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Do replacement cabinet doors come pre-drilled for hinges?
Ours come however you ask. Doors ship bored for press-in hinges with two dowel holes, bored for screw-in hinges with the cup alone, or completely blank. Most stock suppliers drill one fixed pattern, which is why a pre-drilled door so often does not line up with the cabinet it was bought for.
| Option | What is cut | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Press-in | 35mm cup plus two 8mm dowel holes | Hinges with press-in lugs, hammered home without screws |
| Screw-in | 35mm cup only | Hinges fixed with screws through the hinge body |
| Blank | Nothing | A shop boring to its own pattern, or anyone not yet sure |
Do replacement cabinet doors come pre-drilled for hinges?
Some do. The important question is a different one: drilled to whose pattern?
A stock supplier selling fixed-size doors drills one pattern, because drilling a different one for each order defeats the point of stocking them. If your cabinets happen to match that pattern, you are fine. If they do not, a pre-drilled door is worse than a blank one, because now you have holes in the wrong place and a door you cannot un-drill.
Ours are made to order, so the boring is a choice on the order rather than a fact you have to live with.
What does pre-drilled actually mean?
It means the round recess for the hinge — the cup — has already been machined into the back of the door, and sometimes that two small dowel holes have been drilled alongside it for a press-in hinge.
It does not mean the holes for the mounting plate inside the cabinet, and it does not mean handle holes. Those are separate, and most suppliers leave both to you.
What are the standard hinge boring dimensions?
For a full-size concealed hinge, the cup is 35mm across. Depth and position vary more than people expect, which is why they are worth stating rather than assuming.
Our standard is a 35mm cup, 13mm deep, set 3mm in from the edge of the door, with the cup centres 3 inches from each end. If your existing doors match that, ordering is a formality. If they do not, send us what you have and we bore to it.
The one to watch is the distance from the door edge to the cup. Shops bore anywhere from 3mm to 6mm, and that difference moves the door sideways once it is hung. It is small enough that nobody checks it and large enough to be visible in a run of doors.
Press-in or screw-in — which do I need?
Look at the hinge you are keeping, or the one you intend to buy.
A press-in hinge has two small lugs either side of the cup that are hammered into pre-drilled 8mm holes. It goes in fast, which is why production shops use it, and it needs those two extra holes bored.
A screw-in hinge is fixed with screws through the body of the hinge into the door. It needs only the cup, and it is more forgiving if a hole ever strips, because a screw can be moved and a pressed lug cannot.
If you are reusing hinges, take one off and look. Two small round posts either side of the cup means press-in. Screw heads means screw-in.
What if I am not sure yet?
Order the doors blank. A blank door can be bored later by anyone with a 35mm forstner bit and a jig, but a bored door cannot be unbored.
This is the right answer more often than people think. If you are changing hinge brand, changing overlay, or hiring someone to fit the doors who has their own way of working, blank is safer than a guess.
Can you drill for handles too?
Hardware boring and handle holes are separate questions, and the one that trips people up is that handle position is a design decision rather than a measurement. Where a pull sits on a shaker door changes how the kitchen reads.
If you are reusing existing handles and want the holes to line up with what is there, measure them from the edges of the old door rather than from the centre, and give us both dimensions.
How do I tell what boring my existing doors have?
Take one door off and turn it over. Everything you need is on the back of it.
Lay a rule across the round recess — that is the cup diameter, and it will almost certainly read 35mm. Measure from the back face of the door down to the bottom of the recess for the depth. Then measure the strip of timber between the edge of the door and the nearest edge of the cup, which is the setback. Finally, measure from the top of the door to the middle of the top cup, and from the bottom to the middle of the bottom cup.
Four numbers, five minutes. Do it on every door rather than one, because a kitchen that has had a door replaced at some point may carry two patterns and the second one only shows up when a door will not hang.
Does the boring have to match across a whole kitchen?
Within a door, yes — both cups on the same door must be the same distance in from the edge, or the door will not hang square.
Across a kitchen, ideally yes, because it means every door is interchangeable and every hinge adjusts the same way. In practice, kitchens that have been repaired over the years often carry more than one pattern, and that is fine as long as it is known. Measure every door rather than one door, and note where they differ.
What happens if the boring is wrong?
A concealed hinge adjusts in three directions — side to side, in and out, and up and down — so a small error can be dialled out once the doors are hung.
The limit is worth knowing: if a door is out by more than about 2mm in any direction, the hinge is not the problem. Either the plate is in the wrong place, the plate height is wrong for your overlay, or the cabinet itself is out. Adjustment is for fine-tuning and it will not rescue a cup bored in the wrong place.
That is the real argument for getting the boring right on the order rather than hoping to fix it on the wall. Every door here is cut and bored to what you send, two weeks from order to shipped.
Frequently asked questions
Are all cabinet hinge cups 35mm?
Most full-size concealed hinges use 35mm, and it is what you will almost certainly find. A 26mm cup exists on some smaller and older hinges. Measure yours rather than assuming, because the two do not interchange.
Can I drill the hinge holes myself?
Yes, with a 35mm forstner bit and a jig that sets the depth and the distance from the edge. The jig is the part that matters. Freehand boring is where the depth wanders and the cup breaks through the face of the door.
Do you drill the holes in the cabinet for the mounting plate?
No, those are drilled on site once the cabinet is in place. We supply the doors and the plates; the plate position depends on your cabinet rather than on the door.
How deep should a hinge cup be?
Ours are 13mm. Too shallow and the hinge sits proud so the door will not close flat; too deep and you are into the front face of the door, which shows.
Can I order some doors bored and some blank on one order?
Yes. Boring is set per door, so a kitchen where most doors reuse existing hinges and a couple are going somewhere new is a normal order.
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