3 Quality Soft Close Concealed Hinges Compared 

Well I’m glad you like them!!

Thanks for that Job, I have been told that but never got round to trying them!

Hi David yes I have it on my shelf! I love Hettich products. As I may have said in this video, I think the Sensys hinge is the best soft close hinge available. I didn't know they did it in black! I decided to stick with Blum mainly for easy availability of their products, combined with them also being quality products.

@@Alastair_Freebird yeah - I get that. Blum is not readily available here while hettich is somewhat easy to get. It's all about systems, right?

@@dpepke That's interesting. Remind me where you are based? Is it Denmark? I think we connected on instagram first right? And is Hettich German, whereas Blum is Austrian?

@@Alastair_Freebird yeah, we talked on Instagram. And yes I'm in Denmark. And yes, hettich is german. There is a local dealer of blum in Denmark, but hettich is carried in a few stores, so some things are possible to get in a pinch. I usually order in bulk, so I always carry spares though - except for special door system and such. Häfele have black hinges too - and I think that blum do too. Much better look on both painted doors and oak - in my opinion.

Thanks for a great video. I have worked for both companies and they are both engineered slightly different but both are absolutely amazing in their own right. Hettich Being German, they are extremely good at engineering and providing technical data and information. Hettich Sensys hinge uses a real dampener behind the arm which assists with small to large heavy doors without a worry of adjustment on the silent system. No turning on and off. The dampener adjusts its self to the size and weight of door. The hinge is also slightly heavier with thicker steel and slightly bulkier design with great adjustment. The silent system engages at 35 degrees at closing doors which results in only needing a gentle push to close the door and the silent system catches nice and early. Sensys hinge also operates perfectly in +5 to +40 degrees in hot or cold environments/ kitchens. Blumotion hinge the blumotion hinge designed with a spring loaded soft close system designed into the cup of the hinge. (Not a dampener)Brilliant design giving the user the option to turn off and on the blumotion and adjust the soft close according to the size and weight of door. Sleek smaller design hinge with great adjustments. The blumotion engages closing doors at 22 degrees. The temperature which the hinge has been tested to work in is unknown to me and unfortunately there are not a lot of data on this. Blum being such highly trusted brand probably sees no reason. I wish I could explain the blumotion a little better but sometimes less is more. Both hinges are available in chrome steel plated and dark colour for wood grain and dark cabinets. Hettich calls it Obsidian. Blum calls it Onyx. Both available with cross mounting and inline plate. Both are excellent and amazing to work with. In my opinion what makes a great hinge system is also the variety of angles and different applications available like 15, 30, 45, blind corner, zero protrusion, thick and thin doors. This is what separates Hettich and Blum from the rest. Both carry a lifetime of the furniture warranty and I have certainly helped both brands with warranty claims as both are also none rust proof. Hope this helps guys.

Not a bad choice

@@Alastair_Freebird where i live, it's that or chineese made

Thanks. Someone else did tell me it's possible to get a hettich cup fitting with the blum spacing.

It’s nice to hear that feedback thanks!

Brian Needham is Tiomos made by Grass or a Hafele own brand? I did try them once; similar to the Hettich I thought but I think they were pretty expensive and even bulkier.

@@Alastair_Freebird yes it's made by Grass.

Robert Hatcher thanks for taking the time to comment 👍

Hi this has been mentioned to me, I still haven’t broken the Blum habit but it’s good to know I could order the Blum pattern from Hettich. Thanks

Craig Kovatch you’re welcome I appreciate the comments!

Hi as far as I'm aware they all have 2mm up or down vertical adjustment on the mounting plates (4mm total travel) though I can't say for 100% sure. You will find this information in their technical documentation. One thing to be aware of with the Sugatsune OIympia hinges though is that the side to side adjustment on the door (ie left or right movement of the door as you look at it from the front) is unusual - from the factory they come set at a maximum adjustment position towards the cabinet side, with adjustment moving the door inwards to the cabinet. Other hinges come from the factory at a sort of central zero position with adjustment possible about 2mm either left or right. For the blum this zero position places the door 16mm overlaying the carcase, which is usually about right for us (though this varies depending on the distance that the 35mm cup hole was drilled from the edge of the door - we place them 5mm from the edge); whereas the olympia hinges land at 18mm overlay prior to adjustment. When fitting lots of doors, this means that blum hinges place the doors in the correct position with minimal adjustment required, whereas with the sugatsune olympia hinges every door has to be adjusted in to avoid fouling, and this is a bit annoying. I think the reason for this is that 20mm board thickness is common in japan (so an 18mm overlay is desirable)

