Hinge dampers--one or two per door?

Birkie · Jan 22nd, 08, 7:50 pm

We got home to see our cabinets installed! I forgot to mention that hinge dampers to the guys, so we just snapped one on the bottom door hinge just now and that seems like plenty. They are very nice!

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to putting one on each hinge? Does it protect/extend the life of the hinges or anything to have them on both hinges? I read here that the doors close even more slowly (which seems unnecessary).

I don't know if the hinge dampers operate the same as the drawer ones, but I read about someone who totally left the dampers off their drawers because the drawers were harder to open and that aggravated her carpel tunnel syndrome. (With the drawers, you do have to "tug" a bit to open them.) Would the cabinets also be harder to open with two dampers?

Hinge with damper:

Hinge without damper:

torrus · Jan 22nd, 08, 9:01 pm

As far as I can tell one damper per door seems to work OK, the dampers (door and drawer) have no effect on the opening, just soften the closing.

tbow · Jan 22nd, 08, 10:22 pm

The hinge dampers are designed for one on each door. I've never heard of the slider dampers being a little hard to pull. In fact if you look at their design, they are not physically connected to the drawer and do NOT touch the drawer until you close it so it should not have any impact on opening the drawer.

MiamiBeach · Jan 23rd, 08, 8:12 am

I used 1 per door everywhere except my 15x64" door which worked better with 2.

Gollum · Jan 23rd, 08, 1:23 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiamiBeach

I used 1 per door everywhere except my 15x64" door which worked better with 2.

Does that door use 2 or 3 hinges?

In a PDF brochure from Blum, I saw an illustration for their 971 series dampers, i.e. the ones that are mounted between the hinges, showing 1 damper for 2 hinges and 2 dampers for 3 to 4 hinges.

I also think the same brochure recommended one 973 series damper for each hinge, but I believe that's uneccessary, at least for doors up to 60x92cm with 2 hinges (the largest I've tried yet). The 973 series, which attach to the hinges, are the ones that are available in some IKEA stores.

MiamiBeach · Jan 23rd, 08, 1:31 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gollum

Does that door use 2 or 3 hinges?

In a PDF brochure from Blum, I saw an illustration for their 971 series dampers, i.e. the ones that are mounted between the hinges, showing 1 damper for 2 hinges and 2 dampers for 3 to 4 hinges.

I also think the same brochure recommended one 973 series damper for each hinge, but I believe that's uneccessary, at least for doors up to 60x92cm with 2 hinges (the largest I've tried yet). The 973 series, which attach to the hinges, are the ones that are available in some IKEA stores.

15"x64" door uses 3 hinges.

Birkie · Jan 23rd, 08, 11:09 pm

Yes, the 15" x 64" cabinet door takes three hinges, the guys installed them today.

But, the dampers we used on the other cabinet doors won't fit. Probably because the pantry hinges are 153 degree.

Is there a damper for the 153 degree hinge?

The door actually closes OK without, but just wondering.

Gollum · Jan 24th, 08, 8:28 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birkie

Is there a damper for the 153 degree hinge?

The hinge on your picture looks different from the 153 degree hinges I bought at IKEA a few months ago. Mine look like this:
IKEA | INTEGRAL | Hinge
I don't think there are dampers for the ones I have, but yours are probaly the newer 155 degree ones from Blum, which do accept dampers, but a different one, Blum 973A6000:
BLUMOTION FOR WIDE ANGLE HINGE - Blumotion 973A
Or see page 9 in this PDF brochure:
BLUMOTION for doors

Alternatively, you may use one of the 971A series dampers between the hinges, see the PDF brochure. That also works with the older hinges.

In both cases, you may have to look outside IKEA to find the dampers.

By the way, were those hinges you used sold as IKEA part number 50105863, like the old 153 degree ones? If no, what part number do they use? I'm asking because IKEA use different part numbers for the old 130 degree hinges and the new 125 degree ones.

Birkie · Jan 24th, 08, 2:14 pm

Gollum,

I have a whole bag of dampers, perhaps the ones to fit the 155 hinges are in there and I didn't notice the difference. I'll look when I get home. Thank you so much for pointing this out to me.

I will also check the part number if I can find it. The bag is probably in the trash, but maybe the part # is on the hinge.

Gollum · Jan 24th, 08, 2:50 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birkie

I will also check the part number if I can find it. The bag is probably in the trash, but maybe the part # is on the hinge.

AFAIK the hinges are standard Blum parts, so there will be no IKEA part number on the hinge itself. But it should be printed on the receipt from IKEA, which you should have kept in case you need to return anything. At least that's how it works at my local IKEA.