Cabinet feet Print
Written by Hans Summers   
Saturday, 01 January 2011 21:31

Here's my solution to the problem of cabinet feet! Without them, your equipment will scratch your wooden table, or scratch whatever other equipment you stack it on top of. You can always buy cabinet feet, in two unreasonably expensive varieties. Either the proper heavy duty kind you bolt on to the bottom of your cabinets, or the more common self-adhesive kind. The heavy duty bolt-on kind are often larger and clumsier than you'd like. Whereas the sticky kind look Ok for a year or so, then they invariably stop being so sticky and fall off one by one. Then I discovered screw covers! Cheap, easy, available and long-lasting!

Here's the packet of screw covers I buy from UK DIY chain Homebase. They come in a packet of 48, enough for 16 cabinets! There are three colours: white, brown and black. I like black.
Here's what one "screw cover", henceforth to be known as "cabinet foot" looks like. The idea is that it is can be fitted onto a screw like a washer, then the hinged plastic lid is pressed onto the foot "body". It's a tight fit and the the lid does not come undone again easily, certainly not accidentally.
To demonstrate I chose to repair my Antenna Tuning Unit project. The project was perfectly fine except that I used self-adhesive cabinet feet, before I knew any better, and of course they fell off (one by one). In this picture of the bottom of the Antenna Tuning Unit you can see the remains of the adhesive where the old feet used to be. I drilled four small holes where the new feet will be sited.
Here's what the foot looks like when bolted to the cabinet. Since in this case the Antenna Tuning Unit box is aluminium, I felt happy using self-tapping screws. A nut and bolt would be just as good if you prefer, or for other types of material. I arrange the foot so that the hinge points inwards. When closed, the hinge isn't all that visible, but pointing it inwards away from view is just that little final touch for perfectionists.
A pleasant "snap" as the lid is closed and the foot can be considered installed. Permanently!
This is how the equipment looks with its new feet.
Last Updated on Saturday, 01 January 2011 21:42