silicone caulking
Applying silicone caulking to cabinet door.

To quiet noisy cabinet doors, make your own custom fitting bumper pads using silicone caulking. Here’s how.

To make DIY cabinet door bumpers:

Shim Cabinet: Attach a 1/8” thick shim, such as a paint stirrer, to the cabinet frame with painter’s tape.

Tape Cabinet Corners: Place strips of painter’s tape on the cabinet frame where the bumpers will be.

Spray Tape: Spray the tape corners with cooking oil to keep the silicone caulking from sticking to the tape.

Apply Silicone Caulk: Put a dab of silicone caulking on the inside of the cabinet door at the top and bottom.

Close Cabinet Door: Close the cabinet door to compress the silicone caulk to the right thickness.

Allow Caulking to Dry: Allow the silicone caulking to harden, then remove the shim and painter’s tape from the cabinet.

Watch the video above to find out more.

Video Transcript

Joe Truini: I was in the kitchen earlier using some silicone caulk to seal around the sink, and I thought I’d use the silicone to solve another problem and that is the slamming door.

The reason it happens is the door has self closing hinges, which are great because it pulls it closed, but once the little pads—the felt pads—wore off, you just have wood on wood. And I’ll have to come back and repair that one, but here’s another one that was slamming I repaired earlier.

What I did is I took the silicone, and I put a nice dab of silicone at the bottom corner and the top corner of the door. Then I took masking tape—this is painter’s tape—and I put some on the cabinet itself, corresponding to where the silicone would be. That’s just to keep the door from sticking right to the cabinet.

I also sprayed a little cooking oil on the tape—again to keep the silicone from sticking. And then in order to have the silicone—both silicone pads—be exactly the same thickness, I came up with this idea. It’s just a paint stick that I’ve taped right to the cabinet. So when the door’s closed against this, the silicone gets squished down to the exact same thickness.

Now, we’re going to remove everything and try it out. There you go, problem solved.


Further Information

Editorial Contributors
avatar for Joe Truini

Joe Truini

Radio Show Co-Host

Joe Truini is a contractor, author, and the host of “Simple Solutions” on Today’s Homeowner TV and the weekly Today’s Homeowner radio show. He has worked on both large commercial projects and residential remodeling, and has written for national publications such as This Old House and Popular Mechanics. He has also written eight books, including three best-selling shed-building books. Joe lives in Connecticut with his family and enjoys hiking, traveling, and baseball in his spare time.

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