- Handyman
- Home Repairs
- Routine Maintenance
Cabinet Hinge & Drawer Slide Repair
Are your kitchen, bathroom or closet cabinet doors sagging, sitting unevenly or not closing, or are your drawers sticking, dropping or not sliding smoothly? Your handyman can adjust or replace cabinet hinges, add soft-close or push-to-open hardware, replace drawer slides, repair loose drawer boxes and drawer bottoms, repair screw holes that have worked loose, and tighten or replace handles, so your cabinet doors and drawers open and close smoothly again.
- Service area
- Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond
Common issues
Sagging cabinet doors or uneven gaps
Doors sit at different heights, bump into the door next to them or won't close. Often the existing hinges just need tightening and adjusting.
Broken or loose hinges
If a hinge has snapped, its spring has failed or the door has come off, your handyman first identifies the model, then replaces it with the same or a compatible hinge.
Want to switch your cabinet doors to soft-close
Dampers can be added to compatible hinges, or the hinges can be replaced with ones that have built-in dampers, so doors no longer slam shut.
Drawers hard to pull out or dropping when pulled halfway
Worn or bent slides, or loose screws, can all make a drawer stick. Your handyman checks the slide type and size, then adjusts or replaces them.
Sagging drawer bottom or loose drawer front
If a drawer bottom has slipped out of its groove, the drawer box has come loose or the drawer front is crooked, it can be put back in place, reinforced and refastened.
Hinge screws won't tighten
If screw holes are stripped or a hinge has pulled out along with the wood, the holes can be filled, or fasteners or a repair plate added, to make the hinge secure again.
Exposed hinges in older homes
Older cabinets may use exposed or semi-concealed hinges, which can be replaced with hinges of the same type. Switching to concealed hinges requires drilling holes in the cabinet doors.
What the pro will do
- 1
Your handyman gets details on where the cabinets are and what type they are, how many doors, drawers and handles need work, what the problem is, and the cabinet brand or approximate age. If you can provide photos of the hinges, slides and damaged areas, your handyman can work out the parts needed in advance.
- 2
On site, your handyman identifies the hinge and slide models, measures the drawers and openings, checks the screw holes and the condition of the panels, and confirms the work and cost. If new holes need to be drilled, parts from another brand need to be used or special parts need to be ordered, your handyman will check with you first. Extra work within scope is also confirmed with you first, including what it involves and the cost; work outside the scope needs to be arranged separately.
- 3
Adjusts or replaces hinges and slides, adds soft-close or push-to-open hardware, repairs drawer boxes, repairs screw holes and deals with handles.
- 4
Tests how the doors open and close, the gaps and the soft-close action, as well as how the drawers slide and close and how the drawer fronts line up; cleans up the work area and handles the removed old hinges and slides as agreed.
Good to know
Take photos in advance
Open the cabinet doors and photograph the hinges and mounting plates, capturing any brand name or model number on the hinges if you can; pull the drawers out and photograph the slides on the sides and underneath. This helps your handyman prepare the right parts.
Measure your drawers first
If it's convenient, measure the drawer length and the width of the cabinet opening, and mention whether the drawers usually hold heavy items such as pots and pans or files.
IKEA cabinets: check the warranty first
Hinges and drawers (including their slides) on IKEA kitchen cabinets are parts covered by the warranty. If they are still under warranty and you have kept the original receipt, contact IKEA first; IKEA will not pay for repairs it has not authorized.
New home: notify the builder first
For cabinet door or drawer problems that appear within the first year in a newly built home, you can first notify the builder and the warranty provider in writing, then decide whether to arrange repairs yourself.
Leaks: deal with the water source first
Swollen door panels on bathroom cabinets or sink cabinets are usually linked to a leak or long-term moisture. Find and fix the source of the leak first.
Don't overload drawers
Every type of slide has a load limit. Keeping overly heavy items in a drawer for a long time can easily bend the slides or make the drawer drop.
Rentals and strata units
Tenants who want to switch to soft-close or change the hardware style should get the landlord's permission first; changes to the developer's original cabinets may require written strata approval.
Local tips
Common parts are often available the same day
Local stores such as Home Depot sell common European concealed hinges, exposed hinges and side-mount slides; the Burnaby store, for example, has many models in stock for same-day purchase. Discontinued or special models may need to be ordered from a hardware distributor or online, which takes longer.
IKEA parts have to be shipped
Small IKEA parts such as screws and wooden dowels have to be requested online and usually arrive in about 7 to 10 business days; the Richmond and Coquitlam store pages do not list any option to pick up replacement parts in store.
IKEA warranty limits
IKEA kitchen cabinets have a 25-year warranty and wardrobe systems a 10-year warranty, for the original purchaser only and with the receipt; products that have been altered, moved or reinstalled are not covered, and handles themselves are not covered parts.
New home warranty: go by your policy
The statutory minimum for new home warranty in BC is coverage of defects in materials and labour for the first 12 months; individual policies may offer broader coverage, so go by your actual policy, and give written notice as soon as possible after you find a problem.
Repair responsibility in rentals
Under BC tenancy rules, landlords are generally responsible for repairing items damaged through normal ageing; tenants are responsible for damage they cause. Cabinet doors and drawers are not emergency repairs, so tenants should get the landlord's permission before arranging repairs themselves.
Cabinets in strata units
Routine repairs to cabinets inside a unit are generally the owner's responsibility; if the cabinets are damaged by a leak from the unit above or from common facilities, notify the strata first.
Older homes may have older-style cabinets
About half of homes in Metro Vancouver were built in or before 1990. Older homes, or homes whose year of construction is unknown, may still have face frame cabinets or exposed hinges, so your handyman needs to check the model before replacing anything.
Removed old hinges and slides
Old hinges, slides and screws are small metal pieces, and many cities let you drop them off free at scrap metal depots, but rules vary by city, so follow your city's guidelines.
This service only covers cabinet hinges, drawer slides, minor drawer box repairs, screw hole repairs and handles on existing residential cabinets, including drilling new holes, with your consent, to replace hinges or handles. It does not include replacing door panels, drawer fronts or cabinet boxes; refinishing, painting, planing or sanding cabinet doors; installing new cabinets, or removing or relocating cabinets; custom carpentry; rebuilding or modifying drawer boxes (including modifying them to switch to concealed undermount slides); modifying cabinet boxes to add push-to-open hardware; room doors, sliding closet doors and bi-fold doors; assembling newly purchased flat-pack furniture; childproof locks, cabinet locks or earthquake latches; plumbing, countertops and appliances; electrical work such as cabinet lighting and outlets inside cabinets; or water damage, mould and hazardous materials. Adjustment can only improve gaps and how doors and drawers open and close within the hardware's own adjustment range; warped cabinet boxes, badly damaged panels or swelling from water damage may not be fixable by adjusting or replacing hardware. Discontinued parts may not be available in the same model; after switching to compatible parts or drilling new holes, the appearance and load capacity will be those of the new parts, and fasteners such as repair plates may be visible inside the cabinet. Modifying IKEA cabinets or a new home's original cabinets may affect the warranty, and changes in rental or strata units must follow the landlord's or the strata's requirements.
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