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Exposed hinges on inset cabinet doors

12 years ago

Should the color of your cabinet knobs match the color of your hinges? Never thought about this until the cabinets were set. Ugh. We have white inset doors with exposed hinges in satin nickel. I was hoping to do a warmer color knob.Is satin nickel my best bet for knobs? What do you think?

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Comments (5)

Jumpilotmdm
12 years ago
Satin nickel is fairly neutral. Who sold you inset and didn't ask about hinge finishes and their coordination with knobs or pulls? tsk, tsk.
michellemarie
12 years ago
I have oil rubbed bronze hinges on my semi dark cherry cabinets so they kind of blend in. I have pewter knobs and pulls on most of the cabinets. I used the vintage glass knobs from Pottery Barn(these are cheap and you get what you pay for) on the hutch and desk, and bronze pulls on my cream island.
As long as you have some element to tie the different finishes together it will be fine. In my case, my granite ties it all together.
Good Luck.
p.s: I bought a bunch of hardware at my local big box retailer and just held it up to the cabinets to see what I liked best. Save your receipt and have fun!
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I find I'm constantly having to sort out what is good for the cabinetmaker versus good for the buyer. Cabinet makers love concealed "euro" hinges because they are easy and adjustable. Why would I want them, though? Apart from the look, I mean. All my house's interior and exterior doors have mortised barrel hinges, and they all work fine. I never need to adjust them. I think the suggestion that you may want to adjust your own cabinet doors on some future date is a red herring. It's cheaper and quicker and easier for the cabinetmaker. (Note: This may translate into cheaper for you or not) There's a well-respected Amish cabinetmaker near us that advertises that they use "French Dovetails" for their drawers as they are stronger. As far as I can work out, they are less attractive, reduce the space in the drawer, and have less wood-to-wood glue surface (i.e. less strong), but they are probably machined in about a tenth of the time as traditional (English) dovetails. Advantages for the cabinetmaker: many. Advantages for you: none. I know it's a trade off. The cabinetmakers time equals my money. But I get annoyed when they aren't upfront about it and try to hide behind supposed benefits of changes that are really to reduce their work and costs. As an amateur woodworker I can see some of what they're doing, but I wonder what I miss when dealing with other disciplines. For what it's worth we want exposed barrel hinges for our craftsman house. And I expect them to be perfect if I pay a custom cabinetmaker.
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Thanks guys! I had a feeling about there being no such thing as self-closing mortise or non-mortise butt-type hinges....your idea of a fake hinge plate was one my husband mentioned.... sounds like a lot of work. I think I'll go ahead and get the blum hinges and go without the exposed hinges. Sounds like they would make it easier to adjust the cabinets and get the doors properly aligned. Thank you so much for your help. p.s. what is AFAIK?
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CEFreeman
12 years ago
I have a bank of cabinets in my MBR, a set of 3 visible from the MBR in the MB. To the right of that is the vanity, which you can't see unless you're in the MB, but you can see the bank of 3, too.

I plan different finishes on the ones in the MBR and bank of 3. The vanity is that espresso maple Shaker. My fixtures are stainless and brushed stainless. I plan to use wrought iron handles on the bank of 3 and in the MBR. However, I'm using the same handles to tie it together.

What you can't see is in my laundry room, the cabs will match the MBR and have the wrought iron, too.

I guess continuity.
If I had known what I like, like I know now? All this stuff would have been inset and we'd be chatting hinges! In my kitchen I do have inset and have begun wondering about the same question you've asked. I'm going to hunt Houzz. :)

I'd love to see pictures of your kitchen and particularly, your cabs. I swoon over inset.
ci_lantro
12 years ago
You could try using 'Rub n' Buff' to color the hinges. I don't think it would hold up on door handles or knobs but it ought to work just fine for hdwe that doesn't get handled, like hinges.

IIRC, Rub n' Buff is a colored wax so it's easy enough to reverse later on.
Ann Scheley
12 years ago
We are going with inset as well. I just assumed that the hinges and pulls/knobs should match finishes. Maybe a personal preference...

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