Hi I suggest you consult both company’s technical departments and describe your exact usage - door weight and size etc. See what they advise. You may find there is a hidden benefit to one or the other that wasn’t immediately apparent. Both have technical departments who are happy to receive emailed images and give advice over the phone - find details online

Hi, Hettich quality seems really good to me, and you very rarely hear about hinges like these breaking unless misused. It's a shame they don't seem the easiest brand to get hold of. The soft close can be turned off on their sensye hinges, but the magic of them is they seem to work fine for any door weight, better than the blum ones do

iBuild Interiors hi Jonathon we buy most of our hardware mail order from Hart Wholesale down in Essex(mainly because they are a single supplier who do both Blum and Hafele products). We use 17mm ‘Hospa’ screws from Hafele. I think they are these ones linked, although I must say that I find the Hafele site strange sometimes, hard to find things that should be easy to find! www.hafele.co.uk/en/product/hospa-screw-chipboard-countersunk-head-with-pz-cross-slot-fully-threaded-steel/01535646/?MasterSKU=00000001000020a300010023

I do remember hearing about activation angles and 30degrees sounds familiar . I’m not sure if or how much that varies between brands but their technical departments could probably tell you. I imagine it has to open so far to reactivate the mechanism before it will dampen again on closure.

Hi! I used to use a lot of the basic Grass hinges. I have only used the Tiomos once. They seems quite fancy, seemed a bit big and bulky though. They have a little lever on the arm for soft close change is that right? Or maybe I’m thinking about a different one. I’m sure they can from Hafele though. I still think Hettich Sensys have the best soft close

Late reply, but as a fitter I absolutely hate Hettich hinges. Doors only go on when the hinge screw is fully undone. This means if you put the door on, adjust it, but then have to take it off again. The WHOLE damn thing will need adjusting again because it won’t go back on. One of the only brands that do this and it’s so frustrating. Blum all the way for me, they’re so far ahead of all the competition imo

Daniel Coates it is a shame they’re not! But I have been told Hettich can provide a Blum pattern option

On the mounting plate? To be fair I think most brands do have a mounting plate option like that

Yes they do, like blum, hettich does it with one excentric screw too if you got the right plate. Hettich has more power in closing the door in every adjustment so I choose Hettich. Blum must be drilled 13.5, Hettich 12.8mm. I also use crossplate 8099, the nylon 5mm are inline but the screws are +&- 2.5mm out of line from the 37mm, so you can put two plates on each side and the screws are not touching. Good thinking by Hettich. Salice, from Häfele has variable soft close too

Douglas Lopes I’d probably go up to 22mm to reduce possible bending on a wide door like that. But you might manage with 18mm. You could fit a lot of standard Blum overlay hinges - 4 or 5, but they usually recommend up to only 600mm door width. So you could step up to an oversize concealer hinge like the ones Sugatsune do

See this video from 14:55 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R7xh2F-UHxY.html

Thanks 👍

Yes not the cheapest

Nicholas Fox you mean a wider range of hinge types like inset, half overlay, different angles? I don’t know for sure how the range compares. My personal opinion is that Hettich’s soft close mechanism is the best on the market because it adapts somehow to any door weight. It’s easy, reliable and silent. I haven’t seen a better one, but I accept that other fitters will consider adjustability etc a plus point, and I wasn’t commenting on the range available.

