Full Overlay, Half Overlay and Inset Hinges Explained

 

Short answer: overlay describes how the door sits against the cabinet side. Full overlay means the door covers the side panel completely. Half overlay means two doors share one side panel, each covering half of it. Inset means the door sits inside the opening, flush with the front of the cabinet. In most cases the hinge is the same for all three, what changes is the mounting plate height.

That last point saves a lot of wasted money. People often order a different hinge when what they actually needed was a different plate.

What does hinge overlay actually mean?

Concealed cabinet hinges come in two parts: the hinge itself, with a round cup that is bored into the back of the door and a mounting plate that screws to the cabinet side. The plate sets how far the door stands off the cabinet side and that is what determines the overlay.

Concealed hinges are built to a European standard: a 35mm cup diameter drilled on a 48mm hole pattern with a 6mm offset. That is why a concealed hinge is usually a drop-in replacement for another concealed hinge and why cabinet factories can bore one hole pattern for the whole range. Mini hinges are the exception, using a smaller 26mm cup.

Full overlay

The door covers the whole thickness of the cabinet side. This is the most common arrangement in UK kitchens and in most flat-pack furniture: a run of doors sits across the front of the carcases with only a small gap between them.

Full overlay needs the lowest mounting plate of the three, because the door has to sit as close to the cabinet side as possible.

Half overlay

Two doors meet on a single shared side panel, each covering roughly half its thickness. You see this on a double cabinet with a central divider, or where two single cabinets are joined and one panel serves both doors.

Half overlay needs a taller plate than full overlay, to hold each door far enough out that the two do not clash.

Inset

The door sits inside the cabinet opening rather than in front of it, finishing flush with the front edges. Traditional and in-frame furniture uses this a great deal.

Inset needs the tallest plate of the three and it is the least forgiving to set up, because the gap around the door, the reveal is visible on all four sides.

How do you work out the mounting plate height?

There is a formula and it is worth knowing rather than guessing. Three measurements go into it:

• K — the drilling distance from the edge of the door to the edge of the hinge cup.
• D — the overlay you want (full and half overlay).
• A — the reveal, the gap around the door (inset only).
• H — the mounting plate height you need, which is what you are solving for.

Important: the formula is not the same for every hinge series. Use the row for the series you are actually fitting.

Mounting plate height: Eurofit hinge series
Series	Full overlay	Half overlay	Inset
HF43	H = 14 + K − D	H = 5 + K − D	H = A + K − 4
HF53	H = 13 + K − D	H = 5 + K − D	H = A + K − 4
HF61 (105° and 165°)	H = 15 + K − D	H = 5 + K − D	H = A + K − 3
HF61 (95° thick door)	H = 19 + K − D	H = 11 + K − D	H = A + K − 3
HF62 mini	H = 10 + K − D	H = 1 + K − D	H = A + K − 5
HF63 (110°)	H = 13 + K − D	H = 5 + K − D	H = A + K − 4
HF63 (165°)	H = 13 + K − D	H = 4 + K − D	H = A + K − 4
HF64	H = 14 + K − D	H = 5 + K − D	H = A + K − 4
HF65 mini	H = 12 + K − D	H = 4 + K − D	H = A + K − 3

Worked example

An HF61 105° hinge, full overlay, drilled 5mm from the door edge, on an 18mm carcase side you want the door to cover completely:

H = 15 + K − D = 15 + 5 − 18 = 2mm mounting plate

Change the series and the answer changes. The same door on an HF53 would be 13 + 5 − 18 = 0mm. That is the whole reason to check the row rather than reuse a figure from a previous job.

Mounting plates are not interchangeable between brands

This one catches people out more than anything else on this page. TUTTI hinges work only with TUTTI mounting plates and IntAfit hinges only with IntAfit plates. They are not mixed and matched and neither will reliably pair with a third manufacturer’s plate.

The useful flip side: within a series, soft close and self close hinges use the same mounting plate. If you are changing a door from self close to soft close, you generally need the hinge only, not the plate as well.

 

Browse the range

Concealed cabinet hinges, heavy duty concealed hinges, hinge accessories and mounting plates and soft close dampers.

The 35mm cup and 48/6mm hole pattern described here are the European industry standard. The mounting plate height formulas and the plate compatibility notes are specific to Eurofit hinge series and are taken from our 2026 catalogue, other manufacturers’ figures will differ.