Two kitchens can use the same Shaker door and still look completely different. The reason is often the door overlay: how the door sits on the cabinet box. It changes the look of the whole kitchen, how much storage you get and what the cabinets cost. Here are the three main options.
The three types
Full overlay
The doors and drawer fronts cover almost the entire front of the cabinet, leaving only a small gap between them. You see very little of the cabinet box or face frame.
- Look: clean, continuous and modern. Works with any door style, from slab to Shaker.
- Storage: larger doors and drawer fronts mean wider openings than partial overlay.
- Hinges: concealed (hidden) hinges, usually with soft-close.
- Cost: the most common choice today and widely available.
Partial overlay
The doors cover only part of the face frame, so a wider band of frame shows around each door and drawer.
- Look: traditional and simple. Common in older and builder-grade kitchens.
- Storage: the visible frame narrows the openings slightly.
- Hinges: concealed or partly visible hinges.
- Cost: usually the most economical option.
Inset
The doors and drawer fronts sit inside the face frame, flush with its front. The frame stays fully visible around every door and drawer.
- Look: classic, crafted and furniture-like. A natural fit for traditional, farmhouse and older homes, and also striking in a simple modern kitchen.
- Storage: the frame and the door sit within the same depth, so drawers and openings are a little smaller than with full overlay.
- Hinges: concealed hinges or exposed decorative hinges (such as butt hinges), which become part of the look.
- Precision: each door must fit its opening with an even gap all around. That takes careful building and installation.
- Cost: typically the most expensive of the three, because of the extra precision and labor.
Framed and frameless cabinets
Overlay and frame construction go together:
- Framed cabinets have a face frame on the front of the box. They can be built as full overlay, partial overlay or inset.
- Frameless (European-style) cabinets have no face frame. Their doors are full overlay by design, which gives the sleek, gap-minimal look of many modern kitchens.
Things to know about inset
Inset doors are beautiful, but they come with a few trade-offs worth knowing before you choose:
- Seasonal movement. Wood expands and contracts with humidity. On inset doors the gaps are visible, so small changes show more than on overlay doors. Good construction and finish keep this to a minimum, and hinges can be adjusted.
- Adjustments. Inset doors may need occasional fine-tuning to keep the gaps even.
- Hardware. Every door and drawer needs a knob or pull, since there is no edge to grab. Latches or catches are sometimes added.
How to choose
Choose full overlay if you want:
- a clean, modern or transitional look,
- the most usable storage space for the money,
- easy, low-maintenance doors.
Choose partial overlay if you want:
- a simple, traditional look at the lowest cost,
- to match existing cabinets in another part of the house.
Choose inset if you want:
- a classic, custom, furniture-quality look,
- the visible face frame and possibly exposed hinges as a design feature,
- and you are comfortable with a higher price and a little more care.
See them side by side
Overlay is easier to understand in person than in photos. Open a few doors and drawers of each type, look at the gaps and the hinges, and compare the storage inside. You can do exactly that at our showrooms, where cabinet doors and full cabinets are on display, and our team designs, orders and installs the cabinets you choose.