Spent 3 hours trying to fix a crooked cabinet door before I realized the hinge was bent

I was working on a kitchen remodel in Portland last month and had this one cabinet door that just would not sit straight. I kept adjusting the screws on the hinge plate thinking I was messing up the alignment. After messing with it for what felt like forever I finally looked closer and noticed the hinge barrel itself was slightly bent. Took me a solid 3 hours of fiddling before I swapped it out and the door lined up perfect in like 2 minutes. Felt pretty dumb but now I always check the hinge body first if something is off. Anyone else ever wasted a ton of time on a simple fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_wood5117d ago

Coulda been worse, you coulda bent the hinge yourself trying to fix it... like I did once.

kim19120d agoMost Upvoted

That 3 hour struggle hits close to home. I used to always blame the screw alignment first but now I check the hinge itself right away after a similar wasted afternoon.

sageross20d ago

You ever notice how the hinge always seems fine until you've already wasted an hour on the screws? I started using a little trick where I hold the cabinet door steady with one hand and slowly push on the hinge with my thumb. If it moves even a tiny bit, I know it's loose. That simple test has saved me so much frustration. I also started keeping a spare hinge kit in my toolbox just for those days when nothing else works. Probably should have done that years ago.