A cupboard door that catches every time you close it gets annoying quickly. Before reaching for sandpaper, check whether its concealed hinges have a side adjustment. A small correction may be all the door needs.
Is this your repair?
A sound cabinet with firmly attached, adjustable concealed hinges and a small side-to-side alignment problem. This guide does not cover loose mounting plates, damaged screw holes, warped doors, glass doors, or height adjustments that require loosening the door supports.
Tools
- Correctly fitting manual screwdriver — turn the identified adjustment screw with control
Materials
- A phone photo of the starting gap (optional)
1. Find the contact point
Empty anything obstructing the door and close it gently. Note whether the top, bottom or whole free edge touches the neighboring door. Photograph the gap before making changes. If the door is rubbing at its top or bottom edge instead, this side-adjustment guide may not be the right fix.
2. Check for a worn screw hole
If a fixing screw spins without tightening, the hole may have worn out. Adjusting the hinge will not cure that. Check the repair note below before continuing; a loose hinge needs a sound fixing first.
3. Find the side adjustment
Open the door and look at the hinge. You want the screw that moves the door sideways, not the screws holding the hinge to the wood. If you cannot tell them apart, a quick look at the hinge maker’s diagram will help.
4. Make one small change
Seat the screwdriver firmly in the side-adjustment screw and turn it a little at one hinge. Close the door and see what changed. Do not force a screw that has reached the end of its adjustment.
5. Close and compare
Close the door gently and compare the gap with your starting photo. If it improved, continue cautiously; if it worsened, return to your starting setting. Check the opposite end too. Change one adjustment at a time so you can see what caused the movement.
6. Check the full movement
Open and close both doors through their normal travel. Check for rubbing at the center and hinge-side edges. If you cannot get clearance within the hinge’s adjustment range, stop. Further tightening is not a remedy for a warped door or cabinet that is out of square.
A worn screw hole: a repair from experience
One simple repair we have used in both solid wood and chipboard is wood glue mixed with sawdust. It needs sound material around the hole to bond to. Sometimes the damage underneath is worse than it looks, and filling the visible hole will not solve it. This is a practical experience-based option, not a tested strength rating or a guaranteed repair.
- Take the weight off the hinge. Remove the door with help, following its hinge-release method, or support it securely so its weight cannot pull on the repair. Do not leave it hanging from the remaining hinge while you work.
- Check what is left around the hole. Remove loose crumbs and dust gently. The mixture needs clean, sound wood to bond to. If material keeps crumbling away, the panel is swollen, or the hinge has pulled out a larger section, do not count on this small repair. The damaged area needs a different repair or replacement.
- Fill and position the screw. Mix wood glue with clean sawdust from untreated wood and work it into the small worn hole. In this method, the screw is positioned in the mixture while it is still wet and left there during curing, rather than drilling a new pilot hole afterward. Keep it correctly aligned and leave the fixing unloaded.
- Leave it alone until fully cured. Follow the glue’s full-cure guidance, not just its initial grab or surface-drying time. A thick filled hole may cure differently from a thin glue joint; do not assume it is ready just because the surface feels hard. Do not turn the screw or put the door’s weight on the repair while it is curing.
- Check before returning to the adjustment. Only refit or release the door support once the repair has fully hardened. If the screw spins, the hinge moves, or the surrounding material breaks away, the repair has not worked. Support or remove the door again and use another repair suited to the damage; do not keep tightening.
Leaving the screw in the mixture can make later removal difficult. We have not verified a universal glue-to-sawdust ratio, cure time or holding strength for this method. Do not use it as a general repair for heavy doors or extensively damaged cabinet panels.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Turning every screw and losing track of the starting position.
- Sanding a door before checking its alignment.
- Treating a loose mounting screw as an adjustment control.
Final check
Both doors should open and close without rubbing, while the hinges and plates remain secure.