Want to use the new style, IKEA Ultrusta cabinet hinges from the new Sektion system on a custom build project?
Then you’ll need to know a few measurements to help you set out the hinge position. You might not know this, but the IKEA hinge system is contracted out to ‘Blum’, a leading hinge and furniture hardware supplier in the UK. The new Sektion hinge system utilises a horizontal pair of holes (previously they were vertical), which gives more shelf arrangement options inside apparently. Here are the measurements…
If you’re using the IKEA Ultrusta cabinet hinge from the new Sektion system, here are a few measurements you’ll need to fashion your template. Drill the hole in the door with a 35mm hinge cutter for your drill or router.
Hope that’s useful, I’m going to make a template and use these new style ultrusta cabinet hinges tomorrow, on a ‘hole in the wall’ pair of doors project. I’ll add some notes here if I learn anything new to watch out for.
UPDATE
I didn’t make a template this time as I only had four hinges to do, but I will soon as I remembered there are two more small and shallow 9mm holes you need to drill to clear two ‘dimples’ on the hinge part going into the door. They look like leftovers from the time when the hinge was screwed into the door (before the friction clasp). Drill the 35mm hole first and pop the hinge in the hole and square it up. Mark the inside of the two small holes, remove the hinge and drill 9mm holes around 4mm deep (little more than a dimple really). Here they are…
Hinge position from top and bottom of cabinet
Had an email today asking about the location of the hinges within the cabinet so I went to IKEA and had a measure. Looks like the hinge is 48mm from the top and bottom…
BUT…
Don’t forget that the doors are usually a tiny bit smaller than the cabinet size. So you’ll need to check this and then take off half the difference. I.e. if the door is 3mm smaller than the cabinet, then the hinge position on the door will be 48mm minus (3mm divided by 2). So 1.5mm needs to come off the 48mm. Final hinge position is 46.5mm down from the top edge of the door (and up from the bottom). Thanks Khaled for reminding me!
And another one…
Seems to be the same at the bottom…
Stay well
Ian
p.s. Here are the installation instructions from IKEA for the Ultrusta hinge… IKEA instructions utrusta-hinge (pdf)
p.p.s. If you want a good roundup about some of the new changes in the new SEKTION system from IKEA (over the old AKURUM) take a look at this post from Liz… smartgirlsdiy.com the IKEA SEKTION range.
p.p.p.s! I found this today too… thingiverse.com which shows the hole positions for the Blum hinges too…
Comments 65
thanks for this post, after trying a dummy piece which I then made into a template, I cut the real door, it still needed some knocking and pushing. Without a template it is nearly impossible to get it straight and also have vertical position lined up perfectly. In any case I suggest buying one cheap door from IKEA and then making a template with it. I fitted two doors but it was a bit of a tedious job..
Author
Hiya,
Definitely, going and grabbing a free damaged or cheap door is the best way to make a hinge template!
Glad it helped.
Have a great weekend!
Ian
Thank you for saving me a lot of grief! I was adding new Ikea doors and the Ultrusta hinges to older cabinets where the holes just don’t line up with the hinges. The measurements you provided made adding the new doors very simple!
Author
You’re most welcome Maria, comments like this make me want to keep on writing posts 🙂
Stay well
Ian
Hi Elaine! I am doing the same thing. Section cabinets with doors & drawer fronts from 27estore.com how did yours come out? Did you order drawers? I’m still looking for info to provide them so they can drill not only hinge placement on doors but the holes for the drawer fronts as well.
Thank you for the information on the doors. Do you have information on the drill holes for the door fronts? I will be ordering cabinets from ikea but am getting the doors and drawer fronts from 27estore.com and they are asking for this placement as well so that they can drill the holes correctly.
Author
Hey Lena,
I drilled mine using the actual hinges. But to send the measurements, hmm. I did find this online https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2641809 but you’d need to double check it’s the same hinge…
Hope that helps,
Ian
Since I am building my own plywood box, do I drill the same holes (as in Ikea cabinet boxes) or is it better if I discard Ikea screws with plastic inserts and get new cabinet screws (#6 x 5/8 inch) and screw them directly to plywood without any drilling?
