The little things you might not think about every day, such as the hinges on your doors matter more than you might think! When it comes to the hinges on your cabinets, choosing an upgrade over the stock hinges they came with can make a big difference in both the longevity of your cabinets and quality of life.
The best soft-close door hinges operate smoothly, are silent, have flexible adjustability, solid brand reputation, and preferably also have on/off switches for smaller cabinets. When you are looking for a new hinge, it pays to buy quality now so it can last for years.
In this article, we will be going over the best soft-close door hinges you can buy for your cabinets. If you would like to know what you should spend your hard-earned money on, we encourage you to read on!
What Is a Soft-Close Door Hinge?
A soft-close door hinge is a special type of door hinge that prevents doors from being slammed shut and making a loud noise. This can be useful for folks who want to enter/exit rooms or grab a midnight snack without disturbing others. You can pretty much just push the door and walk away as it is closing without worrying about closing it gently yourself.
This mechanism has a hydraulic mechanism that stops a door just before it completely shuts and eases slowly until the door is closed.
It might be a lot easier to understand how it works by watching this short video:
As you can see, the mechanism is quite simple. All that is happening is the damper stops the door from slamming shut as it glides into a close.
Soft-close door hinges can be on for room doors, car doors, drawers, and our topic today, cabinet doors. Now that we have an understanding of how they function, what do you look for when choosing a soft-close door hinge for your cabinets?
We will be looking for specific criteria to determine what we feel are the best soft-close hinges for your cabinets:
- Brand reputation (or at least positive product feedback)
- Adjustability
- Silent and smooth operation
These hinges will be of differing price points, so don’t worry about having to spend a ton of money on a hinge.
Best Soft-Close Cabinet Hinges: Our Recommendations
1. Blum 38 Series Compact Soft-Close Cabinet Hinge
If you are looking for a hinge that won’t break the bank but will still offer the quality you are looking for, you don’t have to look much further than the Blum 38 series. The company, in general, is a go-to for your door hinge needs at multiple budget tiers.
What makes this our pick for the best budget hinge on this list? Even though it doesn’t excel in areas such as adjustability, it incorporates the main fundamentals that make up a great hinge:
- Quality materials and brand quality
- ANSI/BHMA certification
- Reputable brand
It also features an on/off switch for the soft-close mechanism if you are installing it on a smaller, lighter door. Along with this versatility, you can be assured that the silent, smooth operation will make the simple act of opening your cabinets a breeze.
Overall, we believe this is a great solution for improving your cabinet hinges. We highly recommend this one if you aren’t too concerned about the fancy bells and whistles of more expensive hinges. The price also makes it great for buying in bulk if you want to install it on multiple doors.
If you were planning to buy knock-off brands, we encourage you to spend a little more money for quality. It will make all the difference and prevent frustration down the line.
Qualities
- A smooth, high-quality hinge mechanism
- The soft-closing feature can be deactivated
- Protects even against hard slams
- No creaking sound
2. Blum Clip Top Soft-Close Cabinet Hinges
As you can see, Blum has made a second appearance. Like we said before, the company makes great hinges that are built well and come with features you would want.
Perhaps one of the best features of this hinge is that it is invisible when the cabinet doors are closed. This provides for a sleek appearance to your decor, perfect for those going for a modern/minimalist look. Additionally, you’ll receive screw covers in the package, so when you do see the hinge, it’ll look better than a lot of others on the market.
There are also versions that are compatible with both face frames and frameless cabinets, meaning you will likely be able to use these on any cabinet in your home.
Lastly, this is a clip-on hinge making installation and removal easier – perfect for those who don’t want to deal with a longer DIY process. But what else makes this hinge so special? Key features and selling points of this hinge include:
Qualities
- Invisible when the door is closed
- 6-way hinge adjustment
- Screw covers for superior aesthetics
- Versions that are compatible with face frames and frameless cabinets
3. AmazonBasics AB-4013 Hinges
If you want to replace a bunch of door hinges in your home or you need hinges for construction for a new home, AmazonBasics has you covered without breaking the bank. You might think to write this off just because of the AmazonBasics branding, but there are certain things that just make sense to go “generic” if the quality is promising.
Case in point, if you need lots of hinges, it might make more sense to buy a bunch of decent hinges rather than buying a bunch of excellent ones. This pack of soft-close hinges is a big step above the bottom of the barrel products that are usually used in newly built homes. If you are renovating your home, then you can’t go wrong with this pack of hinges.
You’ll receive a 50 pack for installing on pretty much every cabinet in your home or at least close to it. Even though you are getting a lot of hinges for a relatively low price, you won’t be sacrificing on durability. The Zinc-alloy body ensures that each hinge is durable and will last for quite some time. Furthermore, the 3-way mounting with adjustable screws will allow you to perfectly align the hinge.
Qualities
- Easy installation with the overlay hinge
- 50 hinges in a single package
- 3-way mounting adjustable screws
- Zinc-alloy build for durability
4. 20 Pair Soft-Close Cabinet Hinges Satin Nickel
This soft-closing hinge gets key things right. The nickel build provides the durability you seek. The 105-degree opening angle allows for cabinets to be opened widely, and it can be installed easily in a snap (literally).
Additionally, the flat design gives it a minimalist appearance and allows doors to swing freely. Many people are familiar with the all too common problem of a door resisting to open while making as much noise as possible and so it is good to see that these door hinges kept this in mind.
Qualities
- The satin-nickel finish looks great and provides additional durability
- Good, quality materials used
- The flat design allows it to get out of the way when you are opening doors
- Installation is made easy
5. Silverline Face Frame Cabinet Hinge
Durability is the focus of this particular hinge. It is made of solid stainless steel, meaning that it can take on lots of abuse over the years. Furthermore, it is resistant to rust and corrosion to solve the issue of metals showing signs of damage over time due to moisture and oxygen.
