Framed Cabinetry

Framed cabinets are available with four different door styles: standard offset, marginal overlay, full overlay, and two types of inset—beaded and flush. All framed cabinets are built using premium fully solid-wood stock and plywood.

Construction styles

Standard offset

Sometimes called 3/8″ offset by other manufacturers, this style uses a door with a lipped edge that has a “rabbet” on the rear of the profile. This results in half of the 3/4″ door thickness being recessed into the cabinet frame, leaving 3/8″ exposed. The door covers 1/4″ all around the cabinet frame opening, meaning doors and drawers will be a total of 1/2″ wider and higher than the frame opening. Cabinet uses 1 1/2″ framing throughout. See illustration at right.

Marginal overlay

Marginal overlay cabinetry has the doors and drawers lying completely on top of the face frame. The entire edge profile and 3/4″ thickness is visible. The door covers 1/2″ all around the cabinet frame opening, meaning doors will be a total of 1″ wider and higher than the frame opening. Drawer fronts follow the same procedure. Marginal overlay utilizes 1 1/2″ cabinet framing widths by default. See illustration at right.

Full overlay

Framed full overlay cabinetry also has the doors and drawers lying completely on top of the frame. The entire edge profile and 3/4″ thickness is visible. Door and drawer sizes are not based on cabinet openings, but rather on using “reveals” around all of the fronts. At the top of walls and base cabinets there is a reveal of 1/4″. At the bottom of walls and bases there will be no reveals. At the left and right edges of all cabinets is an 1/8″ reveal, so when cabinets are butted together, it will maintain the look of 1/4″ reveals. Framing is 1 1/2″ wide, and certain center stiles on multi-door cabinets are widened. See illustration at right.

Inset: beaded and flush styles

In these styles, the doors and drawers are flush inside the face frame. None of the door’s edge thickness is visible. We offer inset in two varieties: beaded inset or flush inset. Flush inset is simply flat edged cabinet frames like on our other styles.

Beaded inset uses a 1/4″ bead applied to the inner edge of cabinet openings that have doors or drawers and uses 1 1/4″ framing throughout. After construction, the 1/4″ bead is applied to the openings. This makes outer pieces 1 1/2″ and the center, cross pieces yield out to 1 3/4″ wide. See illustration at right for example of beaded inset.

Framed cabinet boxes

All styles of framed cabinetry boxes are constructed using 3/4″ solid wood face frames and mortise-and-tenon construction. Interiors are natural birch by default, but can be upgraded at your discretion for an additional charge.

  • Sides, tops, and bottoms of all cabinets are 3/4″ thick plywood
  • Backs of base and tall cabinets are 1/4″ thick plywood supported by 3/4″ nailers
  • Backs of wall cabinets are 1/2″ thick plywood
  • Curved backs made from 1/8″ plywood are used on most corner cabinets or those containing rotating Lazy Susans
  • Shelves are made from 3/4″ PBC core with natural birch veneer; can be upgraded to plywood for an additional charge

Bottoms, backs, tops, end panels, and face frames are assembled with the tongue-and-groove technique. Shelves are adjustable using a peg-in-hole linebore system.

Recessed toe kicks on base and tall cabinets are considered unfinished parts. We advise using a wooden toe base molding or some type of covering material for a more finished appearance on the installation.

Drawer boxes

Standard drawer boxes are made from 5/8″ thick solid maple stock, with 1/4″ bottoms dadoed into the sides. Standard drawer slides are BLUM full-extension soft-close undermounts. If a special drawer box size or style is ordered that exceeds the available sizes or tolerances of our maple stock, birch material may be substituted.