Door lip bits for kitchen cabinets?

[Mark & Juanita]

I've looked through the archives and haven't found this subject raised in the past, so...

As I plan my kitchen upgrade, I've been building some drawer units for my workbench as prototypes and to gain experience with drawer construction, face frame construction, and carcase construction (using sheet goods).

One of the things I did with the storage drawers was use the "door lip bit" that came with my Freud cabinet cutter set. What surprised me was the fact that this lip cutter actually makes a lip allowing the door or drawer front to inset into the cabinet face frame.

Sideways ASCII art: (rotate 90 degrees for actual orientation

-----------+ +--------------- Face frame | | | +----------------+ |

------------+/ \+-------------- += =+ | | Drawer front (Note inset +----------------------+ into face frame)

From looking at houses and other kitchen cabinets in home centers, I have never seen this construction anywhere else. All of the construction I recall seeing has the drawer front and/or door front flush with the front of the face frame and profiled.

Has anyone built their kitchen cabinets using this kind of door and drawer face consctruction? One potential issue I see is making sure that the overlap opening is sufficiently sized to allow for seasonal wood movement. Another question that comes to mind is that this appears to have a greater potential for the drawer front to break at the edge if the drawer or door are shut with too much force.

The final question I have is, would this make the construction look less professional or somewhat "cheesy"?

[Doug Winterburn]

It's not "cheesy", but more like "retro". It was *the* method in the '40sand '50s. My mothers house was built in 1903 and the kitchen "upgraded" in 1946. The custom built cabinets are exactly how you describe them with an exposed roundover on the outside lip. Generally, all the doors and drawers have about 1/8" clearance between the face frames and inside lip/drawer side.

-Doug

[Pat Barber]

That method of making doors was/is around until maybe the late 88/89 in my part of the world. I built my present home in 1988 and that form of doors was the method used by the entire industry at that time. The "Euro" doors were just starting to make a showing but didn't kick in big time till a couple years later.

My mother-in-law refaced her cabinets last year and the doors were exactly the same, except her's were made in 1965....

The "semi-euro" is the current rage.....

Mark & Juanita wrote:

[Swingman]

Currently it is very much a trait of the Mexican "cabinet maker's" in this neck of the woods. Still ubiquitous on many of the less expensive, built-in, mostly plywood doors with wood trim, kitchen and bathroom cabinets in new home construction.

High dollar cabinets around are currently characterized by wood face frames, a 3/8" overlay solid wood door, with hidden euro hinges.

... but these things change like your socks.

[Wilson Lamb]

[David Babcock]

Funny you should mention this idea, when I made drawers for my shop, I wasn't to worried about how they looked as long as they were strong and functional. But as I made a simple full face drawer to sit against the face frame, I realized the draws didn't sit quite right, the wobbled a little when closed. So I took the face off the drawers, cut a rabbit around the edge, so that the face fit into the draw openings. Drawers sit nice and tight now. Then when I looked back at some old pictures of my Father making cabinets for the house I grew up in, his drawer faces were all cut the same way, with a little rounding over effect on the edges, and that was before he bought any router.

Dave

[Larry Kraus]

This is what I keep telling my wife I'm doing... Maybe I'll finish the shop cabinets in 4-5 years, then I can start on the in-house projects.

You never heard of Truth In Advertising?

Lipped drawers and drawers are not popular in current styles, but I think they probably do a better job of keeping dust out of cabinets and drawers than either flush or full overlay doors, making them well-suited to a wood shop.

[Mark & Juanita]

Good luck. :-)

Yes, but when I read "door lip", my thought (silly as it was) was toward the profiles that are present on most current doors and drawers, putting a profile on the inside face with a roundover on the outside face, but leaving a flush mount.

I agree with the above, and I do think that this design is probably better than flush mount. My concern is whether, if I ever need to sell the house, others would discount the value.

I'm also going to have to experiment with doors and Blum hinges to determine whether this will be a problem. Thanks to everyone who has provided input thus far.

[Jerry Gilreath]

I redone the wife's kitchen a couple years back with all oak cabinets and drawer and door faces. The old cabinets were made that way, "72ish I believe. I did the new ones in a 3/8 or so overlay. I wish I had done the "lipped" style. There's a few dammits! the old way would have covered up. Next one's I do will be the "lipped" way. My $.02.