I have been seeing a lot of discussion about self-closing door and drawer hardware lately. Not a big surprise since this is the next big thing in the hardware world. I'm probably going to reveal my old-school mentality here but I have a feeling that this stuff is destined to go the way of touch latches.

The problem with this stuff is that it is dependent upon little gizmos. That means lots of little springs and plastic parts that are always accompanied by the reality that it's not if they will fail, but when.

Every time I get a customer who insists on having self-closing hardware, I try to talk the out of it. I point out that the life span of the parts needed to make this work is inevitably shorter than the expected lifespan of the rest of the hardware, not to mention the cabinetry itself. And I also point out the substantial increase in job cost this hardware will carry with it. More often than not, they are not persuaded. The lure of being able to watch their drawers and doors slowly retract into their openings with a whisper is simply too great to abandon, especially when the soft close feature is included.

I don't want to believe that we have become too lazy to even close a cabinet door or push a drawer back into place. And I don't believe it's a question of time because most people will stand there and watch the thing close.

For cabinet doors and drawers, I have drawn my personal boundary at applying felt bumpers to soften the sound of closing. So far, I have not been too successful at convincing anyone else.

D.D.