Check your hinge cups before you route, learned that the hard way at a condo job

Jamie Coleman · 2026-09-08T05:30:07.205504+00:00

I was installing 18 European cabinets in a downtown Austin condo last Tuesday, and I grabbed a fresh box of Blum hinges from my van like I always do. But these were a different model number, I didn't even look at the insert cups, and my 35mm boring bit was 2mm too shallow for them. I had already routed all 14 doors by the time I went to press in the first hinge and it sat proud, like a quarter inch off the face. Cost me an extra 3 hours to patch with dowels and re-route every single door, plus a $60 trip to the lumberyard for replacement veneer. The client was watching me sweat through their whole kitchen remodel and asked if I needed a break, real nice lady honestly. I called my supplier and they said this newer line uses a deeper cup, which nobody warned me about on the order sheet. Has anyone else gotten burned by a hinge spec change that looked identical on the outside?

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Check your hinge cups before you route, learned that the hard way at a condo job | Cabinetmakers - Hub Chatter