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Guy at the lumber yard in Boise said euro hinges are a fad, and I just nodded
Stopped by a yard in Boise 3 weeks ago for some 3/4 birch ply and the old timer behind the counter saw my hinge boring jig on the passenger seat. He laughed and said euro hinges are a fad that will die out like pocket screws did, real cabinets use butt hinges and a rabbet. I did not argue with him, mostly because I was tired, but I have hung well over 400 euro doors in the past 6 years and have never had a callback on one. Butt hinges look nice on a face frame piece, sure, but the adjustability on a euro plate saves me 20 minutes a door on install day when the box is out of square. Curious if anyone here still runs butt hinges by choice on frameless boxes, and if so what is your trick for getting them right the first time?
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jamie_price1mo ago
Euro hinges were already standard on frameless boxes in Germany by the 1960s, so calling them a fad is a bit like calling plywood a fad. Pocket screws did not die either, they just moved to where they make sense, face frames and shop jigs. The old timer is right that butt hinges and a rabbet look better on a face frame cabinet, no argument there. But on a frameless box the euro plate is doing real work, the 2mm of side to side and the height adjust are what let you skip shimming the whole run. Getting butt hinges right the first time on frameless means cutting the door and box together and marking off the actual hinge leaf, not a number off a chart, because the box will move on you. That is the trick, and it is why most guys stopped doing it.
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