White painted cabinets are in, there’s no doubt about that. Just open any magazine, or look on Houzz.com and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of photos to support that statement. The inset construction though, to me it adds another layer of sophistication that is uncommon with the average price point vendors.
Traditional American cabinets are made with a face frame, and many of the old school furniture makers used to make their doors smaller to fit within the frame of the cabinet. Therefore, it is called “inset” because the doors are flushed with the face of the frame.
This style of cabinet construction provides another surface for an additional detail on the cabinet frame, making it look more elegant. At the same time, this style of cabinet requires much more precision in manufacturing, making it much more difficult to produce. Of our three main product lines, only Plato Woodwork will offer an inset construction. With only 1/8″ between doors and cabinet frames, sometimes you will encounter doors swelling over time due to seasonal changes in humidity. For this reason, Plato actually tries to take into consideration the average humidity level of the home owner’s general geographic area, and tries to adjust by increasing/decreasing the moisture content during the manufacturing process. It doesn’t prevent doors swelling, but it should minimize the chances of the doors rubbing against one another, and it’s certainly a great touch to add that I don’t see many other factories are willing to do.
