How Many Hinges Should Be Installed on A Furniture Door Panel? Here’s The Scientific Formula

How many hinges should be installed on a door panel? It depends on the door panel.  

Generally installation

Generally, taller cabinet doors require four hinges: one in the middle, two at the top, and one at the bottom. There are three hinge installation methods:  

1. Full Overlay: The door fully covers the cabinet side panel, leaving a small gap between them.  

2. Half Overlay: Two doors share one cabinet side panel, with a required minimum gap between them.  

3. Inset: The door sits inside the cabinet, flush with the side panel, but still needs a small gap for safe opening.  

The number of hinges is determined by the cabinet door’s height. Taking the commonly used EastMax hydraulic hinge as an example, the standard installation is:  

•  900mm door height: 2 hinges  

•  1600mm door height: 3 hinges  

•  2000mm door height: 4 hinges  

•  2400mm door height: 5 hinges  

Proffessional installation

However, for longer lifespan and greater precision, the actual door panel conditions must also be considered.  

Door panel parameters include:  

1. Material: Particleboard, plywood, solid wood, etc. (Key factor: material density)  

2. Width (mm): Common sizes—450mm, 500mm, 600mm, etc.  

3. Height (mm): Typically ranges from 500mm to 2700mm.  

4. Thickness (mm): Common options—18mm, 22mm, 25mm, etc.  

Usually, the number of hinges mainly relates to the door panel’s torque (torque ≈ weight × center of gravity position). Simply put:  

•  Heavier door + farther center of gravity = more hinges needed  

•  Lighter door + closer center of gravity = fewer hinges needed  

This primarily tests the hinge’s load-bearing capacity.  

Market trends:  

•  Material: Particleboard is the most common.  

•  Width: 450mm and 600mm are the most popular.  

•  Thickness: 18mm panels dominate.  

Hinge manufacturers typically use 600mm-wide, 18mm-thick door panels as the standard reference.  

As shown in the figure:  

•  Bottom-left diagram: A door weighing 4-6kg, ~800mm tall, requires 2 hinges.  

•  Right-side diagram: A door weighing 17-22kg, ~2.5m tall, needs 5 hinges.  

Under these conditions:  

•  Imported hinges usually offer a 200,000-cycle warranty (~20 years).  

•  Domestic hinges typically provide 100,000 cycles (~10 years).  

Two additional details are involved:  

1. Door panel sagging  

2. How cycle counts translate to lifespan (some small brands may mislead customers).  

We’ll discuss these in detail later.