Overhead cabinet door hinges

[ADKzookeeper]

Are the overhead cabinet door hinges on the Escapes the hold themselves open variety or just ordinary hinges? Also we have seen the optional cabinet door under the dinett on the 19 hinged on the left, right, and even on the bottom of the door. We wanted to hear from everyone out there, their pros and cons on where to locate the hinges for that door. Thanks for sharing. Howard and Lynn

[dbailey]

Hinges on overheads hold themselves open. Mine are all open right now for winter storage.

We have the extra cabinet door on the end of the door-side dinette bench. It is hinged on the right. Like this it is accessible from outside, though it's slightly awkward this way. But, were it hinged on the left, it would be awkward from inside the trailer. We tend to access it more from inside the trailer, so hinge on the right is correct for us.

[Jim Bennett]

The uppers use a piston to hold the doors open.

We put our hinges on the left of the dinette door, so we could easily access it from outside if wanted. It swings fully open, so access from inside if needed is easy too. We store extra footwear in the front of it.

[gbaglo]

Photo of cupboard support.

[Donna D.]

The piston is going to be welcome in my new 5er. I've been using the top of my head to hold the upper cabinets open on my Scamp! It works, but really.....

[techfan]

Actually, I don't believe it is a piston by definition. Mine are an enclosed spring mechanism. Still, it is very effective but there is no cylinder compressing air, gas or liquid like the struts used on my vehicle hatch.

[dbailey]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

The piston is going to be welcome in my new 5er. I've been using the top of my head to hold the upper cabinets open on my Scamp! It works, but really.....

So that's what the hat is for!

[Vicki A.]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

The piston is going to be welcome in my new 5er. I've been using the top of my head to hold the upper cabinets open on my Scamp! It works, but really.....

That will be welcomed, in my Pacer I'm still too short to use my head!

[Donna D.]

I've actually created a number of items that work, but require me to remember to use them. My head is ALWAYS available! But still.... call them pistons, call them a spring mechanism.. doesn't matter to me as long as they work without me needed to "remember" to do anything. Besides, my hat was getting squished

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by techfan

Actually, I don't believe it is a piston by definition. Mine are an enclosed spring mechanism. Still, it is very effective but there is no cylinder compressing air, gas or liquid like the struts used on my vehicle hatch.

That's good - gas struts wear out and stop holding up the door. It's routine to need to replace hatch struts on cars, and I'm about to replace the third gas strut (in three different places) among the ten or so on exterior doors of my four-year-old motorhome.

[J Mac]

I thought they were called dampers.

[Trees]

Late post I know, but we had ours hinged at the bottom (opening toward the floor).
Shoes in it can be accessed while standing in the "hallway" or while standing outside.
We're careful not to leave open or we'd stand on it.

[Donna D.]

I think it might be best for those cupboard doors that are at floor level to hinge at the bottom, no piston, etc. needed. Especially for the cupboards in front of the "axels". How much space does the cupboard have any way? About as much space for a 1/5 of alcohol or a can of beans...