Let's Hear it for the Soft Closer - No More Kitchen Door Slamming!

If there were a Nobel Peace prize for bringing harmony into the kichen, it might have to go to the inventor of the Kitchen Door 'Soft Closer'. This ingenious little item can be easily fitted to doors and drawers to top that awful slamming sound that you hear so frequently either when you're in the kitchen yourself - or when you're trying to relax in the lounge and all you hear is the constant 'thwack' as another kitchen cupboard closes while your supper's being prepared (how irritating is that!!).

What's even better about these quiet little gems is that relatively inexpensive - and straightforward to fit. Let's start with the simple plastic soft closer that can be fitted inside your existing cabinets. Pictured here on the right, this shows the soft closer pressed into a 10 mm hole - so that's all you need do to fit it, drill a nice even 10mm hole into the wall of your kitchen cabinet and then press in the plastic closer. It's a simple enough principle, as you push the door closed, it meets the end of the closer, which 'dampens' the momentum of the door - and then the pressure of the door on slowly pushes the piston of the closer back into its housing. Leaving a quiet, slow, gentle door close. Aaaaahhhh.

When you open the door again, the piston pops out - ready for the next time you close the door.

Using this method, you need only fit one per cabinet and they are a little over a couple of pounds each - so a typical kitchen will set you back a little less than £30 to fit on all doors. Not much to pay for a bit of peace and quiet is it?

They work on drawers too, so for an even quieter life, fit those too.

Now if you don't fancy drilling the hole into the cabinet, for an extra £0.18 per fitting, you can use a surface mounting unit to house the soft closer which you fit on the inside of the cabinet.

Then on the slightly more sophisticated level, there is the soft closer unit that fits onto your clip on concealed cabinet hinge. It will need to be the 170 degree example shown on the link, which opens sufficiently for the bit to clip onto the door piece of the hinge. This particular soft closer

(shown on the left here, looks a bit more sexy don't you think?) is even less obtrusive than it's plastic sister above.

But please be sure you have the right type of hinges (or are fitting the right hinges for example in your new replacement doors!) before you plunge in and buy. These little marvels will set you back all of £2.56.

There are few other variations to look at, but you'll find lots of information if you take at out soft closer section - and be sure to download the various pdf documents available.

So now the quiet secret is out, isn't it time for peace to break out in your kitchen?