Designing inset cabinets begins with an understanding of how they are going to be built.

Traditional inset cabinets are cabinets with the doors and drawer-fronts set into a face frame.  Think picture frame.  The doors and drawer-fronts are the paintings inside the frame.  Inset cabinets look more like furniture pieces than storage cabinets.

They are also known as flush inset cabinets because the face of the doors and drawer-fronts are flush with the face of the face frames.

Face frames have horizontal and vertical parts, in the same way a shaker style door does.  The horizontal parts are called rails and mid-rails.  The vertical parts are called the stiles and mid-stiles.

We offer two different face frame styles for inset cabinets; square inset and beaded inset face frames.

Designing Inset Cabinets with Square Inset Face Frames

A square inset face frame cabinet has square edges on all of the edges of the face frame, including the inside edges of the frames that surround each door and drawer opening.

The example below has concealed adjustable hinges and a standard 4″ high toe-kick.  Clean and simple!

Designing Inset Cabinets with Beaded Inset Face Frames

A beaded inset face frame cabinet has a 1/4″ bead detail around the inside edge of the face frame openings for each door and drawer-front.

The example below also has concealed adjustable hinges , but with a version of a furniture-style toe-kick.

Both inset face frame types are available with either concealed Blum hinges or exposed barrel hinges.

The example below is square inset with exposed barrel hinges.

The next example is a beaded inset with exposed barrel hinges and extended tapered legs going to the floor.

Other Inset Cabinet Options

Exposed End Panels

These are the visible sides or gable ends of cabinets.

1. They could be simple a flat panel, painted or stained, depending on the cabinet.
2. they could be finished with a matching door panel, or
3. they could be finished with a matching door panel that has been paced into a face frame. Like this:

Toe-kick Options

This is the area at the floor where your toes tuck under the cabinet.  Most cabinets have 4″ high toe-kicks, but there are other options.

1. a standard 4″ high toe-kick
2. extended legs going to the floor
3. a decorative furniture-style toe-kick
4. flat front toe-kick
5. extended legs going to the floor with a decorative curve cut-out

Anna & Tristan’s grey kitchen cabinets have extended legs going to the floor with decorative curve cut-outs.

They’re beaded inset cabinets with end panels that have matching door panels set into face frames.