Inset cabinet spacing question?

18 years ago

We are having inset cabinets custom built and the cabinet maker said he usually makes the spaces between the drawers and cabinets (stiles.. I think?) 1 1/4" because it gives you more storage space. When I look at pictures of inset cabinets in magazines and here, they seem like more like 2". I'm hoping that some of you with inset cabinets could tell me the size of yours?

Thanks a bunch!

Jane

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

annes_arbor
18 years ago
Mine are 1 3/4". Your cabinet maker is right that 1 1/4" will give you more storage space (not much, but a little). I think the most important aspect is the aesthetics. My cabinet maker made samples for me so I could see for myself and decide. I am completely unable to visualize anything to do with cabinetry--I need to see it.
kompy
18 years ago
1 1/2" is common with factory built cabinets. 1 1/4 or 1 3/4 would be fine too.

One thing that I do is on long stretches of cabinets, I will have one cabinet, not two or three. For instance, a galley kitchen that I did last year for a client had two 96" base cabinets. The cabinet had 3 pot drawers, then two full height door and then 3 more pot drawers. Then you don't get the "seams" where multiple cabinets are screwed together...and it just looks better. The cabinet is no bigger than a tall pantry.

If you don't want to have such big cabinets, then staggering the depth is a good way to deal with inset type cabinets.
Related Professionals
Pine Bluff Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Louisville Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Merced Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Dalton Kitchen Remodelers · Belleville Kitchen Remodelers · Corpus Christi Kitchen Remodelers · Killeen Kitchen Remodelers · Orange County Kitchen Remodelers · Carson City Kitchen Remodelers · Sebring Custom Countertops · Indianapolis Custom Countertops · Poplar Bluff Custom Countertops · Corpus Christi Custom Countertops · Portland Custom Countertops · London Custom Countertops
janie-k
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you so much for the info! I was thinking that 1 1/2" would be better, but I'll probably up it to 1 3/4" after seeing your responses.

Thanks kompy for the for the great suggestions. That really makes sense.
velodoug
18 years ago
We did mockups of 1-1/2" and 1-3/4" using painted scrap lumber and decided we liked the 1-3/4" a lot better. I agree with kompy that, if at all possible, there should only be one stile (vertical piece) between adjacent stacks of drawers (or doors).
cabmanct
18 years ago
If you want to mximize the interior width of your cabs have your maker gang several boxes together. So we have the plywood box sides butting up with each other. The combined depth of two sides is 1/16" shy of 1 1/2" inch.
Have him set the width of the stiles to 1 7/16 and attach the face frame for the whole assembly as one unit.
What this does is make a traditional "American" cabinet into a frameless European one. The beauty of this is that the slides will go directly on to the sides of the box without the need for blocking or having to use the bracket attachments for face frames ( which are a nightmare to install ).
I apologize If I am rambling, tell your guy to build the frames flush to the wall of the cabinet.

Steve