Two fundamentally different construction methods are employed in cabinet manufacturing: face-frame and frameless. The traditional method, and the type still used for about two-thirds of American-made cabinets, is face-frame construction.

Face-frame cabinets, as the name implies, have a hardwood frame on the face of the cabinet carcass. This frame masks the raw edges of the 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch plywood or particleboard sides, adds rigidity to the cabinet and provides a strong base for attaching hinges.

The sturdy face-frame makes it possible to use thin plywood backs and eliminate a top panel on base cabinets.

Frameless construction, the standard for European-style cabinets, resembles a box. Sides, back, top and bottom are all made from plywood or particleboard panels, typically wood-veneered or covered with plastic laminate or melamine.

The front edges of these panels are covered with thin laminate banding that matches panel surfaces. Doors on frameless cabinets usually completely overlay the cabinet box with only a slight reveal between them, offering an unbroken appearance, unlike most face-frame cabinets that allow the frame to show between lipped doors.

For most frameless cabinets, holes are drilled at 32 millimeter increments vertically along side panels. All shelf pegs, hinges, drawer slides, and other fittings are secured to these holes. This versatile "32mm" system is easy to modify as your needs change.