Along with durability, the 105-degree opening angle provides wide enough access to your cabinets while eliminating pesky cracking and creaking sounds. Overall, you can’t go wrong with these hinges.
Qualities
- Made of solid stainless steel for excellent durability
- Smooth hinge mechanism that eliminates unwanted noise
- Anti-rust and anti-corrosion
Why Should You Replace Your Cabinet Hinges?
Most homes that are built need to account for the little things such as door hinges but think about how many door mechanisms there are in your house. There’s a front door, back door, doors that lead into rooms, and all of your cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom.
That’s a lot of doors, and when carpenters have to buy hinges for all of those door mechanisms, they’ll typically use the cheapest options available. After all, what sounds better for a construction job? Spending $40 to cover all doors in the house or $40 per door?
While this isn’t the end of the world and your current doors work fine (for now), they may not be of good quality. Creaking, resistance, and other nuisances might be things you don’t notice throughout the day since you drown them out.
But what if you go to open a door one day and you discover that it is broken? Now you have to scramble to your Home Depot or order one online. In this situation, people are likely to choose the cheapest option just to have a functioning door again while minimizing an expense they weren’t planning for.
This just resets the problem at the end of the day and only resolves the issue at the moment. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “buy once, cry once,” it applies to things you frequently use, and of course, you use doors every day. So that brings us to why replacing your current doors with something better is beneficial.
They Don’t Last Long
Using something on a daily basis multiple times a day puts wear on it even if it is minimal. Hinges aren’t something that can technically last forever. A good one can last a lifetime or 5, but it will eventually give out at some point.
The problem with cheap door hinges is that they will use lower quality materials and are built in such a way that allows them to wear out much faster than a more expensive but better overall built hinge.
Improve Your Quality of Life
You live in your home every day, so why not make the experience a bit better by improving the little things? Better door hinges not only last longer, but they feel better and can come with features such as soft-close, flexible adjustability, and easier installment.
Furthermore, high-quality hinges tend to look better with more premium metals such as solid stainless steel. Many people don’t think this, but hinges can make a difference in the overall look of a door, and if you are trying to have a home that impresses, it is certainly worth the investment.
What You Need to Consider Before Buying Soft-Close Hinges
There are a lot of factors that come into play when you are buying a soft-close hinge for your cabinets.
Mounting
There are multiple ways to mount a soft-close door hinge to your cabinets. Some are clip-on, while others require more hands-on installation. You also have to consider how adjustable the hinge is, such as three-way-mounting, which gives you more control when it comes to alignment.
The screw size and type also matters, in this case, to ensure you are using the correct ones during installation.
Build Quality
When we are talking about build-quality, we are referring to the material used to make the hinge. Solid stainless steel and zinc-alloy will hold up for many years. Furthermore, you might want to look for anti-rust properties as this can be a problem for metals that are sitting out in a humid environment.
It’s good to stick to a budget you can comfortably afford, so don’t feel pressured to go all the way to a hinge that hurts the wallet. With that said, you shouldn’t feel like you have to sacrifice quality by going low. There are plenty of hinges that are both affordable and high quality, such as many of the hinges we recommended today.
Aesthetics
You may not have thought about how hinges can work with your decor, but it does make a subtle difference when your hinges wonderfully match your cabinets.
So what do you look for when choosing a hinge that matches your cabinets? For starters, color plays an important role; for example, a white cabinet might work well with a silver hinge while a darker one can pair with bronze.
This isn’t the most important factor when buying a hinge, but it is something to keep in mind if you are going for a certain look for your home.
Smooth Operation
A door hinge has one job (in this case of a soft-close hinge, two jobs), and that is to allow a door to freely swing open and closed. Naturally, you’ll want this operation to feel good as in no resistance or ruggedness. Higher quality door hinges enhance the quality of a home, and they won’t wear out as quickly.
Noise
Nobody likes creaking doors, especially if you are trying to avoid waking others late at night. The point of a close cabinet hinge in the first place is to prevent a door from being slammed shut, and so a noisy one is quite counterproductive in this case. Look for hinges that have reviews or product statements mentioning silence as a quality.
However, you might find that a door hinge starts out silent but starts squeaking over time. This is normal and it can be fixed by lubricating it.
Maintaining Your Cabinet Hinges
It’s not often when people think of maintaining their home that door hinges cross the mind. While it isn’t the most necessary thing in the world to be doing, it can allow your hinges to last longer and perform as expected.
For starters, you’ll want to purchase the appropriate lubricant, such as this 3-IN-ONE Multi-Purpose Oil. We mentioned earlier how hinges might start to squeak and/or put up some resistance overtime. This can be easily remedied by keeping the pin and hinge “slippery.”
All you have to do is:
- Remove the hinge pin.
- Clean and lubricate all the components.
- Reassemble.
You won’t have to do this very often at all, especially if you are using a quality soft-close door hinge. But it’s worth keeping this in mind just in case one day you find your cabinets aren’t opening quite the same as they were before.
Your biggest worry with your cabinets will be moisture and humidity, but that’s an entirely different conversation.
You may also like to read: How to Stop Door Hinges From Rusting
Conclusion
Quality soft-close door hinges can make a minor but very much welcome difference in the experience of your home. Shopping for a great hinge isn’t the hardest thing in the world, but knowing what materials and features to look for can spare you from buying something that is cheap but won’t last you as long as you’d like or provide a satisfactory experience.
If you find that you enjoy the convenience of self-closing doors for your cabinets, you can perhaps have this mechanism installed for your main doors down the line.
