Glossary of Terms

Door

A moveable flat panel that hides or obscures that which is beyond or within. Doors can swing upon hinges, pull-out as a drawer might, flip-up, or lift-up with specialty hardware. Doors can also be made to be non-functional.

Drawer Front

A movable flat panel affixed to a drawer box that pulls out on drawer slides or tracks. Drawer fronts can also tip-out or be made to be non-functional.

Edge Banding

Edge banding is a strip of material who’s purpose is to permanently cover the raw or exposed edge of a sheet good (i.e. plywood, MDF, particle board, etc.) Edge banding will typically match or compliment the material on the face of the panel.

Edge Pull
(or Tab Pull)

An edge pull or tab pull is a pull that attaches to the back of a door or drawer front and wraps around the edge, protruding a short distance out the front to provide a way to open the door or drawer front. Edge pulls are typically very thin, made of metal, and sometimes require being machined or mortised into the edge/back of the front they’re being affixed to.

Elevation
(noun) or Elevation View

An elevation is a specific “drawing” or rendering of your kitchen layout. The “elevation view” or “elevations” of your plan show how your cabinetry will be laid out as seen when standing directly in front of it. Typically each wall segment or plane will be found on separate pages.

End Panel

A type of cover panel found at the end of a run of cabinets. End panels are typically fully exposed and are therefore typically styled similar to the doors.

Filler

A filler is a narrow panel meant to fill in a gap between cabinets or between cabinetry and a wall. It is normal to trim or scribe fillers on site as needed in order to fill your space fully and/or allow your cabinets to be installed level, square, and plum.

Frame and Panel Door
or 5-Piece Door

A door or drawer front built with a panel (one piece) and a frame (four pieces.) Traditionally, the panel is “free-floating” within the frame to allow for wood seasonality (expansion and contraction), but it is also held in a flat state by the frame to further reduce cupping or bowing of the panel. The design of a frame and panel is meant to counteract the natural movements of real wood components.

Frameless Cabinetry

A style of cabinetry that is defined by cabinet boxes that have no functional frame affixed to its face. Frameless cabinetry is minimalistic and highly functional, requiring precision machining and clean edge-banded box components. All IKEA cabinets that we build components for are frameless cabinets.

French Cleat

A French Cleat is a device or method used to hang a piece of furniture or cabinet on a wall that uses the weight of the object itself to maintain or improve its connection to the wall. Traditionally, a French Cleat system is two pieces of wood with a 45° cut in them with one piece being attached to the wall and the other to the cabinet. When the one French Cleat comes into contact with the other, they cause the furniture to slide tight against the wall via the 45°angle and any looseness or wiggle in the connection actually encourages tighter contact with the wall. Modern French Cleat systems are typically made from steel or aluminum and the wall component extends the width of several cabinets meant to be installed in-line and level with one another.

Grain Matching

Grain matching is a method of achieving visual continuity across a set of cabinets comprised of veneered doors with naturally occurring grain patterns. A carpenter can plan out cuts (within limitations) such that a set of doors and drawer fronts spanning nearby cabinets can share a continuous grain pattern. This often comes with surcharges and longer lead times.

Integrated Handle

Integrated handles exist as a cutout or machined feature built into a door or drawer front that allows an individual a place to grip the door or drawer front and open it. Integrated handles are common in minimalistic designs where a person wishes to avoid a pull or handle.

Island

Cabinets that are not attached to a wall but exist in the middle of a kitchen. These cabinets are typically affixed to the floor or to a short pony wall. In some instances, an island can be made to be mobile. It is not recommended to make an island mobile if you are using traditional cabinetry.

Lazy Susan

In cabinetry, a tray affixed to a turntable within a cabinet box, often in a corner cabinet, who’s purpose is to provide easy access to objects in difficult to reach areas.

MDF

Medium-Density Fiberboard – MDF is a very stable, highly machinable material often used as the primary substrate for non-structural cabinetry components. MDF has varying levels of quality. Advancements in material technology and manufacturing practices have allowed MDF to become an excellent material choice for many applications.

Miter or Miter Cut

Typically, a 45° cut made in a component with an identical angle such that the two components meet and visually “wrap” around a 90° bend. A miter cut eliminates visible end-grain in an installation or piece of furniture.

Molding (or Moulding)

A piece of contoured or styled wood or wood product that covers a gap, frames the perimeter, or exists to exhibit an embellished style in a given space. Examples include: crown, chair rail, decorative toe, light-rail, scribe, etc.

