Partial overlay cabinets cover most of the cabinet frame but leave space between the drawers and doors. This is typically the least expensive cabinet option and is a top choice for people who want to leave off hardware. Full overlay leaves no space between each door/drawer and thus requires hardware.
Since they are not set inside the cabinet frame, full overlay provides the greatest amount of storage with ample room for items such as pots and pans. Double doors in full overlay style come without the vertical stile on the face frame which allows for even better storage capacity and easier access of stored items.
Full overlay cabinetry takes less skill to build, so it is also less expensive. This is a plus for anyone wanting to create a streamlined look for less! More Storage – Because the doors and drawers sit on the outside of the cabinet frame, they leave more room on the inside to store items.
The Full Overlay door is a more current design look and is a more expensive cabinet option because more wood is used to completely cover the cabinet boxes. Partial Overlay Doors, sometimes also called Standard, Traditional or Half Overlay..
A full overlay is a cabinet door that covers the cabinet's entire face frame. This ensures minimal gaps so that only a very small portion of the cabinet's storage area is viewable. A full overlay is a cabinet door that conceals the opening to the storage area.
Is Full Overlay the Same As Frameless? Full overlay cabinets still show approximately 1/4-inch reveal of the face frame while frameless cabinets do not show a frame reveal.
Make sure you have at least 1/4" reveal (gap between doors). If you go less than 1/4", then you may run into problems with the operation of the doors. Some cabinets may have stile and rail widths that vary from one part of the cabinet to another.
Partial-overlay cabinet doors are cabinetry designed with ½-inch overlay door and drawer fronts, which leaves 2 inches of the cabinet face frame exposed between the doors, creating a more traditional kitchen look. Partial-overlay cabinet doors are also called standard, traditional or half overlay.
They cost more. They need more care – door and drawer adjustment. They are framed cabinets so less storage space than frameless cabinets. They don't work well in modern design.
In this type of construction doors and drawer fronts overlap the face frame of the cabinet, leaving a ¼” reveal of the framework around all doors and drawer fronts.
Inset cabinets can cost approximately 15-30% more than overlay cabinets. You can also lose some storage space for those larger dinner dishes in inset cabinets.
As far as we're concerned, these are the only six cabinet styles you need to know: glass-front, Shaker-style, beadboard, flat-front, plywood, and natural (that is, unfinished) wood.
Frameless cabinets do not have a face-frame like inset cabinets. Frameless boxes are constructed with ½” – ¾” thick sides, tops, and bottoms. The doors on frameless construction fully overlap the box and always conceal the door hinges.
A Full Overlay door will overlay that same 1.5” face frame 1.25”, leaving a ¼” reveal on the sides (stiles) and bottom (rail).
Overlay refers to how much the door overlaps on the hinge side. You can determine this by measuring the width of the door, subtract the width of the opening and divide that in half. For example, if the door is 1” wider than the opening, that means it overlays 1/2" on each side, so you would select 1/2" overlay hinges.
If your cabinets are designed for full overlay, it means that the doors completely overlap the opening on all four sides. The correct determination for full overlay is typically 3/4 inch on all sides.
A full overlay hinge is a type of European hinge with a completely straight arm which makes the offset much greater than partial overlay or inset hinge styles. This allows the door to completely overlay the cabinet box. Use these for full overlay doors.
Full Overlay Cabinets Defined
Full overlay cabinets have doors and drawers with extra-large fronts. These are designed to fully cover the face frame. Whereas the face frame is entirely visible on an inset cabinet, it is completely hidden on a full overlay cabinet. Hinges are hidden from view as well.
Frameless cabinets only offer one overlay style, Full Overlay. The Full Overlay of a frameless cabinet completely covers the entire box, leaving only a 2mm reveal that creates a sleek, seamless appearance, making it a popular choice for modern and contemporary styled kitchens.
Because a frameless cabinet will likely be made of thicker materials to compensate for the lack of frame, frameless cabinets usually cost more. However, you can find framed and frameless cabinets made of the same thickness and type of wood.
There are four different overlay systems used in creating decorative concrete floors: microtoppings, stampable overlays, multipurpose overlays and self-leveling overlays.
1/2" overlay hinges are the most common overlay of cabinet hinge. These are used in face frame cabinets where the door covers a 1/2" of the face frame all the way around the cabinet door. 1/2" overlay hinges are the most common overlay of cabinet hinge.