Author
Either way works Kha, but yes I’d be tempted to junk the plastic inserts and screw directly into the cabinet. Still use a small pilot drill though, preferably a ‘self centring’ one to make sure your pilot hole is bang in the middle of the hinge hole.
Take care and stay well
Ian
Hi Ian,
Iam buying 27 EStore doors and using Sektion cabinets. The manufacturer wants to know where I need the bore hinges on the doors. Do you know how far from the top and bottom I need to have the bore hinges drilled to fit an Ikea sektion cabinet? Iam using the Ultrusta blum hinges of course. Thank you in advance!
Author
Hi Elaine,
Well, all the info I have for you is on the images and text in the post. I can add that you need to be sure the distance between the top and bottom hinges is a multiple of 5cm (the distance between each set of mounting holes in the cabinet).
BUT: with something so important as this, I can’t stress enough that you MUST double check! Go and get your cabinets (or one at least) and draw up your own measurements using mine as a guide. I say this because each door manufacturer has different tolerances. Most are slightly shorter than the cabinet height and width (to allow gaps in doors between adjacent cabinets), but the amount varies slightly. Double check also that the spacing of the hinge mounting holes are 5cm too.
I’d want to be 110% sure I had the right measurements before drilling 27 doors! Getting it wrong would be expensive and of course, if you supply the numbers, it’d be your responsibility.
Sometimes you really do need the stuff in your hands before making the final decision.
Good luck with the project and thanks for reaching out.
Let me know if I can help.
Cheers
Ian
Thank you for your help, Ian. I got the dimensions for the doors from my contractor. He said the hinge location is the same for the 47 corner cabinet as a normal door. Do you find that to be true?
Author
Hiya,
Yes, the hinge position is usually the same on all the doors. It’s only the door height and width which are variables. Oh, and the middle hinge position on tall or full height doors on larders etc.
Good luck 🙂
Ian
Awesome post, was just working through creating a template for this as well and your post will definitely help. My local Ikea in indianapolis has these hinges on clearance for 50 cents a pair… needless to say i grabbed a bunch for future use but thought i’d share that incase this is happening across all Ikea’s.
Hi Ian.
Thank you for the information! I’m creating 3/4in thick cabinets with 1/2in thick doors. I’m trying to figure out the correct offset for the large door hinge hole as it’ll influence the edge position and alignment with the outside panel when closed. Have you explored these dimensions?
Author
Hello,
Correct me if I’ve misunderstood you, in my sketch, I’ve shown the 35mm hole as around 5mm in from the edge, or in other words, the 35mm hole centre is 22.5mm in from the edge. But as always, if you can, try on a scrap piece of wood to see if it suits your project.
You’re going to have to be VERY careful drilling the hole in a 1/2″ thick door!
Don’t for get you have a little bit of adjustment after the fact, but not too much. A trial fit is always better 🙂
Good luck and let me know how you get on.
Ian
Hi Ian,
Your 20mm and 50mm measurements saved the day for our project, but now we’re installing the door on the corner cabinet. Using the Utrusta 153 degrees instead of the 110 and it’s not lining up in terms of depth
I’m going to test a board, but I think the female portion of the hinge needs to go in deeper than the 20mm for corner cabinets.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Author
Hi Spencer,
I think you are going to have to test it on a piece of scrap, unfortunately I don’t have one here to have a look at. But I know that everything is wonky (technical term lol) on the corner cabinets, even the soft close mechanisms are special.
Sorry I don’t have any insight, but do let me know if you learn anything and I can add it to the post 🙂
Good luck
Ian
Problem solved.
We set the door in a neutral position so we could still adjust it in either direction later.
Then we measured the gap between the door and and cabinet with some calipers. It was about 14mm. After adjusting the measurements you provided by that much, we set up my uncle’s Kreg jig accordingly and were successful.
In case anyone else runs into this problem;
For the 110° we used the 20mm 52mm marks
For the 153° we used 34mm and 66mm maintaining the 32mm space between the holes.
Cheers
Author
Cool, well done! I’ll write that into the post when I get a minute.
