If you’re looking to update your kitchen or bathroom cabinets to be slow close, it’s an easy process. Here’s how to make any cabinet or drawer slow close without having to change them out!

A big part of any renovation is budgeting. With our old kitchen renovation, we had to choose what to spend on and what to save on.

After deciding that I wanted expensive countertops, and that we would keep pretty much the same layout, it really made financial sense to keep our existing cabinets.

We painted them and changed out the knobs, but I really wanted another upgrade – slow close cabinets! I think that it is a luxurious upgrade, but one that doesn’t have to break the bank.

I was very excited to figure out how easy it was to add slow close to my cabinets and drawers.

In this article, I’ll guide you through the process, revealing the secrets to achieving that buttery-smooth, noise-free closure for your storage spaces.

How do soft close hinges work?

Soft close hinges have a hydraulic mechanism that keeps the hinge from swinging freely and instead has it slowly close into place. Pretty cool!

This allows your hinge or drawer slide to close without having to push it all the way into place yourself and it won’t bang closed.

If you have a toddler, you can also add magnetic baby locks to the inside of your cabinets to make them child-proof!

Pros + cons of slow close hardware

Here are the pros and cons of soft close cabinets and drawers:

Pros:

• Noise Reduction: Soft close cabinets and drawers prevent slamming, reducing noise levels in the kitchen or bathroom, making it a quieter and more pleasant environment.
• Safety: Soft close mechanisms eliminate the risk of fingers getting caught or injured when closing doors or drawers, making them safer, especially in households with children.
• Increased Durability: The gentle closing motion prevents wear and tear on cabinet doors and drawer fronts, increasing their lifespan and reducing the need for maintenance.
• Luxurious Feel: Soft close hardware adds a touch of elegance and sophistication to the cabinets and drawers, elevating the overall aesthetics of the space.
• Convenience: With soft close cabinets, there’s no need to worry about ensuring doors and drawers are fully closed manually, as the mechanism takes care of it automatically.
• Value Addition: Having soft close cabinets and drawers can enhance the resale value of a home, as it’s considered a desirable feature by potential buyers.
• Customizable: Soft close hardware is available for a wide range of cabinet and drawer sizes, making it versatile and adaptable to various kitchen or bathroom layouts.

Cons:

• Cost: Soft close hardware is generally more expensive than standard hinges and drawer slides, which can add to the overall cost of a renovation or upgrade.
• Installation Complexity: Retrofitting existing cabinets or drawers with soft close hardware may require some DIY skills, making it more complicated than simply using the existing hinge.
• Maintenance: While soft close mechanisms are durable, they may require occasional maintenance or adjustments over time to ensure they continue working optimally.
• Incompatibility: Soft close hardware may not be compatible with certain cabinet or drawer styles, so careful research is necessary to ensure a proper fit.
• Weight Limitations: Soft close mechanisms may have weight limitations, and exceeding these limits could affect their effectiveness.

Overall, the advantages of soft close cabinets and drawers, such as noise reduction, safety, and increased durability, often outweigh the drawbacks, making them a popular choice for modern kitchen and bathroom designs.

How to Make ANY Cabinet or Drawer Slow Close

How to Make Drawers Slow Close

Come to find out, you don’t need to buy special cabinets to get slow close drawers and doors.

They sell the hardware to do it on Amazon, making this a simple and fairly cheap, but big, upgrade.

To make slow close drawers, you install one piece inside the cabinet on the wall and one piece onto the drawer. The old hardware remains in place.

The slow close basically is the result of the piece on the drawer catching the piece on the wall and then slowly closing.

We ran into a small glitch and needed to add a scrap of wood on the side of our cabinet because they were floating, but it is actually a really easy process to retrofit into existing cabinets or drawers.

Adding soft close to existing drawers

Line up the slow close rods exactly with the drawer slides. Well, ours aren’t mounted straight onto the cabinet wall.

Instead, there is a gap, so we first had to drill a piece of 1×4 onto the cabinet wall and then attach the soft close drawer adapter onto that piece of wood.

Then we had to line up the plastic piece that goes onto the outside of the drawer itself. Make sure it lines up with the rod.

Once both were in place, you could try to slam the drawer closed and instead it would melt into the cabinets like butter.

How to convert cabinets to soft close

Updating the cabinets was much simpler than updating the drawers. All I needed to do was remove one hinge and replace it with a slow close hinge.

Seriously, unscrew 3 screws, pop out the hinge, and screw in 3 new screws on the new hinge. So easy!

The slow close hinges have the same mechanism to catch the door while it’s swinging closed. For these, you are just replacing the old hinge with a new slow-close one.

Literally anyone can do this project in a matter of minutes.

If your cabinet door opens too far, here’s the easiest and quickest way to fix that!

The new slow close features have me swooning. It makes me feel so fancy, and I love love how inexpensive and easy it was!

Click here to see all of the details on our DIY Coastal Kitchen Makeover!