Glossary

Alphabetize

Accessories: Accessories are things like pull-out hampers, fold-out ironing boards, pull-down knife racks, spice racks, wine racks, stemware holders, china dish rack, and etc. Whatever your imagination can conceive, we probably have an accessory for it.

Blind Corners: Corner cabinets are either blind or they have a Lazy Suzan in them. Cabinets are said to be blind when the corner cabinet does not have a lazy in it and is mounted in behind another corner cabinet. Half of one cabinet is not visible and is mounted in the corner behind the cabinet that is mounted perpendicualar to it. To access this space of the cabinet, one needs to stuff the contents 24" into the corner from the visible side of the cabinet. (Hopefully, you will not need those items very often.)

A Lazy Suzan corner cabinet gives a better functionality of the same space, providing entrance to the otherwise blind corner space, with an open access. This 24" square space is filled with a turnstyle known as a Lazy Suzan. This Suzan rotates on a free wheeling shaft that is in the center of the fixture.

Custom Cabinets:

Foil:

Frame or frameless: A framed cabinet has a face plate on the front of the cabinet that gives the cabinet rigidity and also supplies an area to mount hinges and door bumpers. This is the area that is seen with standard overlay cabinets. A frameless cabinet is the European style cabinet which amounts to just a box with a door attached. The frameless cabinet has no face plate attached to it.

Glazed: I can remember, as a child, one of my most favorite toys (other than the ones that my dad hand made for me) and this was a wood-burning iron. I would heat the iron up and burn designs into any hardwood or plywood that I could get. The burn marks left a dark burn in the hardwood that drastically contrasted the color of the wood used. We did wood-burning a lot in cub scouts.

Doors that have been glazed give this effect. Some doors are routed with small grooves that follow the design of the particular frame. Then the inside of those grooves are glazed with different colors of glaze, depending on the door finish. This gives the door a rich look and is very esthetic in appearance.

Hardware: Cabinet hardware is things like door pulls (knobs), drawer pulls (handles), hinges, key locks, fixing brackets (drawer locks), and etc.

Type of overlay: The doors can be either a standard overlay or a full overlay. Full overlay doors cover the cabinet framework and standard overlay allows the framework to be seen. However, remember that full overlay cabinets require hardware and hardware will be an added expense. Standard overlay cabinets do not need hardware. If you prefer hardware, no matter what the overlay, then by all means, use hardware. This is just to inform you that full overlay requires hardware and is not included unless specifically ordered.

Recessed and Raised Panel: A cabinet door consists of an outer framework and a panel insert. Whether a door is recessed or raised depends on the insert. If an insert is just a flat panel set inside of the framework, then it is known as a recessed panel. If, however, the panel is a routed panel insert and is flush with the outside of the framework, then it is a raised panel. Although the raised panel is a little more expensive in cost, it is still the most popular panel used.

Drawer Guides: Drawer runners are the ball bearing slides on which the drawer is pulled out. Some runners are 3/4 extension and others are full extension. Full runners pull out far enough so that the whole contents of the drawer are visible. Three-quarter extension drawers only allow 3/4's of the drawer to be visible.

Semi-Custom Cabinets:

Shaker: Shaker is a door style that basically consists of a square door frame and a flat panel insert. The frame is not routed in any way and does not have either an arch or cathedral shape. The edges of the door are not even routed with a radius.

Stock Cabinets:

Cabinet style: When we speak of cabinet style, we are talking about whether cabinet doors have arched, square, or cathedral fronts. Are the doors recessed, raised, or have slab fronts. Remember that this is talking about the upper cabinets. Lower cabinets have square door fronts.

You can get drawer fronts to match the door fronts in certain door styles. These can be either slab or a five piece front.

Wood species: Wood species is the type of wood that the cabinets are made out of, I.E., Oak, Maple, Hickory, Cherry, and etc. As a second thought to wood species, you'll want to know the type of grain that you prefer along with the darkness of the wood. In other words, do you like an open or closed grain wood species. Do you like a dark grained finish or a light grained finish?

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