Hettich because it always feels soft and smooth regardless of the door size

@@Alastair_Freebird my kitchen cabinet door size is 40 inch length and 20 inch width

Whatever the size, the Hettich soft close mechanism gives a nice closing action

@@Alastair_Freebird tell me one thing sir if we kept aside closing action of hinges means if closing action does not matter Then which hinges is good blumotion or hettich quality of which hinges is best Tell me rating between blumotion or hettich Which is on 1st or 2nd according to you

@@vickygupta1174 both are very good. But I have been using Sugatsune more since this video and I am actually starting to like THEM best!!! because: multi stage damper. screw hole position integrated into mounting plate for the purpose of joining adjacent carcases. superior opening angle limiter insert (clips into the hinge so you can preload it, unlike the Blum one). Superior engagement mechanism between hinge and mounting plate which makes mounting tall doors easier.

Possibly it was a bit cheeky of me to do that!! It has been my observation that most customers hardly think about such details, at least not if the different hinges are adjacent. And I knew all hinges were high quality. In fact I have been amazed at how little I myself sometimes notice such things in furniture I use daily at home that has always been there; until I am thinking about the particular issue because of a project I'm working on at the time.

@@Alastair_Freebird I have an eye for detail that everyone else probably doesn't have. Re the hinges I'll stick with Blum for the projects I have planned. Would you recommend the ecodrill?

Gareth Collins the ecodrill has one idiotic design flaw - no extraction port. I keep meaning to drill a hole in the side like others do to receive the vac but haven’t got round to it yet (it’s a hard metal body). It’s also difficult to set and adjust the drilling depth - 2 very flat locking nuts that can’t be accessed with a normal spanner!! So it may be worth looking at other ones on the market... I know Hettich do one (but then the screw hole marks would be in the wrong place for Blum!)

@@Alastair_Freebird ok thanks, I'll look into further. 🤔

Stuart Cairnie I’m paying £1.69 ex vat each for the Blumotion blum hinges shown, from Hart Wholesale (HI71B3550). I haven’t actually bought the Hettich Sensys in some time (had some old ones in stock) and I haven’t had a quoted price yet on the Sugatsune Olympia hinge as I received those as samples, but was told they would compete with Blum.

@@Alastair_Freebird Thanks for the reply.

Miroslav Peška I don’t think you will get a good result with pistons and If you are going to do it at all I would recommend swapping out the hinges for ones with integrated soft close. I tried those pistons once and they were terrible. Admittedly they weren’t the Blum ones but one thing I can say for sure is the results will be poor if you put a piston on the opening side of the door - a proper soft close action would need to start activating long before the door swings so near to the closed position. If a general purpose piston is available that can be mounted on the hinge side that could work (like the clip on ones made for certain hinges) but again I would recommend just swapping out the hinges for ones with integrated soft close! Or possibly sourcing the clip on dampeners for each of the 3 brands. It will be a question of how much do you value your time vs just spending a bit more money and getting a better result!

@@Alastair_Freebird I see your point. Thank you for your response and best wishes from the Czech Republic!

@@Alastair_Freebird Just so you know, I contacted Hettich and just got a response. The technician said that the Screw On Hettich Damper (60579) works, but mainly on heavy doors, and that the adjuster does not do much for light doors. Also, since it is not integrated in the hinge, there are external forces pushing the hinge out of the wood when closing. The integrated soft close in the Sensys hinges is oil-based and the internal design is not the same as the one in the external dampers (which I was told have been discontinued - although you can still find them in my country). The only time they would recommend to use an external damper is when it is not possible to replace the whole hinge, just as you said.

Miroslav Peška I appreciate you feeding that back to me, it’s all interesting to hear 👍

You may be interested in another video I will be releasing shortly looking in more detail at the Sugatsune range of hinges. I wonder can you buy them over there?

DE S I’m glad you liked it!

Lee James glad you liked it, thanks

Chris Doyle oh really - they have a Blum pattern hinge boss option??

Freebird Interiors they do I’ll get the product code for you tomorrow when I’m nun work

Chris Doyle thanks please do, others will be able to refer to it here too 👍

Freebird Interiors 9073570 is the code I use to order them

Chris Doyle thanks for that

David Grider you’re welcome

Actually probably Bloom really

I was talking with my Blum representative and he gently corrected me and said it’s like flowers in May-“bloom.” 🌸

@@WelshRabbit OK, old habits may die hard though!

Des Brown I generally avoid using MDF now wherever I’m fixing a hinge, so I use Birch ply instead