How Do You Repair Kitchen Cabinet Doors

Kitchen Cabinets: 9 Easy Repairs

Updated: Jun. 26, 2022

Are you bewitched by kitchen cabinets that don't work quite right? Broken latches, loose door hinges, sticking drawers—are they driving you bonkers? Read on for like shooting fish in a barrel fixes to these and other common cabinet problems.

FH021312_003_CABREP_01-2 Family Handyman

Sometimes, it's the picayune things that drive us crazy in the kitchen. The loose door knobs, nicked door fronts and slamming drawers. If any of these sound familiar, check out this collection of quick and piece of cake kitchen chiffonier repairs. Yous'll find simple solutions for many of the most common kitchen cabinet woes.

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Adjust hinges on misaligned doors

Adjust depth and side screws

Euro hinges are designed for easy adjustment. If the door isn't flush with the doors next to it, accommodate the depth spiral. This screw moves the door in or out. Some depth screws move the door as you plow them. But with almost, you take to loosen the screw, nudge the door in or out and so tighten the screw. If your hinges don't have depth screws, start with the side screws. These motility the door from side to side. In some cases, you take to loosen the depth screw slightly to adjust the side screw.

Perfect one door before adjusting the second

If the door is affluent and parallel with other doors but too high or depression, use the mounting screws to raise or lower the mounting plates. Loosen the screws at both hinges, slide the door upward or down and tighten the screws. Some mounting plates adjust by turning a single screw. Check the fit of the door after each adjustment. With double doors similar these, perfect the fit of one door first, then marshal the other door.

Conform or replace bad latches

Replace and adjust the catch

Most newer cabinets have cocky-closing hinges that hold the doors close. Others have magnetic or roller catches. A catch that no longer keeps a door airtight is either broken or out of aligning. Catches are attached with 2 screws, then replacing a damaged catch is elementary. Adjustment is merely equally unproblematic, but you might accept to readjust the catch a couple of times before you get information technology right. Loosen the screws, move the take hold of in or out, and tighten the screws. If the door doesn't close tightly, try again.

Add together bumpers to banging doors

Identify bumpers at height and lower corners

Tired of listening to those cabinet doors bang shut? Peel-and-stick door and drawer bumpers are the solution. Get a pack of twenty at a home heart for $two. Make sure the back of the door is make clean so the bumpers will stick, and then place i at the elevation corner and another at the bottom.

How to Fix Drawer Slides: Replace worn-out drawer slides

How to Fix a Drawer: Supervene upon with identical slides

If you find that slides are bent, rollers are broken or rollers won't turn even after lubricating, replacement is the all-time solution. To go along the project simple, buy new slides that are identical (or near identical) to the old ones. That manner, replacement is an like shooting fish in a barrel matter of unscrewing the one-time and screwing on the new. Remove a drawer rail and a chiffonier track and have them shopping with you lot. You'll find slides at home centers for $five to $15 per drawer.

How to Fix a Drawer: Lubricate sticking drawers

How to Fix Drawer Slides: Spray lubricant on tracks and rollers

A few minutes of cleaning and lubricating can make drawer slides glide virtually like new. Beginning by removing the drawers and so y'all can inspect the slides. You can remove most drawers by pulling them all the mode out, and then either lifting or lowering the front of the drawer until the wheels come up out of the track. Wipe the tracks clean and coat them with a light spray lubricant. Besides lubricate the rollers and make sure they spin easily.

How to Set a Drawer: Repair a broken drawer box

How to Set a Drawer: Remove fasteners and former glue

Don't put upwardly with a cleaved corner joint on a drawer. Fix information technology earlier the whole drawer comes apart. Remove the drawer and so remove the drawer front from the drawer box if possible. About fronts are fastened by a couple of screws inside the box. Remove nails, staples or screws from the loose joint and scrape abroad onetime glue with a utility knife.

Predrill nails holes and mucilage the articulation

Predrill 1/16-in. holes for nails, employ wood gum to the joint and nail information technology together with 1-1/ii in. finish nails. Wood glue will make a strong repair if there'due south wood-to-wood contact at the articulation. If the wood at the joint is coated, use epoxy instead of wood glue.

Glue loose knobs

Mucilage knobs in identify

Whatever handle or knob that comes loose one time is probable to come up loose once more. Put a permanent cease to this trouble with a tiny drop of thread adhesive like Thread Lok (about $three at dwelling house centers). Don't worry; if you want to replace your hardware former in the future, the knobs will still come off with a screwdriver.

Two ways to fill up stripped screw holes

Fill up holes with toothpicks and gum

If a spiral turns merely doesn't tighten, the screw hole is stripped. Here's a quick remedy: Remove the spiral and hardware. Dip toothpicks in glue, jam every bit many equally you can into the pigsty and break them off. Either flat or round toothpicks volition work. Immediately wipe away gum drips with a damp textile. You lot don't have to wait for the glue to dry or drill new screw holes; just get ahead and reinstall the hardware by driving screws right into the toothpicks.

Repair a cabinet hinge screw hole with a plug

Cabinets fabricated from particleboard work great in utility and laundry rooms, and they're fairly inexpensive. But particleboard has a major weakness—it doesn't concur screw threads very well. So if you swing the door open up too fast, the force can rip the hinge screw right out of the cabinet wall. Don't worry; the fix is piece of cake and cheap. Here's how to patch things up. Yous'll need a bottle of wood glue, a 1/two-in. drill bit and a parcel of ane/ii-in.-diameter hardwood plugs (sold at domicile centers).

Start by removing the swivel screws on the cabinet and flipping the hinge out of your way. If the accident pulled out a large chunk of the particleboard, glue it back into place and let the glue ready up before proceeding with the rest of the repair. Drill out the stripped screw hole to accept the plug. Next, fill the hole with wood glue and install the plug. Subsequently the glue dries, drill a airplane pilot pigsty and install the new screw—you're all set.

Touch upward nicks and scratches

Apply a stain-filled bear on-up marker

If you accept shallow scratches or nicks, hide them with a stain-filled affect-up marker. Dab on the stain and wipe off the backlog with a rag. But beware: Scratches can absorb lots of stain and turn darker than the surrounding finish. So showtime with a mark that's lighter than your cabinet finish so switch to a darker shade if needed. For deeper scratches, utilize a filler pencil, which fills and colors the scratch.

Originally Published: June 26, 2022