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Install your new hardware and give your cabinets a face lift. Who knew that such a straightforward process could yield such beautiful results? Now, with all of information below, you are ready to get busy!
If you’ve never installed hardware before, you might be intimidated by the idea of using a level or marking off the correct spots for placement; you might be particularly intimidated by the thought of using the dreaded drill. Take a breath before you begin and don’t worry about the task ahead. The entire process is easy and fairly quick. Make sure to have the following tools on hand as you start. This will ensure a smooth process and will diminish the chance of a mishap.
1. Drill (most commonly a 3/16” drill bit)
2. Level
3. Marker
4. Masking tape
5. Nail or center punch (to make an indentation for where to start the drilling)
6. Screwdriver (Phillips or flathead depending on your specific hardware)
Installing Butt Hinges
Butt hinges can be non-mortised, mortised on either the door or frame hinge leaf only, or fully mortised on both the door and frame sides. They can also be concealed, half-concealed with the door or frame hinge leaf visible on the surface, or fully visible with the leaves installed on the surface of the door and frame. The following are guidelines for installing butt hinges mortised onto solid wood cabinet doors, and also mortised onto the frame: - On the door, measure for the location of all hinges. Some hinges come with templates to help you measure accurately.
- Position each hinge on the door. Mark the perimeter of the hinge with a pencil; then gently cut out the mortise within this perimeter with a chisel and hammer to the depth of the hinge leaf. (Fig. 4)
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each hinge on the door.
- At each hinge location, mark the locations of the screw holes on the cabinet door, and then install all screws (you may need to drill pilot holes first).
- Hold the door in place in the cabinet opening. Using a pencil, trace the perimeter of each hinge leaf that will attach to the cabinet frame. Within this inscribed area, gently cut out the mortise to the depth of the hinge, using a wood chisel and a hammer.
- At each hinge location, mark the locations of screw holes and drill pilot holes if necessary. Install the hinges on the cabinet frame.
- Repeat steps 1 through 6 for each cabinet door.
Installing Kitchen Cabinet Knobs The location of knobs and pulls is essentially a question of aesthetics and convenience. To avoid splitting the wood, try not to install knobs or pulls less than 1 inch from any edge of the door. Where you place your knobs and pulls beyond that 1-inch border is up to you. You may want to line up the pulls with the hinges if they're visible (on a wall cabinet, the bottom of a pull would be at the same distance as the bottom of a hinge). Or, place pulls at a comfortable height for every family member. A general rule of thumb is to locate them within one-third the height of the cabinet in whichever direction is involved--for a wall cabinet, put the pull no more than one third up the cabinet door measuring from the bottom. For drawers, if you have one knob or pull, center it on the drawer front. Or, if using two knobs, center each vertically on the front, but space the knobs close to either side of the drawer front so that you can comfortably and effectively pull the drawer open; allow at least a 1-inch border on each side. Before attaching the knobs, Ron took Lynn into the workshop to create something called a boring jig, which is a homemade device designed to position every knob in exactly the desired place, without measuring. 1. Determine knob position
Use a piece of reusable adhesive, which is like sticky clay, to attach a single knob to the kitchen cabinets. With this, you can determine where you would like to attach the knobs, and then stand back and see how it looks. 2. Build jig
Once you have determined where you would like the knobs, you can begin to create the jig by cutting two matching plywood rectangles with a table saw. Next, nail a strip of wood the same thickness as the cabinet doors onto the edge of the wood, using a pneumatic nail gun. Nail another strip along the adjacent edge forming a right angle.
Use a hand saw to cut off the excess edges.
Attach the other rectangle to create a template that slips over the bottom corner of the cabinet door.
Finally, using a drill press, drill a hole straight through the jig in exactly the spot that corresponds to where you want the knob in your cabinet door. The hole should go all the way through both pieces of plywood so that the jig can be used from either side. 3. Drill knob holes
Slip the jig over the lower corner of the cabinet door and push it up making sure that it is in contact on the side and the bottom. Secure the jig in place using an adjustable clamp. The template not only provides the correct position for the drill, but because of the thickness, it keeps the drill from going into the cabinet at an angle. This should minimize the tear out and help create a clean hole.
Installing Kitchen Cabinet Pulls - Decide where you want to put the pull and mark the location of the first screw hole.
- Using a variable speed electric drill with a bit sized for the screw, slowly drill the first hole into the cabinet from the outside. Avoid splintering the inside face of the cabinet as you drill by clamping a scrap of wood at the inside location on the cabinet door.
- Measure the distance between the centers of each hole on the pull, and mark that distance for the second hole on the cabinet, also matching the distance from the edge of the cabinet to the first screw hole. Then repeat step 2 for the second hole.
- Using the supplied screws, install the knob. Be careful not to overtighten the screws.
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Building Kitchen Cabinets