Have European cabinets gone out of style?

The eurocabinets spiked around here about 3 years ago. Although there are some advantages in the frameless style for the consumer, the real advantages are for the higher-volume cabinet shops. An edgebander and a 13-bit gang drill and you're flying. The hidden hinges are nice, but now there are systems in place to have hidden hinges AND the look of a more elegant face-frame cabinet. As a face-frame cabinet also has the frame protrude a little on the outside of the cabinet, joining two of those cabinets creates a bit of a hinge which allows for a much quicker and tidier installation. Personally, I like the euro cabinets when you're doing a flat panel one piece door and when you match the grains of a whole wall of doors like that, it can be spectacular. (Think book-matched rosewood) The face-frame look, IMHO, allows for a more 'furniturey' look and works better in a smaller kitchen.

BUT.... I can guarantee you one thing: somebody will disagree with my take on this.

Heh...I agree that the face frame looks more furniturey. However, the frames take up an awful lot of vertical space between drawers. I rebuilt some of my drawer boxes and it basically meant that I had to use side mount slides rather than undermount because the face frames took up too much space.

And if you've only got a skinny little cabinet (9" or so) you lose a significant fraction of the opening to the frames.

Chris

I build high end homes ($800k - $1m+), and generally the kitchen cabinetry that goes in them, and I would agree with Robatoy's take on the issue that Euro style has lost steam in the last five or six years, particularly in that market.

I see some nice Euro jobs, but most high end clients opt for traditional FF cabinets ... AAMOF, it I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand time, out of the bee stung lipped mouths of the upscale woman home buyer: "There is something temporary looking about those frameless cabinets!"

... and they're right, considering the genesis and philosophy behind the Euro 35mm system design. :)