If you have looked at cabinets at all recently, soft-close has come up. It is worth understanding what you are actually buying, because the phrase gets used loosely.
What soft-close actually is
There are two separate mechanisms. A soft-close hinge catches a door in the last few inches of its travel and pulls it shut slowly. A soft-close glide does the same for a drawer. They are different parts, and a cabinet can have one without the other, which is worth checking when you compare quotes.
Why it matters beyond the noise
The obvious benefit is that nothing slams. The less obvious one is what slamming does over ten years. Every hard close drives a shock through the door, the hinge screws and the face frame. Doors that once lined up start to sit proud at the top. Hinge screws loosen in their holes. A soft-close cabinet simply does not take that abuse.
There is also the matter of full extension. A drawer that only pulls out two thirds of the way means the back of it is storage you own but do not use. Full extension runners bring the whole box out, and in a deep pan drawer that is a genuinely different experience.
What we do
Full extension soft-close drawers and soft-close doors come as standard on both our framed and our Euro frameless lines. It is not a line on the quote you can remove, because we do not think a cabinet without it is worth building.
If you are comparing us against another quote, that is the thing to check. A cheaper number that omits soft-close, or includes it on doors but not drawers, is not the same package.
