One door closes. The other closes if you give it a small shove and accept the noise. This is not the satisfying soft-close experience you had in mind. Before blaming the whole kitchen, look carefully at what has changed.

Read the gaps like a small map

Close the doors gently and compare the spaces between them and around their edges. Is one door low at the handle? Is the gap wider at the top than the bottom? Do several doors show the same problem, or just the one beside the sink? Take a straight-on photograph before changing anything.

Also check for a very ordinary obstruction: a pan handle, an overfilled shelf, or a loose item behind the door. A cupboard can look misaligned when it is simply trying to close around the family’s entire collection of baking trays.

A hinge adjustment and a cabinet correction are different

KraftMaid’s care and installation guide lists hinge adjustment, a racked cabinet, and moisture-related warping among possible causes of doors that do not sit correctly. The symptom does not identify the cause by itself.

If the cabinet box has moved or was not installed square, chasing the door with adjustment screws may not solve the underlying problem. Ask the installer to check the cabinet before accepting increasingly extreme hinge positions. Loose fixings or damaged mounting material need a proper repair.

Change one thing at a time

KraftMaid’s cabinet-adjustment guidance demonstrates adjustments for its hardware. Other hinges can work differently. Identify yours, use the appropriate instructions, and distinguish adjustment screws from screws that secure the hinge.

  • Support the door as needed and use a correctly fitting tool.
  • Record the starting position so you can understand what changed.
  • Make a small adjustment, close the door gently, and recheck the gaps.
  • Avoid turning several screws at once and losing the original reference.
  • Stop if the fixing spins, the material is damaged, or the door is no longer secure.

Consider the season and the nearest water source

If the problem appeared with a seasonal humidity change, note the room conditions and the cabinet manufacturer’s environmental guidance. If only the sink-base door is affected, look for damp towels, spills, or a leak. A whole-room pattern and one persistently wet corner suggest different questions.

Do not plane or sand a finished door just to make a temporary rub disappear. You may remove the protective finish and create a larger gap when conditions change. Have swelling, delamination, or a distorted door assessed rather than treating every problem as a hinge setting.

Once the cause is resolved, check the full movement with the cupboard loaded normally. The ambition is modest and excellent: two doors that can share a cabinet without daily mediation.