Hinged Or Sliding Cupboard Doors?

Having a hard time choosing between hinged or sliding cupboard doors? Here are some pros and cons of both to help you install the best cupboard doors for your home.

Sliding Cupboard Door Style

The sliding cupboard door is a trendy, European look, not quite as popular in America. They are often used with sleek, minimalist kitchen designs, but could also fit more traditional dècor.

Sliding door hinges look and function beautifully with glass elements. If you have a cabinet door with a glass inlay, or you have a frosted glass cabinet door the sliding hinges are perfect.

Where to Use Sliding Doors?

Sliding cupboard doors work well in small kitchens without space for swinging doors. They are especially useful in corners or near appliances, such as the dishwasher or refrigerator. A lot of older homes have smaller kitchens. Sliding doors work very well in galley style kitchens since space is usually an issue.

Other people like sliding cupboard doors for their safety. You’ll never have a cupboard door left open for someone to bump his or her head against. Leaving a door open by mistake just looks tacky, and a sliding door will prevent that.

Sliding cupboard doors also have a sleek look. There is no need for extensive hardware on the exterior of a sliding door, so it is easy to achieve a minimalist look and require very little cabinet hardware.

Negatives of Sliding Cupboard Doors

Sliding cupboard doors don't provide much accessibility to the cupboard contents. With sliding doors, one side of the cupboard is always covered, making it impossible to ever open a cupboard entirely. If you tend to stuff your cabinets and not clean them out often, then a sliding door may not be a good option.

The design of sliding cupboard doors makes them cumbersome and fragile. The hardware on the doors is prone to slipping, throwing the doors off track. For an active family, this could be a problem. A door that is pushed closed too aggressively or quickly could end up causing damage. The damage is not generally easily repaired.

Why Choose Hinged Cupboard Doors?

Hinged cupboard doors have some advantages and disadvantages as well.

Because of hinged cupboard doors' popularity, there are thousands of different types of hinged cupboard doors from which to choose.
Hinged doors also offer flexibility. You can install the hinges on either side, letting the door open from whichever direction gives greater access to the cupboard contents.

Hinged doors are less susceptible to malfunction and breakage. They will likely give many trouble free years of service before failing completely. For a very active family, or a family with small children, the hinged doors are probably the best option. A door that is slammed is not as likely to break a hinge, and you don’t have to worry about the doors coming off the track.

The choice is ultimately yours. Before you decide on which hinge is best for your kitchen think about your needs, and the space available in your kitchen.