Thanks a lot for letting everyone know.
Hope the job looks great 🙂
I can’t tell if my solution was submitted?
Ian, were you ever able to answer Roman’s question as to how far from the top and bottom of the door to drill the hinge cup for an IKEA Sektion cabinet door?
Author
Hey Liz, if you go pack to the page, (handycrowd.com/ikea-sektion-ultrusta-cabinet-hinge-template/) I added it to the bottom of the post… or here…
Had an email today asking about the location of the hinges within the cabinet so I went to IKEA and had a measure. Looks like the hinge is 48mm from the top and bottom…
https://i0.wp.com/handycrowd.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/hinge-position-from-top-and-bottom-of-cabinet.jpg
BUT…
Don’t forget that the doors are usually a tiny bit smaller than the cabinet size. So you’ll need to check this and then take off half the difference. I.e. if the door is 3mm smaller than the cabinet, then the hinge position on the door will be 48mm minus (3mm divided by 2). So 1.5mm needs to come off the 48mm. Final hinge position is 46.5mm down from the top edge of the door (and up from the bottom).
And another one…
Seems to be the same at the bottom…
I know that I am way late to this conversation, but this hint might be helpful to other who, like me, found this page extremely helpful. I am about to install 20 custom doors onto SEKTION cabinet boxes. I just created a template for this so that I won’t have to make 40+ very precise measurements for drilling.
Here’s a hint that eliminates the need to make precise measurements and calculations. I went to IKEA, ventured over to the as-is section, and bought a pre-drilled door that was pretty scratched up, but otherwise structurally intact. Cost me only $3.00.
I made the template out of plexiglass. Just had to place it over the as-is door and copy the boundary of the 35mm cup using a fine tip marker (and a 35mm circle template). Took it over to the drill press and bored out the 35mm cup at exactly the right distance from the edge and top/bottom of the door. (Note this only worked for top/bottom distances because we purchased our custom doors to exactly match size of IKEA doors.)
Author
Good tip Mike! Not as fancy as your Plexiglas, but I also used an old door, except I cut mine up to make the template! I simply cut the corner off the door and glued and screwed a couple of pieces of wood (cut from the same door) onto the outer edges of the corner piece for location (sticking down). I then drilled the hinge hole all the way through, super cheating, but it works just fine 🙂
Oh, for anyone reading this, you’ll need a couple of good quick clamps for these methods to hold the template in place securely, don’t try to just hold the template whilst drilling though it.
Many thanks for letting us know your tip Mike.
Cheers
Ian
p.s. another tip is to drill the hinge position into one of IKEA’s very own handle templates (https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/fixa-drill-template-orange-90323393/). A cheap way of making a passable template. These are easily clamped over the door corners.
Have a look at axminster tools – they have a yellow template with a cutter. The template fits these hinges perfectly! Handy hint from a professional furniture maker ?
Ian-
This may be a dumb question, but can I use these measurements/template on Ikea products bought in the states? Do they keep the design consistent regardless of standard or metric?
I also bought a thicker board than a standard IKEA door (3/4″ nominal) and am worried it will be too thick for the hinge. Do you think I will have problems?
Thanks,
Julie
Author
That’s a very good question Julie! Logic tells me that nearly all the IKEA stuff is made in Europe, so I’m 99% sure it will be metric all the way.
The door thickness should not be an issue as the doors sits on the outside of the cabinet. There is a small issue of durability if the door is heavier than a standard one. It might need more frequent adjustment (to counter sagging) or it might even fail earlier than expected.
Good luck with your project!
Ian
Thanks for sharing the measurements and photos – was a great help as I was fitting IKEA Bodbyn doors to a custom cabinet, and all worked out perfectly!
Author
You’re welcome John, glad it all came together okay!
Ian
Thank you for putting all these measurements together so succinctly. Saved me another trip to Ikea!
Author
You’re more than welcome, glad it helped. Re the ‘saving you a trip to IKEA’; now there are some who would say that was doing you a disservice…. 😉
Have a great Christmas!
