How to choose the right door for a kitchen set and install it yourself

There is a common joke that lovers of traveling are often in the capital of the apartment – the kitchen. This is really the most visited place in the house. Here they gather not only for cooking and eating, but also for intimate friendly conversations, warm family gatherings over a cup of tea. Aesthetic attractiveness plays an important role in the equipment of the premises, but because of the unfavorable microclimate, furniture quickly fails. Which door for the kitchen set should be chosen so that they have served for many years? How to install and adjust them?

What are the requirements for the facades

Modules kitchen set consists of a frame and doors. The quality of the frame depends on the functionality of the furniture, and from the appearance of the facades – the aesthetic perception of the interior of the kitchen as a whole. Therefore it is important to choose such doors that will be comfortable, practical and beautiful.

Kitchen furniture is exposed to moisture, high temperature, steam. On the facades are often drops of boiling water, hot fat. The doors of the kitchen set should tolerate all these negative factors well, be easy to clean, easy to wash off all kinds of dirt. It is also important to choose the right design so that they are easy to use.

Whatever the quality of the furniture facades, after a few years of constant use, they lose their appearance. In this case, they can be updated. The simplest and cheapest options are painting, gluing with PVC film, decoration with moldings or neat inserts from tiles or rattan.

Sometimes the module doors wear out badly, and the cases remain completely usable. It is not necessary to buy new furniture, you can do by replacing façade elements. Doors for the kitchen set can be ordered in the furniture store or made independently.

Types of doors for the kitchen

Most of the headsets are equipped with swing doors, but there are other, no less convenient, designs: folding, folding, sliding, tambour. Often in a single headset combine products of two or three types. They can be made of one or different materials.

Option 1: Swinging

The most popular type of door for a kitchen set is a swing. They are comfortable, functional, look beautiful. However, many consider them morally obsolete due to the lack of ergonomic design. When opening, they take up a lot of space and can interfere with the hostess.

On the other hand, this is the cheapest option for decoration of facades, and their repair or replacement will not hit the family budget. To install such products, expensive hardware is not required, they can be easily adjusted in case of sagging.

Since the cost of the facades is a decent part of the overall price of the headset, and they can be made from almost any material, hinged hinged doors are great for creating inexpensive and aesthetic furnishing of the kitchen.

Option 2: Hinged

When adjusting the top row of cabinets, you can install lifting doors for kitchen units. It is convenient, if on a shelf of a locker it is necessary to arrange subjects or products which are often necessary at cooking. Such parts are equipped with hydraulic mechanisms. They lift and hold the door open. The owner does not have to make any special efforts.

There are several types of lifting mechanisms that are used in such structures:

• Gas shock absorbers. These are the most popular lifting gear. They are convenient and relatively inexpensive. But there are also disadvantages: after installing the door you can not change the angle of its rise, and it opens to the extreme upper position. If the cabinet is high, this can cause inconvenience when closing. Doors equipped with gas shock absorbers do not descend smoothly.

• Rotary lifts. These are convenient mechanisms that install on facades of any mass and size. The pluses include the smooth closing of even very heavy doors. They can be opened at a convenient angle. This requires minimal human effort. If the doors are equipped with the TIP-ON system, they are opened by simply pressing the construction. Minus is a high price. Such mechanisms are 5-10 times more expensive than gas.

• Lifting mechanisms. A door equipped with this mechanism can climb vertically upwards or turn. Such lifts are very convenient, they work noiselessly and smoothly, and the handle does not rise very low, which makes it easier to close the facade. If the budget allows, the mechanism can be improved by installing an electromechanical drive. The disadvantage is the high cost. The set with such doors will be extremely functional, but very expensive.

Option 3: Folding

This is a type of elevator door for a kitchen set. When opened, they fold, so that you can easily open the cabinet, even if it is very high located. The handle is relatively low, and the door is just as easy to close. Folding doors are most often installed on lockers with a dish dryer.

Council. If there is a financial opportunity, it is better to equip the lifting mechanisms with electromechanical drives or push-on opening systems. This is an ideal option for a beautiful and ergonomic “smart” kitchen.

The principle of folding doors

Option 4: Chains

Tambour constructions can hardly be called very popular. They are installed in those cases, if it is necessary to close niches or open shelves of the kitchen set. They open vertically upwards and work on the same principle as blinds or roll-shutters.

Council. Tambour doors are suitable for narrow niches, where other facades are uncomfortable. They can be installed if you are tired of open shelves, but it is not possible to replace all the doors of the headset at the same time. Such designs differ in appearance from all other facades, but usually fit well with the overall design of the kitchen.

Option 5: Sliding

Sliding doors for the kitchen set – a real salvation for the housewives, who have to spend a lot of time in tight kitchens. Sometimes it is necessary that shelves of kitchen cabinets are open for a long time, but space for swing systems is not enough. The problem is solved by installing the doors on the rails. They move apart from the center to the corners of the lockers.

