Finished a kitchen install without a single Blum hinge and it worked out

Last month a client in Denver insisted on no brand name hardware, just wanted plain self closing hinges from the local box store. I pushed back at first because I thought cheap hinges would sag or misalign, but they had a tight timeline and a fixed budget. I put them on 12 doors across 4 cabinets, took my time setting the depth and tension on each one. Three weeks later I checked back and everything still lines up, no squeaks, no dropping. I'm not saying I'll switch full time, but it made me wonder how much of the premium hinge talk is habit versus real need. Has anyone else had a good run with off brand hardware on a real job?

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fisher.charlie15d ago

What's the weather like in that Denver house, because humidity swings are what kill cheap hinges way faster than door weight? If it's dry year round you might just be getting away with it.

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blairj5515d ago

Humidity is the real killer for sure. Lived in a place in the Midwest where it went from swampy in summer to bone dry in winter, and the cheap hinges on my closet doors got loose and squeaky within a year, while the nicer ones on the front door were totally fine. Denver is pretty dry most of the year, so you can probably get away with cheaper stuff a lot longer than someone in, say, Houston or Atlanta. Just watch out during the spring and summer storms when it actually does get humid for a few weeks, that's when cheap metal tends to act up.

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