How-to Add Soft Close Cabinet Hinges to Any Cabinet
Tired of slamming cabinet doors and want a quick inexpensive fix? How-to make any cabinet door hinge soft close in under 5 minutes!
Soft close cabinet hinges are the best invention ever! No more booms and bangs in the kitchen when you close cabinet doors.
What if your cabinets didn’t come with soft close hinges and you’ve always wanted them?
Or you may be wondering if there is an easy solution to install soft close hinges on old cabinet doors?
Did you know there is a simple little soft close hinge adapter that is under $5 dollars and can be installed in minutes all without replacing your cabinet hinges!
You won’t have to install soft close hinges, but instead add the soft close adapter to the cabinet frame. That will prevent the cabinet door from slamming shut. YAY!
What are soft close cabinet hinges?
What are soft close hinges on a cabinet door? They are hinges with a simple little damper that reduces the force at which your cabinet door closes.
That means it slows down the speed of the door closing, so it NEVER bangs shut.
Sounds nice right?
If you live in an older home, you likely didn’t know there’s an easy way to create soft close cabinet doors without having to add new soft close hinges.
How to Convert Existing Cabinet Door Hinges to Soft Close
Yes! There is a simple little damper that can be attached to ANY type of cabinet and next to standard hinges.
It costs less than $5 and can be installed easily and quickly!
Plus they come in a full soft close conversion kit with screws, damper and spacer together in various quantities.
If this looks intimidating it’s not. You can create slow close cabinet hinges on any door all by yourself.
Especially after you see my video tutorial.
You’ll be amazed at how fast I created soft close cabinets.
My son and I are having a hard time getting used to the lack of noise and keep checking back to make sure the cabinets are closed LOL!
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What Type of Cabinet Doors Do You Have?
You may be wondering if you have to worry about the type of hinges you have and if the adapter will work.
Luckily, the soft close adapter is UNIVERSAL and isn’t dependent on the type of hinge you currently have in your cabinets.
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However, what is really important to note is the TYPE of cabinet door construction you have.
This is KEY to installing the dampers correctly so they sit at the right distance from the door and cabinet frame.
There are two primary types of cabinet: INSET AND OVERLAY
Inset Cabinet Example
Inset cabinets have doors that are within the frame of the base cabinet.
When you close the cabinet door, you still see the frame of the base cabinets.
If you have inset style cabinets, then it’s likely you WON’T need to use the spacer attachment provided.
After installation, if you find the damper is too far forward. Double check to make sure you didn’t install the spacer.
Overlay Cabinet Example
For reference, framed or frameless cabinets have overlay cabinet doors.
Overlay cabinets are on the outside of the cabinet frame. When you close the door you no longer see the frame.
If you have overlay cabinet doors then it’s LIKELY you will need to spacer to shift the adapter forward to avoid the door hitting it.
When getting ready to install the soft close hinge adapter, butt the adapter to the upper corner.
See if you can open and close the door without hitting it. If it hits, you need a spacer. If it doesn’t, you won’t need to use the spacer.
Simple formula right? That will make sure the soft close hinges work!
For reference, it only took me one hour to install 25 soft close adapters! To complete my entire kitchen cost less than $100.
How-To Install Soft Close Cabinet Hinge Adapters
How-to install soft close hinge adapters on any type of cabinet doors. Easy under $5 dollar fix that can be added in under 5 minutes.
Materials
- Soft Close Hinge Adapters
- 1 3/4 Inch Wood Screws (if they don't come with the kit)
Tools
- Power Drill / 20V Preferred
- Philips Head Drill Attachment
- Philips Head Screw Driver
Instructions
- Determine if you need to use a spacer. Overlay cabinets (framed or frameless cabinets) will typically require them. Attach gray spacer, by clipping to to the grooves in the cabinet hinge adapter.
- This is for the right side
- This is for the left side
- Start wood screw through the adapter before placing. Place soft close hinge damper adapter butted up in the top corner of the cabinet against the side wall and top of cabinet.
- Screw in with power drill and a Philips head attachment. You may need to back out the screw a bit, so it lays correctly
- Close the cabinet door to see if it closes completely and in the time you like to make it a soft close cabinet door. This can be adjusted on the bottom of the adapter by turning the screw right or left to make the cabinet door damper pull in or stick out more.
- This is how the soft close adapter should look, once installed.
Notes
- The soft close adapters to can sit in line with the cabinet frame or on top of the frame. It depends on how your door closes.
- Pay close attention if you have inset or overlay cabinet doors. That will determine if you need to use the spacer or not.
- Overlay cabinets can be framed or frameless, but again you'll likely need the spacer to align the soft close hinge adapter.
- The adapters were pulling down as the screw was threaded completely, so I backed out the screw to make them sit more flush.
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What about cabinets that are old and have visible hinge?
That’s the same as an inset cabinet, so you can follow those instructions.
Great tutorial! My doors won’t actually close all the way (about 1/4″ short) — requiring that I have to manually push them all the way closed. I’ve got the damper piston backed all the way in — so, I’m not sure if they will close ‘further’ with some time or if there is some detail that I have missed. Any suggestions?
Dan
Do you have inset or overlay cabinet doors? Check those examples. I used the spacer since my are overlay. If you have inset, you wouldn’t use the spacer. That may be pushing the damper too far forward and why you can’t close the door. Hope that helps!
I wish there was an easy way to install soft close on drawers. Any suggestions? Thank you!
I’ve researched this and there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. Only to replace the slides, which is a major pain!
Wow. I just bought a house and forgot to add soft close cabinets. Now I am confident I can install after build. You make it look so easy. Thank you!!
Great! A couple of my upper cabinets don’t have it and I can’t believe what a difference the soft close makes…my house is definitely more quiet 🙂
Thanks for the detailed explanation! Does this work on drawers too, or just doors?
Just doors…glad I could help!
OMG, I love this. You have no idea how much my husband and son drives me batty slamming cabinet doors. When they go in and out of them, it seems as if they can’t stop slamming them. Thanks to you, I now have answers to this annoying, ‘slamming of cabinet doors”. I can finally have peace!
Yay! It still surprises me how easy the project was and how well it works!