Reference Guide
Face-Frame vs. Frameless (Euro) Cabinets
Both cabinet systems hold up a kitchen, but they solve the same problems in opposite ways — one with a solid wood face, the other with a drilled panel. The choice changes how you size doors, mount hinges, and hang drawer slides. This guide breaks down the construction and the hardware geometry so you can build either one correctly.
What is a face-frame cabinet?
A face-frame cabinet has a frame of 3/4" solid wood stiles and rails fastened across the front of the box, typically 1-1/2" to 2" wide. The frame stiffens the carcass and gives doors a solid surface to land on. It is the traditional North American method: face frames are usually pocket-screwed and glued, then trimmed flush, and adjacent cabinets are joined through their stiles so the fronts read as one continuous plane.
What is a frameless (Euro) cabinet?
A frameless cabinet — also called full-access or European — has no front frame at all. The box is built from 18 mm (approximately 3/4"18 mm) particleboard, MDF, or plywood, and the edge that would be covered by a frame is finished with edge banding. Hardware mounts directly to the inside panels using the 32 mm system — a grid of 5 mm diameter holes drilled on 32 mm centers for shelf pins, hinge plates, and system holes.
Construction differences at a glance
| Aspect | Face-frame | Frameless (Euro) |
|---|---|---|
| Front | 3/4" solid stiles & rails (1-1/2"–2" wide) | None; edge-banded panels |
| Boring | Blocking / stile adjustments | 32 mm system line boring (5 mm holes) |
| Door overlay | Compact 1/2" or 3/4" overlay | Full overlay, typically 19 mm (3/4") |
| Interior access | Lost to frame width + overlay | Full opening width (full access) |
| Slide mounting | Rear brackets to reach the frame | Screws directly into side panels |
Door overlay geometry
On a face-frame cabinet, the door lands on the stile. A compact overlay of 1/2" (13 mm) or a standard 3/4" (19 mm) leaves part of the frame visible as a reveal; the door is sized from the opening plus the overlay on each edge. On a frameless cabinet there is no frame to reveal, so doors use a full overlay of about 19 mm and cover the entire carcass edge, leaving only a small gap between adjacent doors.
Door width = Opening width + Left overlay + Right overlay
Paired doors: width per door = (Opening + overlays − center gap) ÷ 2
The same formula drives both systems — only the overlay values change. The cabinet door size calculator handles compact and full overlays, inset doors, and the center reveal on paired doors.
Hinge mounting differences
Both systems use a 35 mm concealed cup hinge, so the cup boring in the door is identical. What changes is the plate side. On a face-frame cabinet the hinge plate screws to the stile, and the crank (overlay) of the hinge is chosen so the door sits at the intended reveal; deeper reveals often need a face-frame-specific or "cranked" hinge. On a frameless cabinet the plate screws straight into the 32 mm line-boring holes on the side panel, and full-overlay Euro hinges are used.
Cup: 35 mm diameter, bored 11.5–12.5 mm deep
Boring distance: ~1-1/2" (37 mm) edge-to-cup-center for 3/4" full overlay
Always confirm the boring distance against the specific hinge datasheet — Blum and Salice publish exact figures per overlay and hinge family.
Drawer slide mounting differences
This is where the two systems diverge most. A frameless cabinet has a flat interior side panel, so undermount and side-mount slides fasten directly to it with Euro screws — simple and strong. A face-frame cabinet sets the slide behind the frame, so the front of the slide sometimes needs to reach past the stile; the rear of the slide is carried by a rear mounting bracket that spans back to the cabinet's rear panel or a back plate.
Box sizing is largely identical: an undermount slide expects a drawer box whose outside depth matches the nominal slide length, and the usual width deduction applies to the opening. Use the drawer slide calculator to work backward from interior depth to the longest standard slide that fits, then check whether your cabinet needs rear brackets.
Which system should you build?
Face-frame is forgiving of out-of-square boxes, takes paint and stain on solid wood the way traditional kitchens expect, and suits face-mounted hardware. Frameless gives you more usable interior width in the same footprint, is faster to produce once you are set up for 32 mm boring, and pairs naturally with full-overlay doors and undermount slides. Many shops build frameless boxes with applied end panels and full-overlay fronts; others stick with face frames for the classic reveal. Neither is more "correct" — they simply demand different layout math.
For the dimensions that apply either way, see the standard cabinet dimensions cheat sheet.