In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 5 Oct 2015 20:49:48 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:


I recently purchased an older home and removed all my kitchen cabinet doors to re-paint them. I used the old hardware and hung back in same positions but they are uneven. I know they are in the same location because the kitchen cabinets were homemade and all doors are different sizes and have latches in different locations. Some doors are tight at bottom but have gap near top. Others one door is higher than another and another is so tight that both doors have to be closed at same time and the paint is rubbing off from the friction.

What can I do to get these doors to hang level? (I think they were level before I took them off.)

Thanks,
Evelyn Neese

I"m not too surprised at this. How many screws hold each hinge to the
cabinet? Each hinge to the door? I'm very curious but whatever the
answer is, it will be up to you to figure out how to adjust them.

By putting either kitchen matches** or round toothpicks (which are
harder) in one side of the hole and the screw in the other side of the
hole, you may be able to reposition either the hinge and door or just
the door, depening on which hole. I've never used anything else,
but I usually do this to tighten up loose screws, not to reposition a
screw in a hole. If your hole is already tight, and your really can't
get a kitchen match and the screw in the same hole, even when turning
the screw with a screwdriver, you might also use flat toothpicks (softer
than the round ones) or small wood matches (which used to be available
when leaving some fancy restaurants. I'm not sure where you'd get them
now. Google? Amazon? Ebay? or just forget it and use the flat
toothpicks.

If you need room in the hole to get the screw off center, a smaller
screw might work, but that's a last resort.

You may need someone to hold the door while you put at least the first
screw for each hinge in.

Good luck.

**For sale in the supermarket, 3 boxes at a time.