How a cabinet is built determines how it looks and functions. Hinges, shelving, and even finishing options can vary greatly depending on the type of cabinet construction and materials used. These basics will help you determine what cabinet construction type is best for you.

We want you to have all the details.

Some homeowners want to know just two things about cabinetry:

StarMark Cabinetry uses only quality hardwoods to build doors, cabinet boxes, drawers, and roll trays.
The side panels are 3/4″ thick hardwood plywood, which is more than strong enough to support granite countertops.

But other homeowners want all the details.

We love to talk about cabinetry! This website contains all of our construction information and is found here in the Cabinetry Comparison Workbook.+ Cabinet Box Construction

From top to bottom, only quality material is used in StarMark Cabinetry cabinet construction.

Cabinet Side Panels

The side panels are 3/4″ thick hardwood plywood.
Side panels are called “end panels.”
Several options are available, including:
- Beaded flush construction
- Flush construction

Illustration of a cabinet construction highlighting the back panel options in a light brown color.

Cabinet Back Panels

For Overlay Cabinets: The back panel is 1/4″ thick hardwood plywood.
For Inset Cabinets: The back panel is 1/2″ thick hardwood plywood.
Options include:
- 3/8″ thick beaded back panel
- 3/4″ thick flush back panel

Illustration of a cabinet interior highlighting the light brown bottom panel, constructed with 1/2″ thick hardwood plywood for durability and support

Cabinet Bottom

The top and bottom are 1/2″ thick hardwood plywood.

Cabinet Interior

The interior is natural birch melamine.
Options include:
- Veneer that is stained to match the exterior color
- Natural maple veneer

Cabinet Shelves

Shelves are 3/4″ thick hardwood plywood.
The shelves in the base cabinets are two-thirds deep.
Full-depth shelves are available in base cabinets.

Toe Kick

The toe kick is fully enclosed.

+ Cabinet Door Construction

Technically, our doors are grouped into three simple cabinet construction types: Slab, Mitered, and Cope-and-stick.

Our mitered doors have a concealed mortise and tenon joint for additional strength and durability.
Some doors have Applied Moulding, a decorative trim around the center panel. We install applied moulding by hand.
Mitered doors and cope-and-stick doors have a center panel. On some doors, the panel is “raised.” On other doors, the panel is flat.
StarMark Cabinetry scales its doors to fit each cabinet. Not all cabinet manufacturers do that.

Slab

Slab doors are created from one piece of wood. Since one piece of wood is used to create one door, there are no joints.

Mitered

Our mitered joints have a concealed mortise-and-tenon joint for added strength.

Cope-and-Stick

A cope-and-stick door has very durable joinery.

Applied Moulding

Applied moulding is decorative trim placed around the door’s center panel and sometimes the drawer header.+ Cabinet Drawer Construction

Imagine this describes the drawers in your kitchen:

Full extension for easy access
No glide hardware showing
A whisper-quiet self-close.

StarMark Cabinetry brings that vision to life with the best standard kitchen cabinet drawer available. We also construct our roll trays this way.

5/8″ thick birch hardwood or optional walnut hardwood
Dovetail joinery
Soft close glides extend fully and are under-mount
The bottom is “captive,” not just glued on

Elegant drawer crafted from solid birch, featuring durable dovetail joinery and concealed glides for a seamless and attractive finish

Dovetail joinery, solid birch, and concealed glides make an attractive drawer.

Image showcasing a solid birch drawer with dovetail joinery for durability, featuring a close-up inset highlighting the precision craftsmanship of the interlocking joints.

Silverware is heavy! We route the sides of the drawer box and slide in the bottom panel, making it “captive” and much stronger than a bottom panel that is simply glued on.

There’s been quite a few awkward moments of me peeking inside kitchen cabinets to get to this point. And I’m not interested in what type of peanut butter my friends like, or how they store their canned goods.

Terminology

First I thought we’d go through some common terminology for cabinets. Wall cabinets are very similar, just don’t have a base and of course have a top and possibly crown. We’ll go into more details later in this post.

Cabinet Base – raises the cabinet up for a toekick and elevates bottom shelf. On our cabinets, the base is separate and can be swapped out for store bought leg levelers. Once all cabinets are installed, a toekick is installed over all the bases.
Carcass or Box – the carcass or box is simply the plywood structure of the cabinet.
Supports – the supports are made from scrap plywood from the carcasses and are used for supporting and attaching the top and back.
Face Frame – Face frames add support and finish front plywood edges.
Back – for these cabinet plans, we just use 1/4″ plywood on the back. You can also use 1/2″, or even 1/2″ inset, but the 1/4″ is more than enough support on these cabinets.

Step 2 Diagram

Step 2 Instructions

Bases

Let’s start with the base. This is the foundation of your cabinets. Using a base means you don’t have to cut out a toekick, mark and square up your bottom placement on the sides. You can also use what is called leg levelers instead of the base.

I use a 2×4 base – at about $2 a base, you can’t beat the price.

Step 3 Diagram