What is the difference between soft close and self close kitchen cabinets?

If you’re planning a kitchen refurbishment, you may well be considering what style of cabinets you want to have in your new kitchen. With a wide variety of styles available – from sleek, handleless gloss white right through to rustic solid wood, your choice of cabinet really defines your kitchen’s new look.

Indeed, you can transform your kitchen much more cost-effectively by simply opting for replacement kitchen doors, from specialists such as https://www.happy-doors.co.uk/shop/products/kitchens. This is not only cheaper, but quicker to install, too.

But it’s important to consider not only the look of your new cabinets, but also their features. In fact, the humble hinge can make all the difference to the feel of your kitchen, by transforming your cabinet doors from shutting with an unwanted bang to a gentle, quiet close. You can even add self-closing cabinet doors into the mix of options. Let’s have a look at the differences between soft close and self close.

Soft close

The key feature of soft close cabinet doors is that they close quietly and – as the name suggests – softly. A gentle nudge from you will ensure your cabinet door swings slowly shut without so much as a tap. Another added bonus of this style of closing is that the doors are much safer – there’s almost no risk of trapped fingers which is particularly important in a family home.

Soft close doors work thanks to hydraulic damping pistons which engage during the final few degrees of the door’s movement, according to interiors experts at Home Briefings.

Self close

Self close cabinet hinges are very similar in how they work, but an internal spring or lever will engage slightly earlier in the door closing process. This means that the door – or drawer – will literally close itself.

This makes self closing drawers or cupboards particularly useful for busy, commercial kitchen environments where chefs and other staff who are rushing around need to save all the time they can.