Ian
Can these hinges be used on 1/2 inch (12.5 mm) thick doors? If so, how deep do you drill the 32 mm hole for the hinge? The bloom hinges require special spacers for use with 1/2 inch thick doors which I’m having problems sourcing.
Thanks
Author
Hey Scott,
I’d have to measure my forstner bit tomorrow at work, but I’m thinking that the hole must be pretty darn close to 1/2 deep! Try googling ‘blum cup hinge spacers’ to see if that is what you’re looking for.
Okay, good luck and I’ll get back to you with the depth of the hinges soon. I’ve got a $7000 IKEA kitchen coming to a job tomorrow, busy week!
Cheers
Ian
Author
Hiya,
Took a look at the hinges today and it does look like they go into the door a shade under 12mm or almost half an inch.
Let me know if you need more.
Ian
Thanks Ian
Ian is it 48 mm from the top and bottom of the door or the cabinet just want to make sure
Thanks
Author
It was on the few cabinets I measured David. It’s only critical if you’re using standard, pre-drilled IKEA doors (set for the 48mm). Tony commented below that some doors he had were 62mm, (so I’d get the doors first…). If you’re using your own doors, then it doesn’t really matter where the hinges are, as long as the hinge position on the cabinet are lined up with the holes in the door.
Good luck!
Ian
Author
p.s. I answered in a hurry and now I wonder if I misunderstood! Were you asking if the hinge position is 48mm down from the door or the cabinet? Well, I measured from the cabinet, so it might be one or two mm’s less for the door if it’s a little smaller…
Ian
The door is always 3 mm shorter than the cabinet. So 1.5 mm should be added from top and bottom to the 48 mm you measured.
Author
Almost correct Khaled! But I measured 48mm on the cabinet so I think the 1.5mm should come off the measurement on the doors. Thanks so much for the heads up, I’ve updated the post to make that clearer.
Cheers
Ian
Hey thanks a ton for posting this. Was fitting an Ikea cabinet door to a standard Home Depot cabinet and had to drill holes for the small hinge brackets that go on the inside of the cabinet. The measurements worked out great. One difference was it had to be 62mm from the top and bottom of the cabinet instead of 48 for this particular door. Was able to do it in one try. Thanks!
Author
No worries Tony, glad it helped! It’s amazing isn’t it, here I am, a Brit living (and measuring) an IKEA unit in Norway and you are way, way over there and yet we are able to be on the same page! Yes, I imagine that the height of the hinge might be the only ‘variable’. I guess the other measurements are the same whatever the door/cabinet. Glad you were able to figure it all out Tony, thanks for your kind words 🙂
Stay well
Ian
Fitting some Ikea shelves to old cabinets. I measured but was worried – this was super helpful, especially as it matches my measurements exactly! Thanks!
Author
Thanks Jim! Good luck with the project 🙂
Hi – I have a SEKTION SE base cabinet 12x24x30″, a VEDDINGE 12×30″ door, and UTRUSTA hinge 125 2pk with UTRUSTA N pl out interior fit 12″ metal pull out shelves (which I learned today are discontinued). I needed to replace the door because of exterior damage, and foolishly tossed it to the curb before I measured where to drill the holes on the new door for the hinges. IKEA wasn’t able to give me a drilling template for the door. Can you help?
Thanks!
Marco
Author
Hi Marco, there are no templates as the holes are drilled by machine in the factory obviously. I’d just fit the cabinet part of the hinge into the cabinet and then hold the door up against the cabinet and mark the center of the hinge onto the door. Then you should be able to use the measurements in the post above to get the exact place for the hole. You can be a fraction out and still be okay as there is of course some adjustment in the hinge itself.
Sorry there is no silver bullet! Be very careful with the depth of the hinge hole, there is not too much spare material! Usually the top of the forstner drill bit is flush with the material when deep enough. Drill gently and keep stopping and trial fitting the hinge…
Good luck!
