How To Measure Cabinet Door Overlay

When you install hinges on your new or existing cabinets, one important piece of information you need to know is the door overlay measurement.

   

What is cabinet door overlay?

Cabinet door overlay is the distance your door overlaps the frame of the cabinet.

Follow these steps to determine the overlay for your cabinet door: 

Tools Needed:

  • Tape Measure or ruler
  • Piece of tape such as masking tape

Steps:

  1. The first step is to close the cabinet door. (Fig. 1)  With the cabinet door in the closed position locate the hinged side of the door.  
  2. Once you have located the hinged side of the door, place a piece of tape on the face of the cabinet and flush to the door in a vertical
     position. (Fig. 2)
  3. Open the door so you can see the edge of the tape. 
  4. Now, measure the distance from the inside edge of the tape to the frame opening. (Normal door overlay is 1/4” to 1-1/2”) 

    In this example, the measurement from the edge of the tape at the 1” mark to the edge of the frame opening is 3/8”. This is your door
     overlay. (Fig. 3)

Figure 1 - Close the cabinet door.
Figure 1 - Close the cabinet door.		   Figure 2 - Place a piece of tape on the cabinet face.
Figure 2 - Place a piece of tape on the cabinet face.		   Figure 3 - Measure the distance from the edge of the tape to the door frame opening.
Figure 3 - Measure the distance from the
edge of the tape to the door frame opening.

Watch this video that demonstrates the steps above:

Click here to download PDF instruction on: How to Measure Cabinet Door Overlay (opens in new window)

 

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