Cabinet Construction & Materials
Cabinet construction varies by manufacturer, product line, door style, and finish.
Learn how the cabinet boxes, doors, drawers, shelving, and hardware used in the lines
offered by The RTA Shop are constructed.
Plywood Cabinet Boxes. Door Materials Vary by Style.
One of the most confusing parts of shopping for cabinets is the phrase
“all wood.” A cabinet is made from many different components,
and those components do not necessarily use the same material.
The cabinet lines offered by The RTA Shop generally use
plywood cabinet-box construction, but doors and drawer fronts
vary significantly by manufacturer, style, and finish.
For example, a painted five-piece door may combine wood or HDF stiles and rails
with an MDF center panel. Stained doors may use more solid-wood components.
Modern slab doors may use engineered substrates with decorative or specialty
finishes.
The use of MDF or HDF in a painted door does not necessarily indicate an
inferior cabinet. Engineered materials are commonly used in painted cabinetry
because they provide a smooth surface and can reduce the expansion, contraction,
and visible joint movement that can occur with natural wood.
-
Cabinet Box: The structural cabinet body, including sides,
backs, tops, bottoms, and shelves. -
Face Frame: Used on traditional framed cabinets to provide
structure and the mounting surface around the cabinet opening. -
Doors & Drawer Fronts: Materials vary by style and may
include solid wood, birch, HDF, MDF, veneer, and other engineered materials. -
Drawer Boxes & Hardware: Construction varies by line,
with many of our cabinet collections featuring dovetail drawers and
soft-close hardware.
Fabuwood Allure
Fabuwood’s Allure collection is a factory-assembled framed cabinet line built
around a plywood cabinet box, solid-wood face frame, dovetail drawer
construction, and Blum soft-close hardware.
- ½" veneered plywood cabinet sides, backs, tops, and bottoms
- ¾" x 1½" solid-wood face-frame stiles and rails
- ¾" veneered plywood adjustable shelving
- ⅝" solid-wood dovetail drawer boxes with ⅜" plywood bottoms
- Tandem plus Blumotion full-extension concealed soft-close drawer runners
- Blum Compact Clip concealed hinges with integrated Blumotion soft-close
Door construction varies by Allure door style and finish.
Depending on the collection, doors and drawer fronts may incorporate solid
wood, HDF, MDF, veneer, or combinations of these materials. Painted and stained
versions of the same general door style may also use different materials.
Always review the specifications for the individual Fabuwood door style when
door composition is important to your project.
Jarlin Cabinetry
Jarlin offers traditional framed RTA cabinetry using plywood cabinet-box
construction together with soft-close doors and drawers.
- ½" plywood cabinet-box construction
- ¾" adjustable shelving
- Full-extension soft-close undermount drawer glides
- Fully concealed soft-close hinges
- Clear-coated natural birch-finish cabinet interiors on applicable lines
- Full-overlay doors and drawer fronts
Jarlin door construction varies by finish and door style.
Some stained styles use five-piece solid-wood doors and drawer fronts, while
several painted styles use solid-birch frames with MDF center panels.
Specifications vary by Jarlin door style and are subject to manufacturer changes.
ProCraft Cabinetry
ProCraft’s framed cabinet construction combines a plywood cabinet box with
dovetail drawer construction, substantial adjustable shelving, and soft-close
door and drawer hardware.
- ½" furniture-grade plywood cabinet construction
- ¾" adjustable plywood shelves with finished edges
- ⅝" solid-wood dovetail drawer-box sides
- ⅜" plywood drawer bottoms
- Soft-close drawer glide mechanisms
- Six-way adjustable soft-close hinges
- Solid-wood interior corner brackets for additional stability
Door and drawer-front materials vary among ProCraft’s painted, stained, and
special-order collections. Refer to the specifications for the particular door
style rather than assuming every ProCraft finish uses the same door material.
ProCraft construction and door specifications may vary by collection and finish.
Eurocraft Trends
Eurocraft Trends is a European-style frameless RTA cabinet collection. Because
there is no traditional face frame surrounding the cabinet opening, the cabinet
uses thicker structural side panels than the framed RTA lines shown above.
- ¾" plywood cabinet box with white melamine interior
- ¼" plywood back panel
-
Full-extension soft-close gray metal drawer box or optional dovetail
wood drawer box - Six-way adjustable fully concealed soft-close hinges
- 18" deep adjustable base-cabinet shelving
- Integrated 4½" toe kick with 3" recess
- Engineered-wood doors and drawer fronts
Eurocraft also offers its factory-assembled semi-custom
Signature collection. Signature construction and available
cabinet-box options differ from the Trends RTA collection and are available
by special order even though the Signature line is not currently listed as
individual products in our online store.
Specifications shown here apply to the Eurocraft Trends RTA collection.
21st Century Cabinetry
21st Century Cabinetry offers framed RTA cabinetry with plywood cabinet
construction, dovetail drawers, substantial plywood shelving, and concealed
soft-close hardware across most collections.
- ½" plywood cabinet side, back, and top panels
- ¾" plywood adjustable shelving
- ⅝" solid-wood dovetail drawer-box sides with ½" plywood bottoms
- 1½" solid-wood face frame on most collections
- Concealed six-way adjustable soft-close hinges
- Soft-close drawer glides, with glide configuration varying by collection
Door construction varies by finish. The manufacturer’s current
specifications identify solid-wood construction for certain stained doors,
wood frames with MDF center panels for many painted doors, and HDF construction
for certain collections.
Construction details and hardware may vary by 21st Century collection.