How to recognise quality in these little details
The door hinges and the drawer runners may seem a little insignificant but there are variations in quality out there and it will help in your selection process if you know what to look out for.
Door Hinges
look for hinges which are all metal construction. These days most hinges are, but try to avoid anything where there are plastic components on the hinge as these will not stand up to wear and tear as well as the all metal varieties.
There are two basic sections of a typical door hinge; the actual hinge which is attached to the door, and the hinge plate which is attached to the carcass. These two parts are designed to come apart so that the door can be removed if needed and refitted with ease. In some cases the hinge is fastened to the hinge plate with a screw but in most modern kitchens there is a simple clip mechanism which allows the door to come on and off without the need for any tools.
There will also be adjustment for the hinge to allow for aligning the kitchen doors and to ensure smooth opening and closing. Ideally there should be adjustment in three directions, allowing the door to move up and down, left and right, and in towards or out from the carcass edge. Careful adjustment will ensure that all the doors on your kitchen line up nicely and open and close easily. This of course should be sorted out by your fitter when the installation is being completed.
Soft closing hinges are very widely used now, allowing for doors to close gently and in most cases the doors will close themselves after a gentle push.
Drawer Runners
The drawer runner it the mechanism which attached the drawer to the carcass and allows the drawer to slide in and out. There are two parts to each runner set: the part which is fixes onto the carcass and the part which is fixed onto the drawer box.
A good quality runner will allow the smooth operation of the drawer, meaning the drawer can be filled and still slide in and out smoothly. Of course there will be a limit to the weight which can be supported by the drawer, but a good quality runner will be able to support enough weight to allow the drawer to carry sufficient load to be practical and useful. Typical kitchen items like crockery and cutlery can be heavy, so strong, quality runners are an essential.
As a rule, try to avoid plastic drawer runners. These will have limited strength and will frequently stick causing the drawer to be difficult to open or close. They will not have the durability of metal runners.
Look for metal runners on both the carcass side and the drawer box. Usually these will have plastic rollers or wheels which is fine, these provide smooth running and require very little maintenance. Most systems allow for the complete drawer assembly to be easily removed, but feature a stop point to prevent the drawer from accidently being pulled completely out. At the stop point, the drawer needs to be lifted slightly to allow the runners to separate and the drawer come free.
Soft closing a a fairly standard feature now, which simply means a buffer has been added to the runners to cushion the final close and keep movements smooth and quiet. This is not a necessary feature but it offers an overall feeling of quality.
Drawer Boxes
In the trade this is what we call the actual drawer assembly. There are different construction methods for these, with the top of the range featuring an all metal construction and showing considerable strength and durability. Some have a mixture of metal sides with a chipboard/melamine base, some have plastic sides, some are all chipboard/melamine and some are moulded plastic.
Naturally the construction of the drawer box will determine the strength and the weight which the drawer will support safely., Have a good look at any drawers and check how they are constructed. Its not rocket science to gage the strength of a drawer, have a good look, tap the sides and base to check they are reasonable rigid. Plastic drawer boxes are fine as long as they are moulded from quality material. If they are flimsy this will be obvious when inspected and touched. In fact a quality plastic moulded drawer is easy to keep clean and as there are no internal joints, it's not going to have dust and grime sticking in the corners.
Most likely you will find in a good quality kitchen that the sides of the drawer box are metal and the base and back are chipboard/melamine, similar to the actual carcass material.
