How many hinges does a cabinet door need?
Two hinges up to 30" tall, three to 48", four to 72". Where to put them, and why a heavy door needs another one before a tall one does.
A door up to 30" tall takes 2 hinges; over that, 3 to 48" and 4 to 72".
On a 30" door with a 3" setback, that is hinges at 3" and 27" from the top.
How that is worked out
- Two hinges hold a door; the third and fourth are there to stop it twisting and to share the load, not to stop it falling off.
- Set the outer pair in from each end by a fixed amount — 3" to 4" is usual, and matching it across a run of doors matters more than the exact figure, because the eye reads the line of hinges across a bank of cabinets.
- Any hinges beyond the outer pair get spaced evenly between them. That is all the layout is.
Hinges by door height, with a 3" setback
| Door height | Hinges | Positions from the top |
|---|---|---|
| 24" | 2 | 3", 21" |
| 30" | 2 | 3", 27" |
| 36" | 3 | 3", 18", 33" |
| 42" | 3 | 3", 21", 39" |
| 48" | 3 | 3", 24", 45" |
| 60" | 4 | 3", 21", 39", 57" |
| 72" | 4 | 3", 25", 47", 69" |
| 84" | 5 | 3", 22 1/2", 42", 61 1/2", 81" |
| 96" | 5 | 3", 25 1/2", 48", 70 1/2", 93" |
Worth knowing
- Weight counts for more than height. A 30" door in 3/4" MDF with a glass panel is heavier than a 40" door in 1/2" plywood, and it is weight that tears hinge screws out of a cabinet side. Add a hinge before you think you need one on anything heavy.
- Concealed European hinges have their own published weight and height charts, and those beat any general rule — the maker knows what their hinge holds. Use this table for butt hinges and as a sanity check on theirs.
- In frameless cabinets the hinge screws into the cabinet side, which in particleboard is the weakest part of the whole assembly. Use the right inserts or confirmats rather than a coarse screw into bare board.
- The layout wants to be consistent across a run more than it wants to be theoretically optimal. Pick a setback and use it everywhere.
Work out your own numbers
- Cabinet hinge count and placement
Hinge count from door height, and where each one sits down the door.
- Cabinet boxes
A carcass cut list from the finished outside dimensions, face-frame or frameless.
Related questions
- How many hinges for a 36 inch cabinet door?
- Three. The usual break is two hinges up to 30", three from there to 48", and four up to 72". A 36" door sits in the middle of the three-hinge band, so unless it is unusually heavy, three is right.
- Where do you place cabinet door hinges?
- Set the top and bottom hinges in about 3" to 4" from each end of the door, and space any others evenly between them. The exact setback matters less than using the same one on every door in the run — mismatched hinge lines across a bank of cabinets are visible even to people who could not tell you what they were looking at.
- Do heavier doors need more hinges?
- Yes, and weight is the better trigger than height. A short, heavy door — thick stock, a glass panel, a solid slab — will pull screws out of a cabinet side long before a tall light one does. Concealed hinge makers publish weight ratings for exactly this reason; when in doubt, add one.