kitchen cabinet hinges

Speaking from a Blum-centric perspective, since that's what I'm most familiar with: I think the standard 107º hinges are adequate in most cases. The 120º hinges are useful if the cabinet is narrow and you've stored heavy things in it, because they let you get your body closer to the front of the cabinet when you're reaching inside. I don't think the 170º hinges are generally useful unless for some reason you need to work at the counter with one of the cabinet doors open.

I'm guessing from the photo that you'll be using half-overlay hinges. Whatever hinges you decide to use, look closely at the technical specs to verify how much clearance you need between two adjacent doors to enable either one to open without hitting the other (it's typically around 3mm).

Full-extension drawer slides are convenient, since they make it easier to see what's hidden in the otherwise mysterious back end of the drawer, but whether the extra expense is worth it or not is a personal decision--there are no big advantages or disadvantages with either the full-extension or standard 3/4-extension slides.

People are moving towards installing deep drawers in place of cabinets with shelves, and I think it makes sense. It's so much easier to find things in a drawer that slides out than deep in the back of a dark cabinet.

-Steve

Wow Steve. Thanks. That was exactly what I needed. One more question though: Two drawers (stacked in a single cabinet)I want to install are 34 wide. Can I use the standard full extension slides, or do you think I need to find something that has three tracks (one on either side, and one in the middle). This will be for my pots and pans and whatnot.

I don't think you need to worry about adding a third slide (unless you're planning to store rocks or gold bullion in the drawer...), but you might want to consider Accuride ball-bearing slides in place of conventional nylon roller kitchen drawer slides. On a wide drawer, ball-bearing slides are far less likely to get cross-threaded, so to speak.

-Steve

blum top clip 107 deg hinges. installed more than i care to think about without problems.

as for the drawer, the big factor is going to be the drawer box. build the drawer box to support what you want to load it up with and then use a standard duty slide, they will hold plenty of weight. i say go with blum tandem.


nice job on the boxes. simple and clean... the way it should be.
-ian

Thanks guys. This was very helpful. I'm going on vacation, but bought everything I needed and will install it the week after next. I'm sure I'll have more questions then....