Customer Reviews

Blum 110 Degrees Knock In Self Closing Compact 33 Hinge

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Based on my personal experience, I would not choose Compact 33 hinges for cabinets that get daily use because the hinges contain a plastic part that tends to break. In the 10 years since new cabinets with these hinges were installed in my house, the plastic part has broken in 32 hinges out of 58 installed. The cabinet doors still swing after the plastic part breaks, but they will not stay fully open, they will not self-close and they often make a loud cracking sound when opening or closing. If you are looking for hinges for a new installation, I would recommend choosing an all-metal 2-piece hinge instead.

If you already have broken Compact 33 hinges installed and need to replace them, I recommend considering Blum Compact 38N or 39C hinges as replacements. The 38N and 39C are 1-piece rather than 2-piece but they use the same door cutouts as the 33 and they are all-metal. If your existing 33 hinges were installed with wrap-around mounting plates you can probably replace them with 38N or 39C hinges without drilling any new holes. I was able to replace most of my broken 33 hinges with new 39C hinges in a few hours using only screwdrivers and a level. Note that if your cabinet face frames were painted with the original 33 mounting plates in place, then a small area of unpainted face frame will be exposed after you install 38N or 39C replacement hinges, because the area covered by the replacement hinges will not exactly match the area covered by the 33 mounting plates.

If your existing 33 hinges were installed with edge-mount or face-mount plates, 38N or 39C hinges might not fit on your cabinet face frames at all, or they might fit but require that you drill new screw holes in the face frames. On my few cabinets where 39C hinges will not fit, I have left the original 33 mounting plates in place and replaced the original 33 hinges with new 33 hinges. I am also keeping some spare 33 hinges on hand in case the plastic parts in the replacement hinges break in the future.

To determine which specific 38N or 39C model (if any) will fit your cabinets, you have to measure your cabinet door overlay. Blum's USA website includes a brochure about their concealed hinges that shows all the dimensions and model numbers. I used screw-on hinges as replacements even though my originals were press-in hinges, because the press-in dowel parts stayed in place when I unscrewed the original hinges.

My cabinets were installed with these about 12 years ago and about 40% of these hinges have failed as described in other reviews. I contacted Blum USA +1 800 438 6788 (USA only) and they immediately offered to send replacements for the ones I currently have broken... and let me know to call if more fail. They said they had a bad run of those with a defective mechanism that caused the plastic part to crack - back around the time mine were installed. That has been fixed and the replacements should be fine. AWESOME CUSTOMER SERVICE!

The Blum Compact 33 110 degree hinge is a great hinge,

at least while it works. It operates smoothly, adjusts

easily, and installs quickly: a cabinet-maker's dream.

Unfortunately, that's about where the beauty of the

hinge ends. The mean-time-to-failure of this hinge

is about six years. Thus, I'd rate this item

as a replacement-only piece of hardware and avoid it

for new cabinet construction.

I have to agree with the other reviews. My kitchen was installed with these hinges and I've been replacing them quite often. I'd estimate I have about 80 of them and so far in the past 4 years since I bought my house, I've replaced about 25% of them (and here I am shopping for more replacements).

My advice... if you have these, buy them in bulk and have a few extra at all times because they will all eventually break and make that "snap" noise on open/close.

Is it worth re-drilling all your cabinet doors and buying something more sturdy? I don't plan to. The replacement cost and effort is still pretty low. The faceplates seem to hold up well so you're only replacing the odd hinge every few years at $2 bucks a pop. And when they're not broken, they do indeed work rather well. Replacing them is easy enough, fortunately.

Yes, you can fix your old style 31.360N.01 hinges that no longer hold the door closed!!!! Just call BLUM 1-800-438-6788 to get them replaced. They have a lifetime warranty. They will replace them with the new style 33.3600 hinge. Just take the hinge pin out to get the interchaneable plastic part that is broken on your old hinge (might as well take the slide plate out too, access holes to pry on the side). Use those new parts on your old hinge. Takes time but better than drilling new screw holes.

I have these hinges in all my kitchen cabinets. They were new in 1993.

These hinges, in my opinion, have an engineering design flaw. Or maybe they were designed this way so you would have to buy new ones to replace the ones that fail.

Anyway after about 10 years, the plastic spring mechanism that keeps the cabinet door closed starts to fail and the doors do not stay closed. I do not know if the plasitc has a short life span or what but a piece of the plastic breaks off and causes the self closing mechanism to stop working.

My advice, look for something else.

As others have mentioned, this type of hinge is subject to failure after only a few years. I took the advice of those who suggested calling Blum's customer service (1-800-438-6788). I was told that the hinges are under warranty (mine were installed in 2000). The company sent out the replacement hinges I requested at no cost. They arrived within a week. Kudos to Blum for standing behind their products.

Blum 110 Degrees Knock In Self Closing Compact 33 Hinge Do not buy this hinge! If you are replacing this defective product call Blum and get the all metal replacement. The plastic piece on the swing arm breaks and the hinge either will not stay open and/or makes a snapping sound. When you look inside the hinge mechanism and you can see the metal hinge pin then the plastic piece is broken off and this is the defect that all of these reviews are discussing.Good Luck

The bathroom medicine cabinet door hinge recently started to make that snapping noise when I opened or closed the door. I lubricated the hinge assembly and adjusted the mounting screw but that did not help and this morning (2/10/07) when I was retrieving an item from the cabinet shelf, the door hinge that was making the noise failed and the door almost fell off. The door has a glass mirror. Fortunately, the bottom hinge saved the door from completely falling off. According to Amazon reviews, the the life of this pedigree of hinge is about 6 years and it's kind of prophetic because I bought the house about 6 years ago. Perhaps the previous owners installed the cabinets shortly after I bought the house. Anyway, I have to search for one only pair of hinges as they are used only in one place, in my master bathroom.

ECHOKILO in Duluth, Georgia.

The Model 110 hinges contain a black plastic part which breaks. Once the part breaks, the hinges will not stay open/hold the door open by themselves. The plastic part, naturally is not replaceable, and the entire hinge requires replacement.