Even the highest quality materials cannot guarantee a quality cabinet if the workmanship, used to assemble the cabinet, is not up to standards.

Remember: the terms stock, semi-custom & custom refer
to production methods only, and are not indicative of quality.

• Framed, which is considered the standard in North America
  
• Frameless (Euro Style), the most popular style in Europe
  

Framed and frameless cabinets are available in stock, semi-custom and custom cabinets and in all prices ranges..

North American Frame

 
The framed cabinet is the most popular cabinet style in North America, and is often referred to as the standard cabinet.

It gets its name from a frame that is placed around the front of the cabinet opening, and is used to secure the door to the cabinet.

Since this frame is visible on the outside, it is called the face frame, and is usually made of the same wood species as the cabinet doors. Less expensive cabinets will have engineered wood or plywood face frames while better cabinets will have solid wood frames.

The face frame is usually 3/4" thick and 1- 1½" wide, and gives the cabinet extra strength, to resist racking (twisting) and sagging . Each frame is composed of both vertical members (stiles) and horizontal flat members (rails) which are used to secure the door to the box.

The center stile is used when the cabinet has two doors. It is usually found only in cabinets wider than 24", but can be used with doors as narrow as 9". The face frame reduces the size of the cabinet opening, and the center stile effectively cuts the cabinet opening in half - even though the area behind is it open.

Framed cabinets are easier to install than frameless cabinetry because of their recessed end panels and rigid front frame

Joinery
In framed cabinets, wood joinery holds the parts together. A traditional tenon and mortise joint (similar to tongue and groove) is the most common, and provides extreme strength to the joint. Each end of the rail has a tenon (extension), which fits into a pocket (mortise) cut into the side of the stile. Other joining methods used include doweled, screwed and biscuit joints.

Nails and staples should never be used in cabinet joinery or bracing, especially where engineered wood is used, both will loosen up over time and pull out.

Cabinet Bracing
In addition to joinery methods, bracing is used to help strengthen and stabilize the cabinet.

Gussets are triangular corner blocks that are secured into the top corners of a cabinet (usually only base cabinets) to help maintain the squareness of a cabinet and to provide extra strength to the entire cabinet.

Particleboard, plywood, softwoods and hardwoods can be used for the gussets which are then glued or screwed to the cabinet.
The counter top is usually secured with screws driven up through the gussets.

I-Beam bracing is another method used not only to strengthen the cabinet, but to provide strong anchor points for the counter top as well. Used in place of the corner block, the I-Beam brace is a rectangular block that runs the full depth of the cabinet (or full-width depending on the manufacturer).

Frameless (Euro-Style)

Frameless cabinets are generally less expensive than framed, not because the materials are cheaper, but because they use less material than their framed counterparts.

In contrast to the framed cabinet, the frameless cabinet does not have a face frame and the doors are hung directly on the cabinet box.

Because no rails or stiles block the way, frameless cabinets offer slightly easier access to their interiors. The lack of a face frame gives the cabinet a more contemporary style.

The cabinet box is made from either melamine coated particle core boards with the edges taped with melamine or high pressure laminate. In high-end frameless cabinets, plywood is used with wood veneer exterior surfaces.

Frameless cabinets usually have a solid top and back and base units sit on a separate plinth that serves as the toekick.

Doors are often a particle board covered with high pressure laminate. Furniture-grade flakeboard offers a stronger alternative than particleboard, which you'll pay the least for. These doors are very rigid and not subject to warping or splitting with age.

For most frameless cabinets, holes are drilled at 32 millimeter (1¼") increments vertically along side panels. All shelf pegs, hinges, drawer slides, and other fittings are secured to these holes. This versatile "32mm" system is easy to modify as needs change.

Joinery
The frameless cabinet utilizes European-style connectors and hinges to create the contemporary look with flush doors and hidden hinges. Traditional door styles can be used where a softer, warmer appearance is wanted. Doors are hinged directly to the cabinet side using a fully concealed hinge.

Typically, frameless cabinetry utilizes pin and dowel construction. Some manufacturers' add hidden metal fittings to help strengthen the cabinet.

Because the doors cover the entire door opening and sides, there is no room for finger pulls or notches, so a handle or knob is necessary hardware for the doors and drawers.

This close tolerance for doors and drawers make frameless cabinets more difficult to install.

The remainder of the cabinet components are the same as used in framed construction.

Nail Rail A nail rail is a strip (usually wood) that is anchored to the wall behind the cabinet to secure the cabinet to the wall. Screws are driven through the nail rail into studs or other solid members secured into the wall.

In the case of a wall cabinet, the nail rail must support much of the weight of the cabinet. The more solid the material used for the nail rail, the better. Particleboard, plywood, softwoods and hardwoods can be used for the nail rail.

Shelving
Vinyl or laminate covered particleboard and plywood are the materials of choice for shelving due to their more rigid structure and resistance to bowing under pressure. The thicker the shelf material, the more resistant to sagging they will be.

Generally, wider shelves(over 36") should be supported along their length to prevent sagging when loaded. Some inexpensive cabinets will have fixed shelves, making it difficult to store items of different heights, or to change positions as the need arises. Adjustable shelves allow for the repositioning of shelves by simply inserting the removable shelf clips into a new location.

Drawer Joinery
A lap joint is where the front of the drawer is butted against the sides, then stapled and/or glued in place. Eventually, such joints will pull apart.

Dovetailed drawer boxes are considered very desirable and are a very strong, attractive method of construction. However, with the quality and easy movement of today's drawer guides, other methods of construction can be just as durable.

(See above for mortise-and-tenon joints)

• Full-extension
  These slides attach to the bottom or the sides of the drawer and allow full access to the drawer interior. Their ball-bearing system adds stability and strength to the drawer. Stronger versions are used in deeper drawers where heavier items such as pots and pans will be stored.
  
  
• Ball-bearing
  These slides attach to the bottom of the drawer sides. Normally standard on high-end cabinets, they offer smooth, quiet operation. The runners are mounted to the underside of the drawer, which permits a wider drawer box with more usable space than those slide systems that have side mounted runners.
  
  
• Track-and-roller
  Mounted to the sides of the drawer, their epoxy-coated steel tracks and nylon rollers offer quiet operation but are less stable than ball-bearing ones.
  
  
• >Wood
  Slots in the drawer sides or bottoms allow the drawer to along a wood runner mounted to the inside of the cabinet. This type of drawer slide is seldom used today because the drawers tend to stick as the wood expands and contracts.
  

Choose a cabinet box that appeals to you, and don't worry about framed vs. frameless construction. Today's manufacturing techniques and modern materials offer quality construction in either style.

See Also:

An Introduction to Cabinetry Stock, Semi-Custom, Custom Cabinet Quality - Part 1 Quality Cabinetry - Part 2 Cabinet Door Styles - Part 1 Cabinet Door Specialty Styles Cabinet Door Types Cabinet Hardware		Solid Wood Cabinetry Cabinet Materials/Finishes Engineered Wood Cabinet Wood Finishes Cabinet Basics - Wood Veneer Bathroom Vanities
related pages: Cabinet Allowances, Budgets, Costs Kitchen Allowances, Budgets, Costs - Part 1 Kitchen Allowances, Budgets, Costs - Part 2

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