Quicksand Fans

If anyone here does any sort of cabinetry I have a question for you. I wish to place two pieces of nice plywood to form the top of a new kitchen island, in such a way that they hinge. However, I want to have then hinge AWAY from the actual hinge for reasons I won't go into here. I know this is a mathematical impossibility with any sort of ordinary hinge. I have heard of something called a "sliding hinge," that sounds like it might do the job but have not found enough descriptive info to reach any conclusion. A device that would work would obviously have to be pulled forward first, separating the edge of the two pieces, and THEN hinge.
Can anyone help?

Can you do a quick sketch? Not quite following, sounds like you want a "fake" hinge on one side but for the top to actually flip up the other way......?

Mynock wrote:Can you do a quick sketch? Not quite following, sounds like you want a "fake" hinge on one side but for the top to actually flip up the other way......?

An actual sketch will take some doing, but let me try to describe it better:
Picture two pieces of plywood, edge to edge and resting on a support. I want one of the two pieces to be able to swing upward. With a regular hinge, the hinge has to be on the top surface. That is the surface facing upward so that its axis of rotation is at or above the top surface of the two sheets. What I want to do, however, is to have the seam between the two sheets to be tight, with wood touching wood and to have the hinge invisible. I do not have the tools to make the hinge inset into the plywood! I have heard of something called a "slide hinge" which sounds like it solves the problem by allowing the two pieces to first slide apart, say an inch, and THEN hinge.

A slide hinge will only allow the piece of plywood to travel 90 degrees if assembled as you describe. That may be fine if all you need is access to the interior of the island. But if you rethink the assembly, slide hinges can allow a door to first pivot, and then slide, such as closet doors that retract into the closet after opening. If you hinged the plywood to the outside edge of the island, you could have the lid flip upright and then retract to the interior of the island.

You might look at concealed hinges. There's probably something like this seems similar to what you're hoping to accomplish.

With a regular hinge, though, if you hinged the tops to the outside edge of the island, your problem goes away. The hinges are mounted underneath the surface, and the top opens without any fancy carpentry.

Chimerix wrote:A slide hinge will only allow the piece of plywood to travel 90 degrees if assembled as you describe. That may be fine if all you need is access to the interior of the island. But if you rethink the assembly, slide hinges can allow a door to first pivot, and then slide, such as closet doors that retract into the closet after opening. If you hinged the plywood to the outside edge of the island, you could have the lid flip upright and then retract to the interior of the island.

You might look at concealed hinges. There's probably something like this seems similar to what you're hoping to accomplish.

With a regular hinge, though, if you hinged the tops to the outside edge of the island, your problem goes away. The hinges are mounted underneath the surface, and the top opens without any fancy carpentry.

Ninety degrees would be almot perfect, although 91 would be perfect. The piece that is to move will be 40 inches long and about 16 wide and the hinging will be along the long edge. This will expose three appliances that have to be accessed from the top; bread, ice cream, and sous vide machines. If I canot get what I am calling a slide hinge to work then the plan is to have the piece simply lifted out of place and put aside while whichever machine is being used.

For what its worth I tried to find a custom cabint maker to build this for me but found none to even bit on it. There are several businesses in th general area who claim to do custom cabinets but what they seem to really do is assemble factory-made cabinets with the customer's choice of features. Unfortunately most of the "choices" offered the customer all seem to be about type of wood, finish, where you want door and shelves, and things like that. I don't really cae what it looks like - I just want the Tardis kitchen to be functional.

Ok, that makes more sense. Unfortunately you're right, there are not many people anymore that do actual custom cabinet work mostly because it gets REALLY expensive. If you want to try doing it yourself the slide hinges would work, and I think some types of those can lock in the open position, might save some mashed fingers.

Mynock wrote:Ok, that makes more sense. Unfortunately you're right, there are not many people anymore that do actual custom cabinet work mostly because it gets REALLY expensive. If you want to try doing it yourself the slide hinges would work, and I think some types of those can lock in the open position, might save some mashed fingers.

I purchased the plywood this morning. I can probably post a photo of what it will look like in place.

Fred588 wrote:

Mynock wrote:Ok, that makes more sense. Unfortunately you're right, there are not many people anymore that do actual custom cabinet work mostly because it gets REALLY expensive. If you want to try doing it yourself the slide hinges would work, and I think some types of those can lock in the open position, might save some mashed fingers.

I purchased the plywood this morning. I can probably post a photo of what it will look like in place.

Well they messed up the cust on the lywood so it is going back to the lumberyard on Wednesday. The pics will have to wait. Ho is it that one can give instructions to cut an 8 inch strip off the long side of a sheet of playwood and they cut off a 12 inch strip instead?

Let me guess......Lowes?

Mynock wrote:Let me guess......Lowes?

Nope. Not Home Depot either.