First, there are two kinds of cabinets ? framed and unframed. Framed cabinets are the ones you've most likely seen. These are the cabinets where the door of the cabinet is on top of the front frame of the cabinet. When you look at your kitchen cabinets, you will see that cabinetry itself, and then the doors that are another layer coming out from the cabinets. On the other side of things are frameless cabinets. These are also often called European-style or boxed cabinets. They don't have the front frame. Instead, the doors are directly attached to the cabinetry itself and when you open the door you don't see a cabinet frame, but just the shelves.

So, what kind of cabinet hinges go on framed and frameless cabinet doors? For the most part, you will see visible hinges on those framed cabinets, and hidden hinges on the frameless cabinets. The reason for this has nothing to do with style. It has to do with construction convenience. If you have a frame that you are attaching the door to, it is much easier to do this job from the outside and attach the piece to the showing portions of the frame. With the frameless cabinet doors, there's no convenient place to put the hinges on the outside. So, the logical choice was to make them hidden hinges, or put them inside.

The next layer of sorting cabinet door hinges relates to the shape of the hinges and what they show when installed. For the hidden hinges, it really doesn't matter, because no one will be seeing them. But for the frame cabinets, those hinges will be completely visible, and therefore, you need to know how they will look and what impact they will have to the finish of your cabinetry:

Wrap-around hinges are hinges that many think are the sturdiest of hinges as they completely wrap around the frame of the cabinet and then curve around and attach to the door as well. The extra support on the cabinet side of things has many people thinking these are strong and stable hinges that will keep your door from becoming wobbly, although it could still easily happen on the door side of things.

Surface mount hinges are the kind of hinges you want to show off. These hinges attach to both the outside of the frame and the outside of the door, so you see both parts of the hinges. If they are ornate hinges, this is the best way to attach them, so you can use them not only as a portion of functioning doors, but also as a decorative touch to your cabinetry.

Semi-concealed hinges are hinges that you only see a little bit of. They could be called teasing hinges. One half of the hinge is attached to the outside of the cabinet frame, the other side is attached to the inside of the door, leaving only half the hinge visible.