Council. Thanks to the sliding structures, you can maximize the use of the kitchen space. They help visually “unload” it. Even a tight room with a multi-tiered set looks less bulky, if the doors do not swing open, but move apart.

Option 6: Radius

In the trend, smooth shapes and curved lines, so corner kitchens are often decorated with radius facades. The contours can be convex and concave. For the manufacture of such doors, MDF with plastic coating is most often used. The material is attached to the curved shape using a special technology.

Radius constructions are very beautiful. Kitchens with such facade elements look unconventional and attractive, and the doors themselves are easy to use. The only drawback is a high price. For the production of curvilinear facades, precise calculation, special equipment and skilled craftsmen are required. If you replace the doors, you will not be able to make them yourself.

Council. If the house has children, it is better to choose the radial facades. Due to the absence of sharp angles, they are the least dangerous.

Advantages and disadvantages of popular materials

The main criteria for choosing materials for facades are cost, practicality, appearance. Most often doors of cabinets are made of MDF, chipboard, wood. Often use glass, but, as a rule, in combination with other materials. All of them have their own advantages and disadvantages.

• Wood. This is a win-win option for connoisseurs of environmentally friendly materials. Doors made of natural wood look statistically and last for decades. If necessary, they can be updated by painting or varnishing. Disadvantages: high cost, deformation of the material under the influence of moisture and high temperatures, color change under the influence of direct sunlight.

• Painted MDF. Facades made of dyed MDF are very diverse. Color palette – any. You can choose a matte or glossy surface. The material is resistant to high temperatures and humidity, but eventually burns out under the influence of direct sunlight, does not tolerate impacts. On the glossy coatings are stains from the fingers, so they often have to be cleaned.

• MDF with PVC film. Film facades are practical, they are easy to take care of. They are better tolerated mechanical effects than dyed, but are worse at high temperatures. Kitchens from this material are effective, fit in almost any style of the interior and are affordable. The shortcomings include the impossibility of restoration. If the facades wear out, they have to be replaced.

• Particleboard. Wood chipboards are cheaper than MDF, but this ends the benefits. They look less presentable and can not be restored when cracks and chips appear. In addition, poor-quality material is toxic, and high-quality material is expensive. From the chipboard, kitchens are made with straight angles and traditional facades. As for practicality, the doors made of particleboard do not require special care: they can be washed with a damp sponge.

• Plastic. Plates of chipboard and MDF can be covered with a layer of plastic. The external surface of such facades perfectly copes with moisture, high temperatures, mechanical influences. Headsets with plastic fit well into ultramodern kitchens. They are easy to care for and practical. Disadvantage: the surfaces remain stained from the fingers. Prices for plastic facades can vary by an order of magnitude, depend on the base material and the quality of the coating.

How to install the doors on the body

From the correct installation of the doors for the kitchen set depends on the appearance of the modules and the convenience of their operation. If you make mistakes during the installation, even the most beautiful facades will look untidy, and the impression of furniture will be hopelessly damaged.

Council. Learn how to hang the swinging doors on the lockers – this is useful, but still an ideal option – to entrust the assembly headset to professional masters. If you are not confident in your abilities, do not get to work.

Work order:

• Calculate the number of hinges required and select the appropriate fittings. If the lockers are of standard size, just two four hinge loops for each door.

• Attach the hinge cup to the door, and the counter strap to the cabinet of the locker, as shown in the photo below. As fasteners, you can use self-tapping screws, bushing sleeves, quick-assembly systems Clip.

• Hang the door on the hinges, starting from the top. Make sure that the screw head gets into the special guide, if it is provided by the design of the selected loops.

Council. Usually with the installation of the doors of the kitchen set there are no problems, but there are nuances. For example, for hanging narrow doors it is better to use a short screwdriver. If there are more than two loops, it is more difficult to install the facades, but this task can be fully handled, especially if there is an assistant.

Master-class: correct installation of furniture loops

Video instruction for adjusting the doors of the kitchen cupboard

In the process of cooking, housewives constantly open and close lockers. Intensive exploitation does not benefit the furniture, and the doors will eventually sag. This makes it difficult to open the facades and affects their appearance.

How to adjust the doors of the cabinet? Below is a detailed step-by-step video instruction:

The correct choice of doors for a kitchen set is important, but more importantly, careful handling of furniture. To the facades have served for many years, try to protect them from moisture and direct sunlight. The optimum temperature regime is from +10 to + 40 ° C. The installation of a good hood will help prevent the appearance of sticky grease on the surfaces, and regular cleaning with the help of gentle household chemicals will preserve a neat appearance for a long time. Do not neglect the rules of furniture care, and it will decorate your kitchen for a long time!