Where to place kitchen 'soft close' dampers?

matty_hunt

Hi. I have just brought some soft close dampers for my kitchen doors. There is no instructions with them as I guess one just screws them to the cabinet wall. However, where is best to position them? Should they be on the open side, or at the top near the hinge, away from the hinge....? Also the barrel is removable from the holder so it can be sunk into a 10mm hole drilled into the unit. This would look tidier but again, where to drill the hole?
Many thanks

weekendwarrior

You fix them on the opposite side to the hinge.

If you open your kitchen cupboard doors on the opposite side to the hinges there should be some holes already drilled incase the hinges need to be hung on the opposite side of the cabinnet. If there are no holes there should at leas be some small marks to show you where to drill.

The middles do come out, but this is normally so that you can fit them on the drawers. Drilling the units can be dodgy as some are only 15mm thick and the barrels are 10mm and so you only have 2.5mm each side and if the drill wanders a little it will poke through the cabinet.

You might be able to get a jig?

Doozergirl

You don't drill holes!

You put them in the holes that already exist for where you would have hung the door on it's hinges, but didn't because you've hung the door on the other side of the cupboard, iyswim. You just screw them in.

That is such a rubbish explanation. Do you get what I'm saying!?

matty_hunt

weekendwarrior wrote: »

The middles do come out, but this is normally so that you can fit them on the drawers.

Ah, I hadnt thought of the draws. Do they not need special runners or some kind of weight system to pull the draw fully closed against the damper? Dont want to drill into my mums new draw units to find it doesnt close properly!

For the doors then, I attach the bracket into the opposing hinge location. Im sure Ive seen the dampers attached about a third along from the hinge side, at the top of the unit in a big store somewhere. My basic understanding of geometry would suggest that this position slows the door down from a much wider opening but also puts more strain on the piston in the wrong direction. Any thoughts?

Doozergirl

Drawers are totally different. You actually have to buy the drawers with the mechanism in. With MFI, Howdens and B&Q anyway, I'm sure.

As for the doors, it's a little button with some sort of spring underneath. A kitchen door isn't that heavy. I don't think it matters that much. It's gimmicky but nice

weekendwarrior

matty_hunt wrote: »

Ah, I hadnt thought of the draws. Do they not need special runners or some kind of weight system to pull the draw fully closed against the damper? Dont want to drill into my mums new draw units to find it doesnt close properly!

For the doors then, I attach the bracket into the opposing hinge location. Im sure Ive seen the dampers attached about a third along from the hinge side, at the top of the unit in a big store somewhere. My basic understanding of geometry would suggest that this position slows the door down from a much wider opening but also puts more strain on the piston in the wrong direction. Any thoughts?

I drilled my sisters carcass very carefully and used the dampers, without the holder using a 10mm drill bit- for the drawers and they work fine.

You have to be very careful when drilling though as if you are not 100% straight you could pop out the side of the unit.

Try drilling a hole near the bottom of the drawer unit and test one out, if it does not work you can remove it with pliers, but it worked fine on my sisters.

If you have any really big doors such as a larder unit you may need two dampers!

Canucklehead

Hi


Ikea dampers fit onto the drawer runners at the back (very neat and work well) Door dampers fit 150mm from the hinge side on the top or bottom carcass. I didn't drill ours but if I did Ikea carcasses are 18mm thick so less chance of a problem.

HTH
Corgi Guy