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Ikea, Part 1: Half-price hinges for DIY'ers

By Rain Noe - November 3, 2010

in Object Culture

I'm working on another DIY project, this one involving cabinets. I'm gonna need tons of European hinges, and my collection of street-scavenged hinges is running perilously low.

In my quest to find the least-expensive hinges I scoured every builder's catalogue, website, and Chinatown hardware store I could find. The cheapest I came across were online, for about $2.20 for the hinge and $1.20 for the mounting plate. Add tax and delivery and I'm looking at about $4 to $5 per hinge. Meaning 20 hinges would be about a hunnert bucks. Too expensive for me.

Then I found an unexpected source of inexpensive and high-quality hinges: Ikea. Apparently the furniture manufacturer is so prolific that they've gotten Blum, a reputable North-Carolina-based hardware manufacturer, to make them a custom hinge. The unusual design features a screwless cup-mount: You press on a hinged metal plate, and the hinge cup expands tightly into the hole you've drilled in the cabinet door.

The best part is the price: $7 for a 3-pack, including the mounting plates! On Monday I made a visit and paid $53 after tax for 21 hinges, about half of what I'd pay elsewhere. Since you can often get to Ikea for free via shuttle bus (and in New York, a cool water taxi that floats from Manhattan to Brooklyn) there's no delivery charges, just time.

I'll write them up more extensively and tell you if the unusual design works well after I've had a chance to install them.

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Robert

10 years ago

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Blum is a German company that set up production in the us as it was cheaper than producing in Germany and shipping here. They make great products but their tech info can be confusing as is their item numbering. I use allot of their stuff and have boxes of the good base plates that are cast instead of stamped though both work fine the cast is a little stiffer. You can get the same or similar hinges for less. If you want soft close it's cheaper to get hinges with it built in than to go the add on route.

They are called euro hinges because they are used in the 35mm system that was designed after the war to use the least amount of materials to produce a durable functional product. In North America face frame cabinets are the standard which can use a similar hinge but instead of mounting to the system holes it mounts to the faceframe.

I prefer the frameless construction because if done accurately it makes overall accuracy better and way easier. Very versatile system.

The hoke size for the cup portion of the hinge is 35mm or iirc 1 3/8 " is the sae size that works. The system holes are 5mm.
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Carl

12 years ago

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What size hole did you drill to insert the plastic plug for the mounting plate
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Sanjay Prasad

13 years ago

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As a European (UK) furniture designer I'm confused as to why you refer to them as European hinges. What's the difference with a U.S. hinge?
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Atlant Schmidt

14 years ago

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Don't forget that you can buy the optional dampers for those hinges; that'll make your cabinets close a lot more quietly. They introduced the dampers after we'd finished our kitchen but we immediately retrofitted all of our hinges and voila! -- no more slamming doors!
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Kyle Wolfe

14 years ago

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I have an Ikea kitchen. I have got to say that everything about it is quality and affordable. I love the hinges too. They offer a couple style and they are so easy to use and have lasted for over 3 years now in my kitchen and look and function just as well as the day I installed them.
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