My Account
A common problem with cabinet doors is that they become misaligned with time and use.
Today I’m going to walk you through some easy steps to realign your cabinet doors by adjusting the hinges. All cabinets have similar hinges, so these tips will be valid whether it’s your kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanity, or storage cupboards that need realigning.
I’ll show you three simple adjustments that will resolve 99% of cabinet door alignment issues.
How to Realign Cabinet Doors: Step-by-Step Guide
In this step-by-step guide, we’ll first be discussing different types of hinges. The cupboards I’m using in this demo have compact face-frame hinges but we’ll touch on other types of cabinet hinges as well to make sure we get all homeowners across the Cabinet Door Realignment Finish Line.
After going over the different types of hinges, I’ll walk you through the three easy adjustments you can make to fix any cupboard door that’s out of alignment.
Rather watch than read? Check out this 8-minute video.
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission.
How to Realign Cabinet Doors: Tools
- Screwdriver, ideally with a PZ1 bit
- Klein Tools 14-in-1 screwdriver
How to Realign Cabinet Doors: Types of Hinges
Compact Concealed Hinges
The most common cabinet hinge you see nowadays is a concealed hinge. The kitchen cabinet for our demo has this kind of hinge. As the name implies, you can’t see them when you look at the outside of the cabinet.
The hinge we’ll be adjusting in this tutorial is a compact concealed hinge, also called a compact face-frame hinge or simply a compact hinge. This type of hinge mounts to the face frame of the cabinet.
The compact concealed hinge comes in a variety of qualities with a variety of features. Here are three examples, with the best quality mounted on the cabinet, then a mid-quality hinge in the middle, and a cheap hinge on the bottom.
You’d still adjust this economical hinge in the same way as a higher-end hinge. A cheap hinge like this is a bit more difficult to adjust and will lack certain features, such as depth adjustment.
European-Design Hinges
You might have this kind of European-design hinge:
If you bought your cabinetry from Ikea, you probably have this type of hinge. It’s also common on lots of modern furniture.
The part of the hinge that sets into the door is very similar between these two kinds of hinges. Both of them require you to drill out a circular section of the door to install them. A soft-close mechanism is also integrated into both types.
The European design differs in that the hinge attaches to the cabinet box itself (because there is no face frame). This hinge is actually two pieces.
The mounting bracket of the European-style hinge is what gets fastened to the cabinet box, and then the hinge itself clips into place on the installed bracket.
Keep in mind that there are many different versions of each of these two hinge styles.
How to Realign Cabinet Doors: Lateral Adjustment
Our first adjustment to realign cabinet doors is lateral: in other words, shifting the doors to the left or right.
When your doors won’t close or when the gap between them is uneven, this is the sort of realignment you need.
In my case, the bottom of my left cabinet door needs to be moved to the left.
To move this cabinet door to the left, all I have to do is turn the screw on the face of the mounting bracket. (Remember that the hinge I am adjusting here is a compact concealed hinge that mounts on the face frame of the cabinet.)
This screw contains a cam that moves the door laterally when the screw is turned. If I turn it clockwise, the door will move to the left. If I turn it counterclockwise, the door will slide right. It might be easier to think about the movement of the door being converse to the direction you’re turning the screw. Turning the screw to the right moves the door left, and vice versa.
I’m going to turn the screw clockwise a bit, just eyeballing the change in position. Then I’ll close the door to check the alignment.
The door now closes but I’m still going to inspect the gap between the doors.
The space between the doors is not consistent from bottom to top. It’s a bit narrower at the top so I’m going to adjust the upper hinge on this door, moving it also left just slightly by turning the screw on the front of the mounting bracket clockwise just a tad.
Now let’s look at a different hinge design.
With this style of hinge, the lateral adjustment is made with the screw closest to the center of the hinge (to the left of the slot).
This screw looks like it takes a Phillips head but there are additional little tick marks coming off each of the corners. These are Posidriv screws. There is a corresponding bit called a PZ that is ideal for fastening this type of screw.
If you have a Klein Tools 14-in-1 screwdriver as I do, this PZ1 bit is part of the kit. This screwdriver is very handy as it contains the different bits you’ll need for pretty much all jobs around the house.
NOTE: You can find the Klein Tools 14-in-1 on our Amazon Store.
The left-to-right adjustment screw on the European hinge is also to the left of the slot and closest to the center on the hinge arm.
How to Realign Cabinet Doors: Vertical Adjustment
Vertical misalignment is particularly noticeable on upper cabinets.
To adjust the vertical alignment of the cupboard door, I’m going to turn the bottom screw on the mounting bracket.
This screw takes a Phillips drive. Turning the screw clockwise will send the door upwards. Turning the screw counterclockwise will lower it.
NOTE: When adjusting vertical placement, you’ll need to adjust both hinges. This may take a little going back and forth between the two hinges to get the door where you want it.
On cheaper hinges, the vertical adjustment screw sits in a slotted opening.
You’d alter the vertical alignment by moving the hinge up or down after loosening the screw, then retightening it when you get the hinge in the right position.
On the European hinge, the vertical adjustment screw is inset and it has a Posidriv head.
As mentioned a bit earlier, the PZ1 driver bit is ideal for this type of screw. The adjustment mechanism works the same on the European hinge as the compact (face mount) hinge; turning the screw clockwise raises the door; counterclockwise lowers it.
How to Realign Cabinet Doors: Depth Adjustment
The third adjustment we can make to a cabinet door is forward and back to modify the amount of space between the door and the cabinet frame.
Rotating the screw in a clockwise direction moves the door further away from the face frame. Turning the screw counterclockwise decreases the gap between the door and the cabinet frame.
Note that cheap hinges don’t have this feature.
On this mid-quality hinge, the depth-adjustment screw is a Posidriv located at the rear edge of the hinge. On European hinges, this screw is also at the rear edge of the hinge.
How to Realign Cabinet Doors: Conclusion
That’s it! Realigning cabinet doors is as easy as 1-2-3. With these three simple adjustments, you can fix pretty much any cupboard door that is not aligned properly. Any do-it-yourselfer can take on this simple repair, even if you are totally new to DIY projects.
Related Video: Upgrading an Older Kitchen with Soft-Close Hinges
Replacing hinges on your kitchen cabinets is a great way to upgrade an older kitchen. If your cabinets are still in good shape, swapping out old hinges for those with a soft-close feature is an inexpensive way to add a modern touch. With a little bit of knowledge, you can find direct replacements, which makes the job easy.
Check out our video on Installing Soft-Close Hinges on Existing Kitchen Cabinets for tips on how to select the correct replacement hinges.
To Leave Comments and Questions
If something doesn’t make sense or if your situation is a little different, please leave a comment under the YouTube video. I check the comments on a daily basis and am happy to help out.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel as we have weekly videos coming out to help you with your everyday home repairs.
We’ll catch you on the next one! Take care.
