The vast selection of styles and sizes in the hinge aisle at home centers can be overwhelming. There are many designs, materials, and styles to choose from. Particularly for your cabinets, selecting decorative hinges can turn ordinary cabinets into eye-catching accents in your kitchen and bathrooms.
For doors, standard butt hinges are common. Although most hinges are reversible (either end can be upward), most loose-pin hinges, such as on doors, are not. This requires that you buy either right-handed or left-handed hinges depending on how the door is hung and whether it opens inward or outward.
It can get a little tricky. If the hinges are on the left side as you view the door, and the door opens outward away from you, you need left-handed hinges. If the door opens inward toward you, you need right-handed hinges. Take an inventory of how many of each type of hinge you will need.
You can buy butt hinges with fixed pins that are reversible. Fixed-pin hinges function as well as loose-pin hinges, but to remove a door, you have to unscrew all the hinges. With a loose-pin hinge, you just have to tap out the pin with a screwdriver and a hammer to remove a door.
Since you are redoing an older house, you will probably be adding some wall-to-wall carpeting. This may interfere with the free movement of the doors over the carpets. One option is to trim off the bottom of the door. A better option is to install a rising-butt hinge. As the door starts to open, the hinge lifts the door slightly to clear the carpets.
If you have a large wooden front door that is very heavy, consider installing ball-bearing hinges. They will allow the door to operate very smoothly, and they are permanently lubricated. They can be used on an interior door, but they are a bit pricey, so they may stretch your budget.
An offset blind hinge is most often used on screen and storm doors. This type of hinge is designed to swing away from the doorframe so that you have full access to the width of the door opening.
For interior doors or on cabinets, knuckle hinges are very decorative. They can actually carry a considerable amount of weight. The hinge is recessed in the edge of the door and the doorframe so that only the decorative knuckle shows when the door is closed. It is a loose hinge so that the door can be lifted off the hinge.
For lightweight doors and cabinets, a flush hinge is acceptable. Every part of the hinge, other than the barrel, is hidden from view when the door is closed. It is an easy hinge to install and line up properly.
If you want an interior door to your kitchen, a double-acting hinge is a good choice. It operates in both directions so that you can push the door open from either side even with your hands full. Another option for a kitchen is a gravity pivot hinge, especially with bifold doors. After you push through them, they slowly swing closed themselves.
