Ball Bearing Glides - Smooth gliding guides that are usually side mounted. These guides slide on small metallic balls that bear the weight of the drawer.
Butt Doors - Door on a double door cabinet that when closed, nearly touch each other. Typically, a 1/8" gap is allowed between the butt doors.
Cam Locks - A cylindrical lock or fastener commonly used for cabinets. Often there will be a male and female part. Once inserted, simply turn the metal piece 180 degrees clockwise to lock into place. Cam locks are an easy and secure way to connect cabinet panels. They are commonly found in ready-to-assemble cabinets.
Center Stile - Vertical strips of wood that divide cabinets for extra support and durability. Usually seen on larger width cabinets.
Concealed hinge - a hinge that is not visible on the front of a cabinet door. Concealed hinges are attached to the inside surface of the door.
Dado - a groove that is cut into a piece of material so that another piece may slide into it. The inside surface of cabinet drawers may be 'dadoed' with a groove to accept the drawer bottom panel which helps make for a stronger joint between the drawer side and bottom panels.
Dovetail - Woodworked joints that are used to connect drawer sides to the drawer face without the use of exposed hardware. These joints are known for their durability. The wood is cut in a series of angled portions that look like dove tails. These “tails” interlock and are difficult to separate once attached.
Epoxy Coated Glides - A fast drying white protective coating that is baked into hardware metal guides. It is low VOC and can be used for sidemount and undermount hardware.
Exposed hinge - a hinge type that is visible on the outside edge of the cabinet door when the door is closed.
Face frame - the wood frame that is attached to the front edges of the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet box. The door gets hinged to the face frame. This frame helps provide rigidity to the box. Cabinet designs that incorporate this feature are called "framed" or "face-frame" cabinets.
Framed - a cabinet design that uses a 'face-frame' which is typically a wood frame attached to the front edges of the cabinet box (where the door gets hinged to).
Frameless - a cabinet design that does not use a frame on the front outside edges of the cabinet box. The front of the cabinet box is formed by the edges of the top, bottom and side panels of the cabinet box. The cabinet door typically covers these edges when closed.
Full Extension Glides - Hardware that provides full-access to drawers and allows the drawer to pass the face frame.
Full Overlay - A cabinet design whereby the cabinet door or drawer front covers the entire face frame so that only the cabinet door is seen with no part of the face frame visible. A cabinet is also considered full-overlay when the reveal is less than ¼ inch.
Half Overlay/Partial Overlay - A cabinet design whereby the cabinet door or drawer front partially overlaps the face frame. When the drawers/doors are closed, more than ¼ inch of the face frame remains visible.
Inset - a cabinet design whereby the doors fit inside of the face frame when closed (rather than overlapping and sitting on top of the face frame).
Medium density fiberboard (MDF) - a wood-based product that's produced by the combination of very small wood fibers and a glue, resin or similar bonding agent. MDF can be more easily shaped than products like particle board due to the consistency of the material formed by the small fibers. MDF can be used for shelves, doors (typically painted or covered with melamine) and other cabinet parts. It is very dense and resists warping. It is commonly seen in the center panels of recessed cabinet door styles (like a Shaker door) to prevent warping and cracking of the center panel during the wood’s natural expansion and contraction throughout the year.
Melamine - a durable plastic, similar to laminate that can be applied to certain areas of cabinets. It is easy to clean and resists stains, chipping and fading.
Miter - A woodworking joint where two beveled pieces adjoin to make a 90 degree angle.
Mortise and Tenon - a means of wood joinery that involves part of one piece being inserted into a notch or hole in the mating piece. A typical mortise and tenon joint has a square protrusion coming off the end of one piece that fits tightly into a square 'hole' or notch in the piece it's joined to. The pieces that make up the outer frame of a cabinet door might be joined using this technique.
Overlay - Overlay refers to the amount of face frame that is covered by the cabinet door or drawer front.
Partial overlay/Half Overlay - A cabinet design whereby the cabinet door or drawer front partially overlaps the face frame. When the drawers/doors are closed, more than ¼ inch of the face frame remains visible.
Particle board - a wood product made up of very small wood pieces and fragments that are fused together with a glue or resin under mechanical pressure.
Plywood - an all wood product made up of several layers of wood with the grain direction running at different angles with respect to each other. This orientation gives plywood greater strength and stability in comparison to solid wood. It reduces the tendency of wood to split when nailed at the edges and reduces expansion and shrinkage, providing improved dimensional stability.
Rail - the horizontal pieces of a face frame or door frame (in contrast to a "stile" which is the vertical member of the frame).
Raised Panel - Doors that have slightly raised center panels.
Recessed Panel - Door style where the center panel is inset or recessed. A common example is a Shaker door style.
Reveal - The exposed portion between the end of the cabinet face frame and the door.
Self Closing Drawers - Drawers that have mechanisms or magnets that guide the drawer closed. These are not soft-closing.
Sidemounted Glides - Drawer hardware that is mounted on the side of the drawer.
Slab Front - A flat door panel with no design, moldings, recessed or raised areas. Commonly gives a more contemporary appearance.
Soft Close Drawers - Drawers containing a piston that respond to various levels of pressure and weight, absorbing the impact and closing the door slowly and safely.
Stile - the vertical pieces of a face frame or door frame (in contrast to the "rails" which are the horizontal pieces of the frame).
Undermount Glides - Drawer hardware that is mounted underneath the drawer. Undermount guides can usually carry more weight than sidemount guides.
Veneer - thin layers of wood applied to plywood or MDF before it’s treated with stain. Veneers can be used on the sides of exposed cabinets (for example, on the end of a run of cabinets) and on the interior surfaces of cabinet boxes.
FILTER PRODUCTS