How a cabinet is built

A cabinet in Easy Form Studio is made of boards, and you set up each of them in the EFS - Cabinet tab: side panels, top and bottom, cross boards, back, fronts, drawers, shelves, legs, Gola profile and joints. This chapter goes through the tab panel by panel, in the order of the interface, and for every field it tells you what happens to the boards and in the cutting list.

Video: A03 How a cabinet is built

The same workflow in a video of two and a half minutes.

Watch on YouTube

Show me in the program

The interactive tours Fronts and drawers (3 min) and The back and the construction (2 min) show you in the program where to click and what to type, step by step. In the EFS tab, open the Interactive tours panel and click Start next to the tour. The AI assistant also offers them when you ask how to do this.

Before you start

• Open a project with at least one cabinet. How to add a cabinet is explained in the chapter The interface and your first cabinet.
• Click any board of the cabinet. The EFS - Cabinet tab always shows the whole cabinet the board belongs to, and the header shows the name of the board you clicked.
• If the sidebar is not open, hold the mouse pointer over the 3D Viewport and press N.
• The panels below Cabinet properties are closed. Click a panel's title (Front, Drawers, Construction…) to open it.

What a cabinet is made of

A new cabinet is an open carcass of five boards. You add the rest as you need it.

Board	Name in the Cabinet elements list and in the cutting list	When it exists
Side panels	Left, Right	Always, unless you set them to None
Top board	Top	When the top is Standard
Cross boards	Cross top front, Cross top back (at the bottom: Cross bottom…)	When you build the top or the bottom from cross boards
Bottom	Bottom	When the bottom is Standard
Back	Back	Always, unless you set it to None
Fronts	Front left, Front right, Front top, Front bottom	When you choose doors or a flap in the Front panel
Drawers	Five parts for each drawer: Drawer 1 front, Drawer 1 left, Drawer 1 right, Drawer 1 bottom, Drawer 1 back	When you choose a type and a number in the Drawers panel
Shelves and dividers	Shelf horizontal, Shelf vertical	When you add them (Shift+H, Shift+V)
Legs	Not boards: they go into the hardware list	When you choose a type in the Legs panel

Rules that apply to the whole cabinet:

• Width, Depth and Height are the outer dimensions of the cabinet. The depth includes the fronts and a lay-on back, and the height does not include the legs.
• A front and a lay-on back reduce the depth of the side panels, the top and the bottom. Example: a cabinet 580 mm deep with a 3 mm lay-on back has side panels 577 mm deep. When you add 18 mm doors, the side panels become 559 mm deep, and the whole cabinet stays 580 mm.
• A board you set to None is hidden and does not go into the cutting list.
• A cabinet has either fronts or drawers. When you choose a front type, the drawers disappear, and the other way round.
• Every change to a field rebuilds the boards, drillings and dowels at once. The decor of the fronts stays when you change the front type or the number of drawers.
• A new cabinet gets the default values from the tables below. If you have saved My settings, it starts from your construction (see Working faster), and it takes hardware and joints from Project hardware (see Project hardware).

Field names

The same word in the interface means the same thing in every panel. All dimensions are in mm.

Name in the interface	Croatian interface	What it means on the board
Overflow (left, right, top, bottom)	Prevjes	How far the board extends past the edge of the cabinet or of the neighbouring board; a negative value shortens it.
Engagement	Uvučenost	For the top and the bottom: how far the board is lowered below the top edge or raised above the bottom edge of the cabinet. For the back: how far the back is set in from the back edge of the carcass.
Front recess, Back recess	Prednji urez, Stražnji urez	How much shorter the board is than the front or back edge of the carcass, so it is set inwards.
Gap	Razmak	For fronts: the gap between the edge of the front and the edge of the cabinet. For a lay-on back: how much smaller the back is on each side.
Clearance	Odmak	For shelves: how much narrower the shelf is than the inner width, half on the left and half on the right.
Depth (back)	Dubina	How deep the groove or rebate is in the board.
Thickness	Debljina	The thickness of the board.

The workflow from the video

The video goes through the whole construction on two empty cabinets. The same steps, with links to the details:

1. Click a board of the first cabinet and open the EFS - Cabinet tab.
2. Open Construction: inside are Back, Top, Bottom, Left and Right.
3. In Top change Left joint to Continuous: the top board runs over the left side panel. Set it back to Inset. See Top.
4. In Top change Construction to Double cross boards: instead of a full board you get two cross boards. See Cross boards.
5. In Back change Construction from Lay-on to Grooved. See Back.
6. In Front choose Type: Two doors. See Front.
7. In the header click Add → Horizontal shelf (or press Shift+H). Press O to open the doors and see the shelf, then O again to close them. See Shelves.
8. Click a board of the second cabinet. In Drawers choose Type: Outer drawers and enter Number 3. See Drawers.
9. In Legs choose Squared legs. See Legs.
10. In Gola profile enter Count 2. See Gola profile.
11. In Hardware and joints choose Joints type: Dowels. Press Alt+Z for the X-ray view, in which you see the dowels, then Alt+Z again. See Hardware and joints.

