Unfinished cabinets, bookcases and furniture require some minor attention to prepare for finishing. For instance, you may need to use some extra-fine sandpaper to remove any hanging strands of wood from the comers. You should also wipe the wood down with a damp cloth to remove any wood dust still on the surface. There will also be unfilled nail holes that will require filling with wood putty, although any such holes will be very small. In some cases, the wood may contain minor defects that can quickly and easily be corrected with sandpaper or wood filler.

Our Premium grade kitchen and bath cabinets are constructed with plywood sides. If you want the sides to be exposed and stained, it would be advisable to select the option for "finished sides." This replaces the standard plywood with a stain-grade plywood. Another option is to cover the plywood sides with a sheet of beadboard or other material that you can purchase from your local home improvement store (e.g. Home Depot, Lowes) and cut to fit. Since the face frame of cabinets are about 3/16 of an inch wider than the sides, the beadboard will make the sides look flush with the front.

Kitchen and bath cabinets come with hidden "Euro" door hinges with either a 1/2-inch overlay or a 1-1/2-inch overlay (for the full-overlay door styles). They will not come with knobs, but you can purchase knobs and pulls on our accessories page or get them from another source. No holes will be drilled into your kitchen cabinet doors, so you can buy any style of hardware you want. For additional choices, we recommend Rockler.com and other stores on our links page for a great selection of cabinet pulls.

Furniture and bookcase doors will still come with semi-concealed "knife" hinges pre-installed that permits the doors to open all the way and helps them to stay shut when the door is closed. The hinge is not entirely hidden, but only about 3/8 of an inch is exposed. If you prefer to have hinges that are completely hidden, you will need to purchase and install your own hardware (see the links page for sources). IMPORTANT: If you plan to install your own hinges, you must also let us know NOT to install our standard hinges, since they are installed at the factory by cutting into the door.

Closeup of a Furniture & Bookcase Semi-Concealed Door Hinge	Closeup of a Kitchen Cabinet Hidden Door Hinge