Glossary

Cabinets and fit

Frameless cabinet

A cabinet box with no frame on its front edge: the doors and drawer fronts cover the box itself. IKEA’s kitchen cabinets are frameless, like most European kitchens, which is why fronts made for them sit edge to edge with only a fine gap between them.

Face frame (framed cabinet)

A solid-wood frame fixed to the front of a cabinet box, common in traditional North American kitchens. Doors overlap the frame or sit inside it. IKEA cabinets have no face frame, so a framed look has to come from the style of the doors, not the cabinet.

Full overlay

Doors and drawer fronts that cover the cabinet box almost completely, leaving only a small, even gap between neighbours. This is how every front on an IKEA cabinet fits.

Partial overlay

Doors that cover only part of a face frame, so the frame shows around them. It needs a framed cabinet, so it isn’t used on IKEA boxes.

Inset door

A door that sits inside a face frame, flush with its front. It needs a framed cabinet and different hinges, so it isn’t an option on standard IKEA cabinets.

Gap (reveal)

The thin space between neighbouring fronts. To keep it even, a front is made slightly smaller than its nominal size: an IKEA 15 × 30 door measures 14⅞ × 29⅞ inches.

Nominal size

The size a front is called by, matching the cabinet module, such as 15 × 30 or 24 × 40 inches. The real front is ⅛ inch smaller each way.

Carcass (cabinet box)

The box of a cabinet without its doors, drawer fronts or panels. With custom fronts you keep IKEA’s carcasses and everything inside them.

SEKTION

IKEA’s kitchen cabinet system in Canada and the US since 2015. Most custom fronts are made for it, in its standard sizes.

AKURUM

IKEA’s earlier North American kitchen system, sold before 2015. Its sizes and drilling differ from SEKTION, so tell makers which one you have. Some makers still make AKURUM replacement fronts.

Refacing

Replacing the doors, drawer fronts and visible panels of a kitchen while keeping the cabinet boxes, inserts and usually the counters. An IKEA kitchen is especially easy to reface because its sizes are standard.

Door styles

Shaker

A door with a flat recessed centre panel inside a square frame of rails and stiles. The most requested style, and it works as a full-overlay front on IKEA cabinets.

Slim shaker

A shaker door with a narrow frame, often around an inch wide, for a lighter, more modern line.

Slab (flat-panel)

A single flat panel with no frame or profile. It lets the material lead: wood veneer, lacquer, laminate or plywood.

Fluted

Rounded vertical grooves cut into the face of a front. Often used on an island or a single feature run.

Reeded

Like fluted but usually describes textured glass with vertical ribs, used in glass-ready doors.

Beaded

Fine vertical beads, often inside a frame, for a cottage or traditional look.

Raised panel

A door whose centre panel is bevelled so it stands proud of the frame. A traditional style.

Glass-ready frame

A door frame with an open centre and a rebate on the back for glass, usually on wall cabinets. Some makers fit the glass; others leave it to you.

Handleless (integrated grip)

Fronts with a grip routed into the top or side edge, so no handles are needed and a run reads as one surface. Sometimes called a J-pull.

Edge pull

A slim metal or wood pull fixed to the top or side edge of a front, visible only as a thin line.

Push-to-open

A latch that opens a door or drawer when you press the front, for a completely clean look. It needs push latches or push-to-open runners in place of soft-close ones.

Materials and finishes

MDF

Medium-density fibreboard: a smooth, stable board made from fine wood fibres. The usual core for painted fronts because it doesn’t move with humidity the way solid wood can.

Painted (sprayed) finish

Paint sprayed in several coats over MDF or wood, usually in any colour you choose. Ask makers about the paint system, how many coats, and their custom colour fee.

Wood veneer

A thin slice of real wood bonded to a stable core. It gives the look of solid wood on a flat front without the warping.

Book-matched

Veneer leaves opened like the pages of a book, so the grain mirrors across a front or a run of fronts.

Grain direction

Whether the wood grain runs up and down or side to side. Vertical is usual; continuous grain across drawer fronts costs more but looks seamless.

Plywood fronts

Fronts in birch or other plywood, often with the layered edge left on show as a design feature.

Solid wood

Fronts made entirely of timber, most often for the frames of shaker doors. Beautiful, but more prone to small seasonal movement than veneered or MDF fronts.

Lacquer

A hard, sprayed clear or coloured finish, from matte to high gloss.

Laminate

A printed or solid-colour decorative layer pressed onto a board. Hard-wearing and usually less expensive. High-pressure laminate (HPL) is the tougher kind.

Thermofoil

A vinyl film heat-formed over MDF. Affordable and easy to clean, but strong heat, such as from an oven without a heat shield, can lift it.

Melamine

A resin-based surface fused to particleboard, used for most cabinet boxes, including IKEA’s, and some budget fronts.

Edge banding

A thin strip applied to the raw edge of a board front to finish it: matching veneer, laminate or a contrasting colour.

Hinges and drawers

Concealed (cup) hinge

A hinge hidden inside the cabinet, fixed into a round 35 mm cup drilled in the back of the door. IKEA cabinets use concealed hinges; makers drill their doors to suit.

Hinge boring (drilling)

The cup holes and screw holes drilled in a door for its hinges, in the positions IKEA’s hinges expect. Most makers pre-drill standard doors; panels and special pieces are often left plain.

Hinge side

Which side a door opens from. A single door can usually be hinged on either side, so tell your maker if you want a particular one.

Soft-close

A damper in the hinge or drawer runner that slows a door or drawer for the last few centimetres so it closes quietly.

Inner drawer

A drawer hidden behind a tall drawer front or a door, with its own low front. In the IKEA plan its front is listed, but it isn’t one of the visible fronts a maker builds.

Drawer front

The visible panel fixed to the front of a drawer. On IKEA drawers it clips to the drawer with fittings, so makers drill it to suit.

Panels and trim

Cover panel (end panel)

A panel that covers the exposed side of a cabinet, such as the end of a run or the back of an island, in the same finish as the fronts.

Filler

A narrow strip that fills the gap between a cabinet and a wall or appliance, so doors and drawers can open freely.

Toe kick (plinth)

The recessed strip along the bottom of base cabinets that hides the legs and leaves room for your toes.

Deco strip and crown

Trim along the top or bottom of wall cabinets, to finish them against the ceiling or hide under-cabinet lights.

Scribe

Extra material on a panel or filler that is trimmed on site to follow an uneven wall or floor.

Appliance panel

A front that covers an integrated dishwasher or fridge so it matches the cabinets. Panel-ready appliances need panels sized to their own specs.