Probably the best place to start is to figure out what type of cabinets and doors you have because that's typically how hinges are broadly categorized. There are two basic types of cabinets (with corresponding hinges): Face-frame cabinets incorporate a frame (often made from 1-1/2" to 2" wide solid wood) that is attached to the front edges, or face, of the case. Hinges mount to this face frame. This is the most common style in American cabinets. Frameless cabinets are essentially a four-sided box, typically made from 3/4" thick stock. Hinges mount to the cabinet interior. Frameless cabinets also are sometimes called Euro-style cabinets. This has to do with the position of the door in relation to the cabinet opening. The configurations for frameless and face-frame cabinets are slightly different. Overlay doors do exactly what the name implies: They cover the cabinet opening completely, overlapping the cabinet case or face frame on all sides. Inset doors, by contrast, fit entirely within the cabinet opening and sit flush with the cabinet sides or face frames
when in the closed position. Partial-inset, 3/8" inset or lipped doors overlap the cabinet opening slightly on all sides, but a 3/8" x 3/8" shoulder machined along all edges on the back of the door allows part of the door thickness to sit inside the opening. Full overlay: A full-overlay door covers all or nearly all of the front edge of the cabinet. This overlay type typically is used for doors at the ends of a cabinet. Half overlay: This overlay type is commonly used in the middle of a run of cabinets where the doors share a single partition wall. This hinge will allow the door to cover half of the partition wall (or approximately 3/8"). Don’t confuse this with 1/2" overlay, which will allow a door to cover up the cabinet or face frame by 1/2". Inset: As on face-frame cabinets, inset door on frameless cabinets fit within the cabinet opening and sit flush with the front edges of the cabinet. In some applications, the hinges are used to add stylistic detail to cabinetry;
in others, visible hinges would detract from the desired effect. There are three basic options: Concealed hinge: No part of the hinge is visible from the outside of the cabinet when the door is closed. Ideal for modern, minimalist applications in which visible hardware would detract from the design. Semi-concealed hinge: A hinge that is at least partly visible from the outside of the cabinet when the door is closed. May incorporate details such as a decorative ball tip or finial tip. Exposed hinge: A hinge that is fully visible on the outside of the cabinet when the doors are closed. Butt hinge: The quintessential traditional hinge, it’s composed of two pivoting plates whose interlocking fingers form a barrel and are held together by a pin. One plate is attached to the door; the other, to the cabinet. Butt hinges sometimes require a mortise in the door and/or the cabinet to prevent an excessive gap. Deluxe (adjustable mount) butt hinge: A butt hinge with elongated mounting slots that allow you to adjust doors horizontally and vertically for a perfect fit.
Knife hinge: Shaped like scissors. One half of hinge mounts to top edge (or bottom edge) of door. Other half mounts to horizontal cabinet edge directly above (and below) door. European hinge: A type of concealed hinge especially popular on frameless Euro-style cabinets but also available for face-frame applications. European hinges have a mounting plate that secures to the cabinet and a cup that seats in a (typically 35mm) circular mortise drilled in the back of the door. One popular benefit of Euro-style hinges is that they offer adjustment in two and sometimes three directions, making it easy to fine-tune the alignment of the door. Side adjustment regulates the gaps between doors, cabinets and walls for perfect parallel alignment. Height adjustment aligns doors precisely at top and bottom. Depth adjustment (not always available) lets you bring door faces in line with the vertical front of the cabinet. Another benefit is easy removal of doors for cleaning and refinishing. Take into account how far will the door need to open
How far or to what angle a hinge will allow a door to open is called degree of opening. Some hinges will let the door open just beyond 90°, but others offering a much greater degree of opening are available. For example, a 270° hinge will allow the door to swing back against the cabinet side. (It bears noting, though, that this type of hinge will work only on a frameless cabinet with full overlay doors). Decide how you want the hinge to mount to the cabinet and door Surface-mount hinge: A hinge that does not need a hole or mortise to be drilled in the door or cabinet in order to mount it. It simply mounts to the surface. Mortised hinge: A hinge that requires the cutting of a mortise or recess in the door or cabinet to fit the hinge leaves for proper mounting. No-mortise hinge: A style of surface-mounted hinge that screws directly to the cabinet and the door without any mortises or special recesses being cut into the surfaces. Wraparound: A style of hinge where the leaves are formed to wrap around the edge of the door and/or the cabinet side or face frame.
A partial wraparound hinge will wrap around the door and have a plain flat leaf for the cabinet so it can be used on a frameless cabinet. A full back-to-back wraparound hinge will wrap around on both halves of the hinge so it can be used on a face-frame cabinet. Decide whether you want any special features Self-closing hinge:This type of hinge pulls the door shut when it is within a few inches of being closed and keeps it closed. Self-opening systems: This type of hinge comes with a mechanism that propels the door open when activated by a push. Soft-close hinge: A hinge that incorporates a mechanism that activates when the door is within a few inches of the shut position and brings it gently closed.Cabinet Door Hinge Types GuideOverlay Doors, Inset Doors, and Offset Doors There are four basic cabinet door hinge types: Overlay cabinet doors (the door is larger than the opening and “lays over” it) Full Inset cabinet doors (the door fits completely in the opening and is flush with the cabinet surface)
Partial Inset cabinet doors (part of the door is inset into the opening and part of the door overlays the opening) Offset cabinet doors (very similar to “Inset” however the hinge is surface mounted and all of it is visible.) For each of the cabinet doors types listed above there are many different cabinet hinge types that can be used. We have listed many of them below. The 1/4″, 3/8″ and 1/2″ overlay hinges shown below are set overlays. The overlay dimension is measured from the edge of the cabinet opening to edge of the cabinet door as it lays in the closed position on the cabinet. The variable overlay hinge accomodates any overlay dimension because it attaches to the surface of the cabinet and not to the edge of the cabinet opening. Full inset cabinet doors are used on cabinets where the door butts up against the edge of the cabinet opening. The door lays flush with the surface of the cabinet face. Full inset doors can use either butt hinges or surface mounted cabinet hinges.