Full Overlay
Full overlay is a cabinet door or drawer front style in which the front covers nearly all of the face frame or cabinet carcass, leaving only a narrow reveal between adjacent fronts and along the opening perimeter. In frameless cabinetry, it also refers to a front that maximizes visible face coverage while mounting flush with the cabinet side.
In production, full overlay fronts are machined and assembled so the door or drawer face sits flush and aligned with the cabinet box or face frame. The hinge cup location, boring depth, mounting plate, and front dimensions are all set to achieve a specific reveal while avoiding edge collisions during opening. In CNC millwork, this means the cabinet carcass must be square and the fronts sized consistently; a full-overlay layout has very little margin for error before adjacent doors rub at the centerline or uneven gaps appear. Operators typically verify overlay by comparing the door edge to the stile or side panel and adjust the hinge eccentric. Material thickness, edge banding, and finish build-up all change the effective overlay, so the boring pattern is often programmed with allowances. A full-overlay run is ultimately a test of tolerance stack-up across every saw cut and hinge bore.
What distinguishes full overlay from partial overlay?
Full overlay covers nearly all of the cabinet face frame or carcass, leaving only a narrow reveal. Partial overlay leaves more of the face frame visible, so full overlay demands tighter machining and assembly control to maintain consistent gaps.
Why does full overlay matter in CNC millwork?
Because the front dimensions, hinge cup locations, boring depth, and cabinet box tolerances must all be held consistently. If any of those vary, the finished reveal becomes non-uniform across doors and drawers, and adjacent fronts can interfere.
What tolerance issue matters most for full-overlay doors?
Cumulative error in front sizing, drilling location, and cabinet squareness. Small deviations are highly visible because the overlay nearly covers the full face, so a slight out-of-square box or misplaced hinge cup immediately shows up as an uneven gap.