Ian
Thanks for providing such clear and well measured drilling specs for the IKEA concealed cabinet hinge. I have been helping a daughter in a kitchen remodel. My skills are limited (to describe them generously) and had to cut down some Shaker style cabinet doors due to a surprise once the contractor dug into the structure to be modified. Was able to successfully modify a dozen or so doors, taking the adjustment out of the middle and keeping the factory machined hinge holes. Three doors had to be replaced but came without the hinge holes. I bought the Kreg jig described by one of your readers but could not for the life of me figure out how to adapt it to our situation. Your template lifted the fog. The Red Sea parted. The Promised Land is in sight. Thank you so much, Ian….
Author
Thanks John,
Nice of you to take the time out to respond, makes writing this stuff up all worthwhile.
Great you took on a clearly complicated job, despite your opinion of your skills!
Just shows that anyone can produce a great result with a bit of thought and a little research.
Stay well and don’t forget to remind your daughter how lucky she is to have a father like you 🙂
Cheers
Ian
What size of drill bit is needed for the 2 screw holes needed to fix the mounting plate to the carcass? Thanks
Author
Hiya,
The holes in the cabinet are usually 5mm diameter but this is only good for the little fat grub screws that IKEA use. If you’re using your own regular wood screws then you’ll probably need a smaller pilot hole, 2 or 3mm usually.
Hope that helps, let me know how you get on.
Cheers
Ian
Great thanks for sharing you made my day. Bought these new hinges today to be able to install draws in a non IKEA kitchen but forgot to measure. Regards Robin from Sweden.
Hi Ian,
Do you have dimensions for the dimples on either side of the hinge cups?
Thanks,
Isabel
Great post! Thank you for sharing it, really really useful. Cheers!
Hello there, do you happen to know where I can get a hole template for the maximera drawer fronts? My husband built the fronts for the cabinets and drawers for my office. He is using your template for the doors – thank you – but he’s hesitant on the holes for the drawers. He worked hard on the shaker drawers so we don’t want to drill in the incorrect spot. Our other option is to buy one front and use that as a guide. We purchased the below drawer box. 3 drawer, 10″x15″ each. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99036707/
Author
Let me have a look tomorrow Evelyn, I’ve got a unit to adjust, I’m sure the drawers were maximeras… I’ll take a pic and post it here tomorrow evening. Cheers!
Thanks, Ian! I look forward in hearing from you. We still have 2 coats of paint to do before drilling.
Author
Was tricky to get accurate photos! I think your first plan is the safest. Buy a spare drawer front and then drill the holes right through and use it as a template. Otherwise, here is what I got!
Good luck!
Ian
p.s. these drawer fronts were the shallow ones (95mm tall or thereabouts) but the location seemed to be the same (up from the bottom and in from the side) on the taller drawers I fitted above these. I also assume the width of the drawer fronts doesn’t matter either, the edge location of the holes will be the same (these were the 40cm ones)…
Any idea if these measurements are the same in the US?
Author
Hey Sarah,
I don’t know for a fact, but logic tells me that they are the same. Can’t imagine why they would manufacture a dual system, especially as they go to around a gazillion countries now! Good luck!!
Cheers
Ian
If you want an easy way to drill the holes on the door itself, Kreg makes a jig that makes drilling them extremely easy. They call the product “Concealed Hinge Jig”
Thanks for the writeup, Ian. Now, along with my jig and measurements, I’m about to tackle using some drawer fronts as doors in my laundry room.
I’ve been looking everywhere for this – thank you!
Author
You’re welcome Becky! Yes, I did too, so I figured it must be up to me to write it up lol!
Glad it helped.
Thanks for the thanks!
Ian
Hi, Great post! I’m looking to get custom doors using Sektion cabinets. Do you know how far from the top and the bottom of the door are the hinge cups drilled? Thanks!
Author
Darn Roman! That’s the one thing I didn’t think to measure. I was more thinking folks would be fitting the hinges to their own cabinets! Right, I will measure this next time I go to IKEA and update the article. Not in the next few days though unfortunately for you. The hinge position is adjustable though as there are rows of fixing holes as you know. If you have the cabinets you can just measure down from the outside top I guess.
Thanks for the kind words and the idea to include that measurement!
Cheers
Ian
P.S: WAIT! I actually did go to IKEA today believe it or not, the kids wanted something!! So I have take a few photographs. Give me a while and I’ll try to upload them later…..