Has the world gone soft?

Something revolutionary has descended on the middle class home. What was once the source of banging and crashing by careless children or over zealously sprung cupboards, the soft closure hinge has quietly arrived, installing a little bit of calm into our lives.

Soft closing kitchen cupboard doors and cutlery drawers, even when given a hearty shove, slow just before impact, and guide themselves to a velvety, noiseless rest. The hush of it all is a beautiful thing to experience. Additionally, the prevalence of the soft close toilet seat had all but eradicated the disturbance issues once endured with those middle of the night visits and what should be referred to as the 'Teenage Slam'.

Car manufacturers are slow to catch up, only offering soft closures on high end vehicles (you try slamming the door of a Mercedes S-Class - you can't), and we impatiently await the arrival of soft closing internal doors and the panacea of weekend tranquility; the back door that will no longer be at the frame rattling mercy of the summer breeze…