Need new cabinet hinges

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Tellebot

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I really want to paint my kitchen cabinets white but I'm not sure what to do about the hinges. The cabinets and doors were built and installed by a previous owner and his brother in 1953. They are solid wood and in great condition, but they aren't a standard shape or size.

I would prefer hidden hinges, or having just the hinge spine showing, instead of the whole plate, but the inside of the doors makes that tricky because they aren't flat nor flush. My brother had some idea about cutting out some of the inside doors, but it sounded like a time-consuming PITA. If I can't do less visible hinges easily, does anyone know where I can find hinges like these, but in a different finish to match our other hardware?

On a related note, I'm worried about getting the doors lined up perfectly when rehanging them, since they have to be just right to fit into the cabinet openings. When we repainted our doors upstairs, we ran into all kinds of headaches getting them to close properly and had to rehang 2 doors 4 times each to get them right. Any tips to save me time this go around?

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Take a door and go shopping you do have a few choices and shouldn't have to do anything but fill old screw holes

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You have a partial overlay on a face frame cabinet. For a concealed Euro style hinge you need to measure the thickness of the inset part of the door. Something like a.... partial overlay with a 1/2" inset.
When you rehang the doors, those style hinges do have some adjustments you can make after installing them.



Something like this...note the see it in action video clip.

http://www.rockler.com/salice-hinge-and-plate-for-3-8-lipped-face-frame-doors
 
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Neal-Would the hinges be hidden on the type you showed? I'm a complete novice when it comes to hinges, and have a hard time visualizing how they go on without looking at it in person! I care more about the style and finish than about them being hidden-that would be a bonus.

Beachguy-those are some nice hinges, especially since they can be adjusted to account for uneven doors. Because mine were built by hand by a not-professional, there are some pretty large differences in width of the lip at the top of a door vs. at the bottom. Like as much as 3/8" difference. But those hinges are a little too nice, at $25 per pair, when I have 51 hinges to replace!
 
The crome one would be half hidden the part that goes to the door woulod be behind the door.
The bronze one would only show the barrel but you would have to find one that has the shape on the back to fit that notch.
Beach's hinge would be completely hidden, you might find them cheaper but the is some tricky drilling to do for those..

I would just take a door to a few stores and have someone help select what might work.
 
That's a good idea to take a door to a store. I already have one that I took off when repainting the walls and never put back on.
 
If push comes to shove you could try to locate those same hinges with a factory white finish so they sort of disappear against the white cabinets.
 
On your issue about aligning the doors when you rehang them.
Before you take them off, measure the distance from the underside of the door to the bottom of the frame. Bottom looks like 1/2" or so. The top maybe 2". Each of the top and bottom measurements should be the same for all top or bottom doors. Write down those measurements.
Once you paint and have your hinges on the doors and are ready to rehang them, start at the top doors. Measure up from the opening and mark it with a line. Do it on a piece of painters tape not on your new paint. Clamp a straight edge, I like a 1x2, and use it as a ledger to support the door while you attach the hinge.
 
I like the face hinges, in fact I still have a 9’ high wall in my kitchen that I plan on making a floor to ceiling pantry using the stud cavities and in reframing the wall I extended the studs out to give me about 10” of depth. All those long doors will have face mounted hinges quite like what you have.
If I had your kitchen and wanted white I would do something in the area of the mirror to break up the plywood look maybe bead board, and then I would white wash it all to maintain the grain look and keep the face hinges or change them out for brass or whatever look I was going for.

But that’s my tastes and if you want glossy white and no hinges that’s what you should go for.
 
I had thought about painting the existing hinges, but question the durability. If I were to do that, I'd leave the doors on to paint, and I wouldn't have to worry about rehanging them. I have much more confidence in my skills as a painter than as a door hanger! If I taped off the cabinets, spray painted the hinges and then did a clear spray finish, how long would I have before it chips? I have spray painted lighting fixtures, curtain rods, knobs, and other items that receive little use with good results, but I wasn't sure if painted hinges that are heavily used would stand the test of time.

I don't really like the style of the current hinges, but painting them seems to be the cheap and easy way out at the moment.

My husband is in favor of keeping the cabinets as they are, but they are just not to my taste. They feel bulky and heavy in our dark kitchen, and I don't care for the heavy grain look, although I know others love it. I might compromise and stain the bottoms dark, but I'm committed to painting the uppers for a brighter, more modern look.
 
The paint for the hinges would be a spaey paint and you would want to remove them and clean and maybe rough them with steel wool first. I would paint door and cupboards with the doors off, the holes will still be there for easy installation.
 
Painting can be very durable. They paint automobiles and they see much more abuse than your kitchen hinges will ever see. I agree with Neal paint them with the doors off. Painting inside the boxes will be much easier and painting the doors lying flat you won’t have any runs. Clean the hinges very well hang them from wires. Take the screws and screw them in a couple threads into a piece of scrap wood to paint the heads. The trick to painting a hinge is to not paint it with one heavy coat as the moving parts will paint together and then chip. Light coats with flexing the hinge between coats.
 
That is how to paint screws but I would upgrade to newer screws the right colour. Those slot screws are difficult to deal with and would likely provide paint scrapes on the install.
 
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