Kitchen Planner

Glossary of Terms

Assembled Cabinets

Wide variety of cabinet sizes and door styles. Comes fully assembled.

Beadboard

Paneling that incorporates beaded, routed detail and conveys relaxed, casual styling.

Bridge Cabinet

A cabinet used to span an open space above an appliance like a fridge or stove.

Countertop Overhang

The distance a countertop extends over the edge of the cabinet it sits on.

Crown Moulding

Decorative moulding that provides an attractive finish to the top edge of upper cabinets. Crown moulding also runs along the top of a wall where it meets the ceiling. The wider the moulding the more stately the effect.

Flat Panel

A recessed center panel to a door or drawer design conveying Transitional, Shaker, or Arts and Crafts styling.

Framed Cabinets

The traditional framed cabinet has a front frame around the cabinet opening to which the door is attached. These are the most popular type of cabinets, and are easier to install than frameless cabinetry because of their recessed end panels and rigid front frame.

Frameless Cabinets

Frameless, or European-style cabinets, have no front frame. The doors are attached directly to the sides of the cabinet, and offer completely unobstructed access to the cabinet interior because there is no front frame.

Glazes

A finish treatment used to coat cabinetry, producing enhancements in door detail, wood colour and tone.

Half inch Overlay

Cabinet door styles that cover most of the face frame, giving prominence to the door and drawer design.

Light Valance

A light fixture installed behind a horizontal shielding along a wall or above a window. The valance hides the fixture itself, providing a soft, glowing accent light.

Linear foot

A linear foot is 12 inches, and is the standard unit of measurement for kitchen cabinets, countertops, etc. Inclusive of both top and bottom cabinetry. A cabinet 60 inches long is 5 linear feet, regardless of its depth.

MDF

Medium Density Fiberboard. A type of engineered wood.

Melamine

A Chemically fused paper pressed & scaled to engineered wood

Melamine Laminate

A durable, easy to clean material used on drawer and door surfaces to cover a substrate of particleboard. Melamine laminate is also used for fabricating countertops since it is thicker than vinyl and provides a hard surface.

Mullion Doors

Mullion doors have glass inserts in place of the typical centre panel for a more stylish appearance.

Raised Door Panel

A center panel in a cabinet door that stands out from its background. The frame of a raised panel door is made up of the rails (horizontal pieces) and the stiles (vertical pieces), which surround the panel. When the panel has an edge shaped to fit into the rails and stiles it is called a raised panel.

Recessed Door

A flat panel held inside the perimeter of a door. A flat panel recesses between the stiles and rails.

Semi-Custom Cabinets

Semi-custom cabinets are available in a number of sizes, shapes, wood species and finishes. It provides a number of styling options in both framed and frameless offerings that include such things as reduced depths, increased heights, matching interiors, inverted frames, etc.

Shaker door

Simple and uncluttered design reflecting the lifestyle of the Shakers of New England. Cabinetry doors are simple and have a recessed panel design.

Soffit

A soffit or "bulkhead" is the area between a ceiling and the top of wall cabinets, and usually extends over the cabinets.

Stock or Ready To Assemble Cabinets

Stock cabinets, which offer fewer options than either "custom" or "semi-custom" cabinetry, are also available in a number of different sizes, shapes, wood species and finishes. Stock cabinetry provides customers a limited number of styling options in both their framed and frameless offerings and are Do-it-yourself friendly.

Toekick plate

A recessed area at the bottom of a counter to allow someone to stand closer to it.

Traditional Overlay Styling

Overlay is the amount of front frame covered by the door and drawer. The exposed front frame is referred to as the "reveal." The reveal on Traditional Overlay cabinets is typically 1 inch.

Veneer

A veneer is a thin piece (1/32 of an inch) of wood which is attached with glue to a substrate (usually "particleboard" in raised panel doors and "hardboard" in flat or recessed panel doors). Veneered components are more uniform in finish and grain consistency.