Even big doors need the occasional stiffener

The trend for ever larger cabinet and wardrobe doors has brought a clean look to interiors which we all appreciate. Larger doors however put a greater stress on the fittings and materials used to produce them so a little care is required when specifiying. For a larger door to remain dimensionally stable it has to either be thicker, and likely heavier and more expensive or to be reinforced in some way. On the continent where they have been making doors from thinner materials for some time it is standard practice to reinforce with tensioner bars. These prevent the doors from warping but they can look a little alarming to the average housewife with adjustment and access panels visible on the inside of the door. The TN401 is a tensioner bar that is adjusted with an Allen key from the bottom edge of the door, a simple refinement that means the reinforcement can be mounted behind discreet panels in the door and remain invisible to the user. A typical installation would mount a pair of tensioner bars in each door so that the door can be made from lighter, more cost effective material which also has the benefit of making them easier for the user to manipulate. Standard concealed hinges still get used in multiples for larger cabinet doors. Up to five hinges on one door have been seen but it's not a good idea as it always over-stresses the top hinge leading to early failure. The J95 from Sugatsune looks just like a standard concealed hinge but it’s bigger and is designed to be used in pairs for doors up to 800mm wide weighing up to 25kgs. It also installs in the same way as a standard hinge with a 40mm cup (the standard is 35mm). The mounting plate uses four screws which adds to it's stability. The HES3D-120 is the little sister of larger architectural hinges produced by Sugatsune. It has a seven link articulation and is fully adjustable on three axes. What makes it special is that it is small enough to be used in wardrobe or cabinet doors as thin as 29mm making it best in class. A pair will support a door weighing 30kgs and can be adjusted up/down, in/out and side to side for impeccable fit. For high specification fit-outs it's the sort of detail that makes the difference.

For more information on Even big doors need the occasional stiffener talk to Sugatsune UK