The EFS - Cabinet tab

The panels are in the tab in this order:

Panel	What it is for
Cabinet properties	Dimensions, board thickness, wall unit, rotation, name and note
Front	Doors and flaps
Drawers	Outer or inner drawers and the settings of each drawer
Shelves	Dimensions of shelves and dividers, shelf supports, clothes rail, offsets and compartments
Handles	Drilling for handles, or push to open
Gola profile	Grooves in the side panels for opening without a handle
Legs	Adjustable legs
Hardware and joints	Hinges, slides, flap lift, hangers and carcass joints
Construction	Back, Top, Bottom, Left, Right
Relations	Neighbouring cabinets that go together with this one

The corner cabinet has its own tab with different panels. See Corner cabinet.

Cabinet properties

The top part of the tab, always open.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Width	Outer width. The top and bottom, cross boards, back, fronts, drawers and shelves adjust by themselves.	600 mm	100–5000 mm
Depth	Outer depth, including the front and a lay-on back.	580 mm	100–5000 mm
Height	Outer height of the carcass, without legs.	720 mm	100–5000 mm
Thickness	Carcass thickness: sets the same thickness for the side panels, the bottom, the top and all shelves. Fronts and back have their own thickness.	18 mm	0–100 mm
Is upper	The cabinet becomes a wall unit: it rises to the height in the Upper elements height field (EFS tab, Scene properties panel), and its fronts move to material group F 2. When you switch it off, the cabinet drops to the floor and the fronts go back to F 1.	off	on, off
Z rotation	Turns the cabinet around the vertical axis.	0°	0°, 90°, 180°, 270°
Name	The cabinet's name in lists and exports.	Cabinet 1, Cabinet 2…	free text
Note	Your note on the cabinet.	empty	free text

Rules:

• Is upper is shown only while the cabinet has no legs. When you choose legs, it switches off by itself.
• You can also change the thickness of single boards separately, in the Construction panel. Thickness here sets them all back to one value.
• If the cabinet is related to its neighbours, Joint width (the sum of the widths with the gaps) appears under Width, and Joint height appears under Height. See Relations.
• When you select several cabinets, the top of the panel says how many are selected and that the fields show the active cabinet. There you find the buttons Copy to selected cabinets and Align to active, and with two selected also Fill the gap and Relate to the selected cabinet. The details are in the chapter Working faster.

Watch out

Thickness also sets the same value for side panels and a bottom that you have set to None in the Construction panel. The top and bottom, cross boards and shelves are then shortened as if the side panel were there, and dividers are raised as if the bottom were there. If the cabinet has no side panel or no bottom, change the thickness in the Construction panel, for each board separately. If it has already happened, set that side to Standard and then to None again.

Front

The cabinet's doors and flaps. In the video: click Front, open the Type drop-down menu and choose Two doors.

1. Click a board of the cabinet.
2. Open the Front panel.
3. In the Type field choose the front type.
4. If needed, adjust Thickness, Gap and the overflows.
5. You choose the hinges and the flap lift in the Hardware and joints panel.

Front type

Type	What you get
None	A cabinet without a front.
Left opening	One door hinged on the left.
Right opening	One door hinged on the right.
Top opening	A flap hinged at the top.
Bottom opening	A flap hinged at the bottom.
Two doors	Two doors hinged on the outer sides, meeting in the middle.

Options

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Type	Front type, see the table above.	None	6 types
Inset	The front sits inside the carcass, between the side panels, the top and the bottom, flush with the front edge. The side panels, top and bottom then run the full depth (less a lay-on back).	off	on, off
Thickness	Front thickness. The side panels, top and bottom are shallower by this amount.	18 mm	0–100 mm
Gap	The gap from the edge of the cabinet to the edge of the front, on each side. With two doors the gap in the middle is double.	2 mm	0–100 mm
Left overflow	Moves the left edge of the front. Not shown for Two doors.	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm
Right overflow	Moves the right edge of the front. Not shown for Two doors.	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm
Top overflow	The front extends this far above the top edge (negative: lower).	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm
Bottom overflow	The front extends this far below the bottom edge (negative: higher).	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm

The fields other than Type are shown only after you choose a front.