Mullion or Mullion Grid

Thin, ornamental divisions built into the opening of an open frame. Mullion grids are specified by how many “lites” they have (e.g. a “four lite” mullion grid would be an open frame with two intersecting mullions such that there are four openings.)

Open Frame Door

(Door Type)

A door that is built such that it can receive an insert panel (i.e. glass, caning, lattice, mullion grids, etc.) Open Frame Doors function the same as doors, except that the open-framed nature of these doors typically serve to either showcase the items within a cabinet visually (as with a glass insert) or provide ventilation (as with a mesh or lattice type insert.)

Pantry Cabinet

A cabinet box that stands on the ground and is typically full height (for your kitchen or pantry.) Most pantry cabinets are 84.5″-94.5″ tall and can be either 15″ or 24″ deep.

Peninsula

In cabinetry, this is a run of cabinets, perpendicular to the wall that extends into the kitchen, away from the wall. These cabinets are typically affixed to the floor or to a short pony wall.

Pie Corner Cabinet

A cabinet situated in the corner of two intersecting rows of cabinets who’s main storage compartment is directly accessible through a 2-door set that folds inward into the 90° corner cutout of the intersection.

Plan View

A plan view is a specific “drawing” or rendering type of your kitchen layout. The “plan view” of your plan show how your cabinetry will be laid out as seen from a bird’s-eye-view or from above, looking down. Typically there will be a “plan view” for each room or for each floor (if working with architectural drawings.)

Pocket Door

A door that opens via special hardware enabling the door to subsequently become partially or completely hidden within a dedicated space.

Pull

A small knob or styled protrusion affixed to the face of a door or drawer front allowing an individual to pull the door or drawer open. “Pulls” have one point of attachment whereas “handles” have two (or more.)

Pull-Out Door

A door that functions in similar fashion to a drawer. Pull-Out doors slide out on drawer slides or drawer tracks and are usually affixed to either a drawer box or some sort of dedicated organizer. Pull-Out doors are often used for trash/waste bins or for storage of heavy items in deep cabinets. It is recommended that doors only be set up as “pull-out” doors with dedicated hardware designed for this purpose.

Rail

Stiles and Rails make up the perimeter frame of a 5-piece “frame-and-panel” style door or drawer front (i.e. Shaker style doors.) Rails are the horizontal frame members found on the top and bottom of the door or drawer front. The perimeter rails typically only run the distance between the stiles of the door or drawer front. Horizontal frame members found within the perimeter frame that further break up the panel are called “center rails.”

Refrigerator Panel

A type of cover panel that boxes in the refrigerator in a kitchen and is often used to support the cabinet above a refrigerator. These panels are typically made to the depth of the surrounding base cabinets and stand from the floor up to the top of the cabinet(s) above the refrigerator. Sometimes this height is too tall to made in one piece and must be made into two pieces.

Scribe
(verb) or
Scribe Cut

Scribing is a type of cut typically made in a cover panel, filler, or piece of molding where the surface the aforementioned components being attached to is uneven, not level, or not plum. A scribe cut follows the uniquely shaped surface such that when the component is moved into place against the irregular surface, visible gaps are minimal.

Seasonality

In carpentry, wood expands and contracts naturally against (perpendicular) to the grain but not with (parallel) to it. Many aspects of traditional style are informed by the methods built into furniture that addresses or minimizes this natural occurrence (i.e. frame and panel doors, breadboard ends, butterfly or bowtie joints, etc.)

Shaker Style

Shaker style in furniture refers to the style or methodology made popular by the “Shakers”, who were a religious colony of people in early American society. Shaker style is minimalistic in form, elevates function, and avoids embellishment.

Slab

A panel that is flat and plain with only embellishments perhaps along the very perimeter.

Stile

Stiles and Rails make up the perimeter frame of a 5-piece “frame-and-panel” style door or drawer front (i.e. Shaker style doors.) Stiles are the vertical frame members found on the left and right of the door or drawer front. The perimeter stiles typically run the full height of the door or drawer front. Vertical frame members found within the perimeter frame that further break up the panel are called “center stiles.”

Sub Base

The support structure or components installed or built to hold up a cabinet box. This can be a set of cabinet legs, decorative furniture legs, or a sturdy frame built with dimensional lumber.

Tab Pull

See “Edge Pull.”