Have the European (frameless) cabinets gone out of style? Everywhere I
look all I find are face frame cabinets. I'm planning on building new
cabinets for my kitchen and I prefer the frameless look.

On May 13, 8:51*pm, Mac Cool wrote:
Have the European (frameless) cabinets gone out of style? Everywhere I
look all I find are face frame cabinets. I'm planning on building new
cabinets for my kitchen and I prefer the frameless look.

The eurocabinets spiked around here about 3 years ago. Although there
are some advantages in the frameless style for the consumer, the real
advantages are for the higher-volume cabinet shops. An edgebander and
a 13-bit gang drill and you're flying.
The hidden hinges are nice, but now there are systems in place to have
hidden hinges AND the look of a more elegant face-frame cabinet. As a
face-frame cabinet also has the frame protrude a little on the outside
of the cabinet, joining two of those cabinets creates a bit of a hinge
which allows for a much quicker and tidier installation.
Personally, I like the euro cabinets when you're doing a flat panel
one piece door and when you match the grains of a whole wall of doors
like that, it can be spectacular. (Think book-matched rosewood)
The face-frame look, IMHO, allows for a more 'furniturey' look and
works better in a smaller kitchen.

BUT.... I can guarantee you one thing: somebody will disagree with my
take on this. G

On 05/13/2010 08:33 PM, Robatoy wrote:

The face-frame look, IMHO, allows for a more 'furniturey' look and
works better in a smaller kitchen.

BUT.... I can guarantee you one thing: somebody will disagree with my
take on this. G

Heh...I agree that the face frame looks more furniturey. However, the
frames take up an awful lot of vertical space between drawers. I
rebuilt some of my drawer boxes and it basically meant that I had to use
side mount slides rather than undermount because the face frames took up
too much space.

And if you've only got a skinny little cabinet (9" or so) you lose a
significant fraction of the opening to the frames.

Chris

On 5/13/2010 7:51 PM, Mac Cool wrote:
Have the European (frameless) cabinets gone out of style? Everywhere I
look all I find are face frame cabinets. I'm planning on building new
cabinets for my kitchen and I prefer the frameless look.

I build high end homes ($800k - $1m+), and generally the kitchen
cabinetry that goes in them, and I would agree with Robatoy's take on
the issue that Euro style has lost steam in the last five or six years,
particularly in that market.

I see some nice Euro jobs, but most high end clients opt for traditional
FF cabinets ... AAMOF, it I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand
time, out of the bee stung lipped mouths of the upscale woman home
buyer: "There is something temporary looking about those frameless
cabinets!"

.... and they're right, considering the genesis and philosophy behind the
Euro 35mm system design.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlC@ (the obvious)