With their sleek construction and easy access, frameless cabinets are a popular kitchen design request, but can easily break the budget. The same features that make them attractive also increase their price.
“Frameless cabinets are difficult to make,” says Gene Chappell, technical sales manager for Timber Products. “The doors and drawer fronts have very exacting tolerances, and the gaps between the doors have to match just right. With no face frame to hide inconsistencies, everything has to be constructed perfectly.”
As a cabinetry components supplier, Chappell says that Timber Products works hard to ensure its equipment is properly calibrated so frameless cabinets come together just right.
Other manufacturers have added new product lines to meet the frameless cabinetry trend. “There’s a desire for clean lines and understated elegance, with an aversion to over-the-top, ornate designs,” says Cindy Draper, marketing manager for Canyon Creek Cabinet Co. She notes that 23% of the company’s 2011 sales were from frameless cabinets.
Canyon Creek recently launched Katana, its value-priced frameless line, broadening appeal. “Katana has the same full-overlay look as our Millennia frameless line, but with fewer options,” Draper says. “We were able to value engineer Katana by maximizing our existing manufacturing techniques to use less material, and by making adjustments in box construction and hardware.”
—Lauren Hunter, associate editor, REMODELING.
