drawer slides

Just as it sounds, this slide attachment is placed along the sides of a drawer but not specifically in the middle section of the drawer itself. Side mount slides come in all varieties and are typically seen attached to the lower edge of a drawer to support cabinet hardware weight.

Center-mount drawer slides

These are slides that are meant to attach to the side of a drawer along the middle and are light-duty drawers that don’t need to support a lot of weight. They are still hefty enough to hold everything you need inside but are intended to attach along the middle half of any sliding drawer and look good for cutlery and stash drawers.