How To Repair Your Upper Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen Cabinets: 9 Easy Repairs

Updated: Jun. 26, 2022

Are you bugged by kitchen cabinets that don't work quite correct? Broken latches, loose door hinges, sticking drawers—are they driving you bonkers? Read on for easy fixes to these and other common cabinet problems.

FH021312_003_CABREP_01-2 Family Handyman

Sometimes, it's the little 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 easy kitchen cabinet repairs. Yous'll find simple solutions for many of the most common kitchen chiffonier woes.

Adjust hinges on misaligned doors

Adjust depth and side screws

Euro hinges are designed for easy adjustment. If the door isn't affluent with the doors next to it, adjust the depth screw. This screw moves the door in or out. Some depth screws motility the door as you turn them. But with most, you have to loosen the screw, nudge the door in or out and and then tighten the screw. If your hinges don't have depth screws, starting time with the side screws. These move the door from side to side. In some cases, you have to loosen the depth screw slightly to adapt the side spiral.

Perfect 1 door before adjusting the 2d

If the door is flush and parallel with other doors but too high or low, use the mounting screws to raise or lower the mounting plates. Loosen the screws at both hinges, slide the door up or down and tighten the screws. Some mounting plates adapt past turning a single spiral. Bank check the fit of the door afterwards each aligning. With double doors like these, perfect the fit of 1 door first, then align the other door.

Adjust or replace bad latches

Supersede and accommodate the catch

Most newer cabinets have self-closing hinges that agree the doors shut. Others take magnetic or roller catches. A catch that no longer keeps a door airtight is either broken or out of aligning. Catches are attached with two screws, so replacing a damaged catch is simple. Aligning is just as elementary, merely you might have to readjust the catch a couple of times before yous get it right. Loosen the screws, move the catch in or out, and tighten the screws. If the door doesn't close tightly, attempt again.

Add together bumpers to banging doors

Identify bumpers at superlative and lower corners

Tired of listening to those cabinet doors bang shut? Skin-and-stick door and drawer bumpers are the solution. Get a pack of 20 at a home center for $ii. Brand sure the dorsum of the door is clean so the bumpers volition stick, then identify one at the top corner and another at the bottom.

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

How to Fix a Drawer: Replace with identical slides

If y'all find that slides are bent, rollers are broken or rollers won't turn even subsequently lubricating, replacement is the all-time solution. To proceed the project simple, buy new slides that are identical (or almost identical) to the sometime ones. That way, replacement is an easy matter of unscrewing the old and screwing on the new. Remove a drawer rails and a chiffonier track and take them shopping with yous. You'll observe slides at home centers for $5 to $xv per drawer.

How to Gear up a Drawer: Lubricate sticking drawers

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

A few minutes of cleaning and lubricating tin make drawer slides glide almost like new. Start by removing the drawers so yous tin audit the slides. You can remove nearly drawers by pulling them all the manner out, then either lifting or lowering the forepart of the drawer until the wheels come out of the track. Wipe the tracks make clean and glaze them with a light spray lubricant. Also lubricate the rollers and brand sure they spin easily.

How to Gear up a Drawer: Repair a broken drawer box

How to Fix a Drawer: Remove fasteners and old gum

Don't put upward with a broken corner joint on a drawer. Set up it before the whole drawer comes apart. Remove the drawer and and so remove the drawer front end from the drawer box if possible. Most fronts are fastened by a couple of screws inside the box. Remove nails, staples or screws from the loose joint and scrape away old glue with a utility pocketknife.

Predrill nails holes and gum the articulation

Predrill 1/sixteen-in. holes for nails, apply wood glue to the joint and nail information technology together with 1-1/ii in. finish nails. Forest glue will make a potent repair if there's wood-to-wood contact at the joint. If the woods at the joint is coated, utilise epoxy instead of wood glue.

Glue loose knobs

Glue knobs in place

Any handle or knob that comes loose once is likely to come loose again. Put a permanent cease to this problem with a tiny drop of thread adhesive like Thread Lok (about $3 at home centers). Don't worry; if you want to supervene upon your hardware sometime in the time to come, the knobs will however come off with a screwdriver.

Ii ways to fill stripped spiral holes

Fill holes with toothpicks and gum

If a spiral turns but doesn't tighten, the screw hole is stripped. Here'southward a quick remedy: Remove the screw and hardware. Dip toothpicks in mucilage, jam as many every bit you tin into the pigsty and break them off. Either flat or round toothpicks will work. Immediately wipe away glue drips with a clammy fabric. You don't accept to wait for the glue to dry or drill new screw holes; just go ahead and reinstall the hardware past driving screws right into the toothpicks.

Repair a cabinet hinge spiral 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—information technology doesn't concord spiral threads very well. So if yous swing the door open up too fast, the force tin can rip the swivel screw right out of the chiffonier wall. Don't worry; the set up is easy and inexpensive. Here's how to patch things up. Y'all'll need a bottle of wood glue, a one/2-in. drill chip and a package of ane/2-in.-diameter hardwood plugs (sold at home 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 gum set up before proceeding with the rest of the repair. Drill out the stripped screw hole to accept the plug. Adjacent, fill the hole with wood mucilage and install the plug. Subsequently the gum dries, drill a pilot hole and install the new screw—y'all're all set.

Touch up nicks and scratches

Apply a stain-filled impact-upwardly marking

If yous have shallow scratches or nicks, hide them with a stain-filled touch-upward mark. Dab on the stain and wipe off the backlog with a rag. Simply beware: Scratches can absorb lots of stain and plough darker than the surrounding finish. And so start with a marker that's lighter than your chiffonier finish and then switch to a darker shade if needed. For deeper scratches, use a filler pencil, which fills and colors the scratch.

Originally Published: June 26, 2022

Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/kitchen-cabinets-9-easy-repairs/

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