Summer 25% discount on all last year's products home decor
What to specify when you order cabinet doors
Six things define a door: its size, the overlay, the hinge boring, the species, the panel type and the thickness. Size and boring are the two that cannot be corrected after the fact, because a made-to-size door cannot be recut. Settle the overlay and boring once for a job rather than per door.
| Field | What it changes | If it is wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Everything. The door is cut to it | A new door. It cannot be recut smaller usefully or made larger at all |
| Boring | Whether your hinges fit without drilling | A new door, or drilling on site and living with a visible cup |
| Overlay | How far the door laps the opening | Doors that rub each other, or a reveal that reads as a gap |
| Species | Grain, colour, and how it takes finish | A door that looks wrong beside the others but fits |
| Panel type | Solid, veneer, or flat inside the frame | A price difference and a different shadow line |
| Thickness | Set by the family you choose, not by you | Nothing — it follows the style |
Which fields actually matter?
Six per door, and they are not equally forgiving. Size and boring are the two that turn into a new door if you get them wrong. The rest turn into a door you are less happy with, which is a different kind of problem.
Work down them in that order and the awkward decisions get made while you still have the drawing in front of you.
How do I specify size?
Width and height of each piece, in sixteenths, measured individually. From 5 by 8 inches up to 49 by 96, drawer fronts from 5 by 5, two square foot minimum per door.
The sixteenth is the part shops sometimes do not use. You are not choosing a size from a list and filling with a strip — you are giving a number. If the opening works out at 14 and 3/16, order 14 and 3/16.
Measure every piece rather than one and multiply. On new boxes that feels redundant and usually is. On an existing kitchen it is the single most common reason a set comes back not quite right.
What boring should I ask for?
One of three, and it is per order rather than per door:
- Press-in — 35mm cup plus two 8mm dowel holes for the lugs.
- Screw-in — the cup alone, hinge screwed to the door face.
- Blank — nothing bored, you do your own.
Our cup is 35mm across, 13mm deep, 3mm in from the edge. If you are matching an existing kitchen, measure what is there rather than assuming — that is the number worth checking before anything is cut rather than after.
Blank is worth considering on a job where the hinge choice is not settled. You keep the decision and lose nothing but the boring.
How do I decide the overlay?
The overlay is how far the door laps over the opening, and it is a decision rather than a measurement — it follows the hinge and the plate height you are using.
Settle it once for the job. A kitchen with two overlays in it reads as a mistake even where every individual door is right, because the eye reads the reveals rather than the doors.
If you are matching existing work, measure from the edge of a door to the outside edge of the cabinet and copy it.
Does species affect anything but the look?
It affects how the door takes finish, which is the part that catches people.
Eleven species and paint grades, available on every profile. Paint grade is the right order if it is being painted — there is no sense paying for grain that vanishes under an opaque finish, and a paint-grade frame is built to be painted rather than merely able to be.
On a stained finish, order everything at once. Two batches of the same species can differ slightly, and a stain shows what paint hides.
What are the panel options?
On a raised panel door: a solid panel, a veneer panel written “VP”, an “F” panel, or an inset panel built in the same style. The listed price is the solid one; heavier panels are an upgrade quoted on the area.
Veneer is worth knowing about on a wide door. It looks like solid timber and moves less with humidity, which on a 30-inch panel is a real difference rather than a marginal one.
Do I need to specify thickness?
No, and this is the one field that is not yours. Thickness follows the family: 3/4 inch on inset panel and thermofoil, 13/16 inch on raised panel, because a raised panel stands proud of its frame.
It only matters if you are mixing families in one kitchen, where the sixteenth is visible at a joint between a raised panel door and a flat drawer front beside it.
Which way does the grain run?
Vertically, like the doors. That is the standard on every piece unless you ask for something else, and it is what you get if you say nothing.
The reason to know it is drawer fronts. A bank of drawers can read vertically, matching the doors above and beside it, or horizontally, so the grain runs the width of each front. Both are available. Vertical is what we build.
Horizontal is a deliberate choice rather than a better one — it suits a long run of wide fronts where continuous grain across the bank is the effect you are after, and it is the kind of thing a designer specifies rather than a detail that gets decided by default.
So: if you want the standard, order and say nothing. If you want horizontal on the fronts, put it in the order notes. It is invisible on a drawing and impossible to ignore once the kitchen is assembled, and it is not something that can be changed afterwards.
Do I specify the glass as well?
No, and this is the field that is not on the form. Glass frames and French Lite versions arrive cut and rebated for glass, without the glass.
What you specify is the frame: the style, the size, the species, the boring, exactly as for a solid door. The opening is machined to take glass and stops there.
Two things follow for a shop. Get your glazier the rebate dimensions rather than the door size, because the rebate is what the glass has to sit in. And put the glass on your own quote as a line — it is a second trade, it is cheap, and it is the item most likely to be forgotten between an approved drawing and a handover.
What is worth settling before you start typing?
Two things, because they are decisions rather than measurements and you will otherwise make them eleven times at a keyboard: your overlay, and your boring.
Everything else on the form is a number you already have or a choice that only affects the door in front of you.
Frequently asked questions
Can a door be recut if I order it too big?
Not usefully. The frame width and the panel are set when it is made, so taking material off the edge changes the proportions and cuts into the joint. Size is the field to check twice.
Should I order blank and bore them myself?
It makes sense if the hinge is not settled, or if you have a boring machine and a preference. Otherwise let them arrive bored — the cup is set 3mm in from the edge to a tolerance that is easier to hold on a machine than a jig.
Can I mix species in one order?
Yes. Each piece is specified on its own, so a kitchen in paint grade with an island in walnut is one order rather than two.
What thickness are the stiles and rails?
Up to 3 inches wide on a raised panel door, and every width at or under 3 inches is the same price — so frame width is a design decision rather than a budget one.
Which direction does the grain run on drawer fronts?
Vertically, matching the doors, on every piece unless you ask otherwise. Horizontal fronts are available and are a deliberate choice for a long run of wide drawers — put it in the order notes, because it cannot be changed after the fact.
Do you need my overlay or my opening size?
The finished door size, which is the opening plus your overlay on each side. If you would rather send the opening and the overlay separately, say so in the notes rather than leaving it to be inferred.
One thought on “What to specify when you order cabinet doors”