For more than 40 years, Blum has maintained a reputation for designing and producing the highest-quality components for bespoke kitchens.
Today, Blum Hinges are widely considered to set an industry benchmark. With equal emphasis on style and practicality, Blum’s Hinges are also easy to install and practically maintenance-free.
Whether designing a new kitchen from scratch or simply upgrading a series of cabinet doors, Blum Hinges cover all requirements for classical and contemporary kitchens alike.
Types of cabinet
There are two categories of kitchen cabinet which require a different style of hinge:
Frameless cabinets
Frameless cabinets are the most common cabinet types for modern kitchens, comprising a four-sided box with hinges mounted to the interior of the cabinet. Clip-top hinges are the ideal solution for frameless cabinets, which are also referred to as Euro-style cabinets.
Face-frame cabinets
Face-frame cabinets comprise the same four sides, with the addition of a frame that’s attached to the front edges or face of the cabinet. This type of cabinet requires face-frame hinges to mount in to the face frame.
Blum hinge styles
There are three types of Blum hinge available to accommodate different configurations and positions of the cabinet doors.
Full Overlay hinges
A full-overlay Blum hinge is suitable for doors that cover the exterior edge of the cabinet in its entirety. This is the standard overlay type for cabinet doors at the end of a series of cabinets, or in the case of standalone cabinets.
Half Overlay hinges
Half overlay Blum hinges are most commonly used when a series of cabinets are positioned next to each other with shared partition walls. The half overlay cabinet and hinge ensures exactly half of the partition is covered by each door accordingly.
Inset hinges
Inset cabinet Blum hinges are suitable for doors that fit flush with the front edges of the cabinet, with no external protrusions other than the handle (where applicable).
Blum Hinges are also available with a variety of different closing styles, including free-swing hinges, soft-closing BLUMOTION hinges and self-closing hinges. All of which can be selected in accordance with individual preferences, with no detrimental impact on the quality or practicality of the cabinets.
How to use Blum hinges
The entire Blum Hinge range has been designed with simple and consistently accurate installation in mind. Further simplifying the installation of Blum Hinges for product manufacturers and cabinet fitters, an extensive series of accessories is available including:
- Blum Jig Set
- Blum Drilling Gauge
- BLUM Drilling Template for Servo Drive Switch
- Blum Hinge Drilling Template
- Blum Universal Individual Template
- Blum Universal Drilling Template
All of Blum’s European-style hinges feature the same three-way independent adjustments system, enabling the hinges and the doors to be adjusted in three dimensions:
- Side Adjustment – Meticulously manage the gaps between the doors, cabinets and walls for perfect parallel alignment.
- Height Adjustment – Ensure every cabinet door is positioned precisely at the bottom and the top.
- Depth Adjustment – Flawless alignment across the vertical surface in its entirety, however many cabinets are installed together.
The Blum adjusting system allows precise changes to be made with a simple turn of a screw or cam, ensuring consistently flawless results with every installation.
Blum hinge quantity
Determining how many Blum Hinges are needed for any given project means taking into account the size and weight of the door. For example, a door of 43 inches in height and a weight of around 6kg should be attached to the frame using three hinges. By contrast, a door with a height of 20 inches and an approximate weight of 3kg will usually require two hinges.
Always consider your requirements in accordance with the maximum load capacity of the hinges you plan to use. Not to mention, the maximum angle hinge will allow the door to open to – aka the ‘degree of opening’. Some hinges are limited to a 90° opening angle, while others support opening angles of up to 270°.
How to maintain Blum hinges
The entire range of Blum Hinges has been designed to be almost entirely maintenance-free. If the hinges are kept clean and in good condition (in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidelines), Blum hinges guarantee many years of flawless performance.
In the event that Blum Hinges need to be replaced, doing so is as simple as swapping out the faulty component in question with a few twists of a screwdriver.
The periodic application of an approved lubricant may be recommended after several years, though Blum Hinges are typically 100% maintenance-free indefinitely.
