Pull-Out Drawer Shelves, Concealed Hinges, and Door Interference
When the pull-outs bump into the doors, you have to think about re-sizing the openings, shimming the drawer slides, or both. September 30, 2010
Question
I have two pantries (face frame) built with pull out drawer slides installed. I have been using the Blum compact 33 two piece hinges for 1/2" overlay doors. I need to build and install the doors but I realized the pullouts will hit the doors by 3/16". Is there an easy fix or a different type of hinge I can use? I really don't feel like shimming the drawer slide mounts out 1/4" and then remaking narrow pullout drawers. Is it possible to use a 3/4" overlay base plate? Would I have to make the doors wider if so?
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor L:
You'd have to make the doors another 1/4" wider. Probably it would be easier to shim the pullout.
From contributor M:
I have been up against the same thing before. At one time I used 3/4 overlay, which will work, but now I use drawer slide spacers. Just a little 1/2'' plastic piece that goes between the slide and the face frame. Tenn Tex also makes a nice adjustable unit that I have used. As for the project you are on now, if you go to the 3/4 base plate, then you have the gap in the doors. When I learned this the hard way, I made a thin piece of face frame and shot it to the back of one door. Just had to make sure you shut that door first. I got away with it that time, but it's not a professional way of doing it. If I were you I would use the slide spacer and make some new pullouts. A mistake is not a bad thing if you learn from it.
From the original questioner:
Thanks for the recommendations. One thing I have going for me is that I haven't made the doors yet. I can either use the 3/4" base plate and make the doors 1/4" wider or use the 105 degree Amerock hinge to get out of trouble this time. I do like the spacer plates for future jobs.
From contributor L:
No-brainer - make the doors wider and use the 3/4" plates. It will take you as much time to make a slightly wider door. It will take you more time to make the door and do the spacer modification. The spacer is used to accommodate an interfered opening. If you can easily make the opening non interference, that would be the best way to go. The only time I think it would make a difference is if that extra 1/4" made you do a panel glue up instead of a single board panel. Then you could burn the time on the spacers and it would probably work out even.
From contributor P:
I have run into this problem myself. The solution has been a hinge from Salice, SC-CSP3799XR. I believe that is the right part number. If not, ask a Salice salesperson. This hinge has 0 door protrusion and the standard drawer will slide past, albeit close. And it will use the same hole pattern and location as the Blum. In the future I'll try to remember this problem ahead of time and design my hinge location vs drawer location better. But I have forgotten once already and the hinge saved me again. I ordered the hinges from Hal at CourterCo in Indianapolis.
From contributor W:
Blum also makes a zero protrusion hinge.
From contributor P:
If I remember correctly, the Blum hinges that were 0 protrusion actually took up the whole 1/2" opening clearance, or a little more. I had a whale of a time with this the first time I ran into the problem because everything was built and finished and the cabinet openings were completely full of drawers. The cabinets were behind the president desk of a company that I had built the entire office full of walnut furniture for. Rebuilding was not going to be a good option. Fortunately the Salice hinges did do the trick. If there are others out there that have 0 door protrusion and the hinge itself is less than 1/2" into the opening when open, please respond here because I'm sure that a couple of us aren't the only dummies in this trade.