How EFS works out the front sizes (cabinet 600 × 720 mm, Gap 2 mm):

• One door: 596 × 716 mm.
• Two doors: each 296 × 716 mm. Between them is a 4 mm gap.
• Inset: the door is also narrower by both side panels and lower by the top and the bottom (with their Engagement). With 18 mm boards one door is 560 × 680 mm.

Note

On single doors and flaps, the overflow on the hinge side moves the whole front, and the overflow on the opposite side extends it. With Left opening a positive Left overflow moves the door to the right, and a positive Right overflow extends it to the right. With Right opening it is the other way round. On a Top opening flap the same applies to Top overflow (moves) and Bottom overflow (extends), and on Bottom opening the other way round. Left overflow and Right overflow of a flap extend it to that side.

Tip

To extend a Left opening door by 10 mm to the left, set Left overflow to −10 mm and Right overflow to 10 mm. The right edge then stays where it was.

Rules:

• When you choose a front, the drawers disappear. A cabinet has either fronts or drawers.
• Fronts get material group F 1, and on a wall unit F 2. The edge tape of fronts is 2 mm by default. See Decors, edge tape and materials.
• When you change the front type, the new front keeps the decor of the old one.
• F cycles through the fronts of the selected cabinet: None → Left opening → Right opening → Two doors → None. In the second round the same fronts come with Inset switched on. You choose flaps in the menu.
• O opens and closes the doors and drawers of the selected cabinet.
• Shift+F hides all the fronts in the scene, so you can see inside. You bring them back with the fronts icon in the 3D Viewport header.

Watch out

Fronts hidden with Shift+F do not go into the cutting list, the drawings or the cost estimate. Bring them back with the icon in the header before you export.

Watch out

The Left overflow and Right overflow fields disappear when you choose Two doors, but their values stay. If you set a Right overflow before, both doors become wider by that amount and overlap in the middle. Set the overflows back to 0 before you switch to two doors.

Drawers

Drawers take up the whole height of the cabinet and divide it by ratios. In the video: on the second cabinet open Drawers, choose Outer drawers and enter Number 3.

1. Click a board of the cabinet.
2. Open the Drawers panel.
3. In the Type field choose Outer drawers or Inner drawers.
4. Click the Number field, type the number of drawers and press Enter.
5. If needed, open the Drawer 1, Drawer 2… section and adjust that drawer.
6. You choose the slides in the Hardware and joints panel.

Drawer type

Type	What you get
None	A cabinet without drawers.
Outer drawers	The drawer fronts lie over the edges of the carcass and cover the whole height of the cabinet.
Inner drawers	The drawer fronts sit inside the carcass, between the side panels, the top and the bottom, flush with the front edge.

Options of the Drawers panel

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Type	Drawer type, see the table above.	None	None, Outer drawers, Inner drawers
Number	Number of drawers.	0	0–5
Front thickness	Thickness of all the drawer fronts. With outer drawers the side panels are shallower by this amount.	18 mm	0–100 mm

Number and Front thickness are shown only after you choose a type. A Drawer N section appears for each drawer up to the number you entered.

Drawer 1 to Drawer 5

Each drawer has its own collapsible section with the same fields. Drawer 1 is the lowest.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Height ratio	This drawer's share of the height. Drawers with the ratios 1, 1, 2 get a quarter, a quarter and a half of the height.	1	1–3
Inner height ratio	The height of the box sides as a share of the drawer height.	0.5	0.1–1.0
Inner thickness	Thickness of the sides, bottom and back of the drawer box.	16 mm	0–100 mm
Front gap	The gap around the drawer front, on each side. Between two drawers the gap is double.	2 mm	0–100 mm
Inner side gap	The space between the side panel of the cabinet and the side of the box, for the slide.	10 mm	0–50 mm
Back gap	The space between the back end of the box and the back of the cabinet.	10 mm	0–50 mm
Top overflow	The drawer front extends this much higher (negative: lower).	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm
Bottom overflow	The drawer front extends this much lower (negative: higher).	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm

How EFS builds a drawer (cabinet 600 × 580 × 720 mm, 18 mm boards, 3 mm lay-on back, three outer drawers with ratio 1):

• Each drawer gets 240 mm of height. The front is 596 × 236 mm.
• The box sides are 240 × 0.5 = 120 mm high and 580 − 18 − 10 − 3 = 549 mm deep.
• The bottom and the back of the box sit between the sides: they are 600 − 2 × 18 − 2 × 10 − 2 × 16 = 512 mm wide. The back of the box stands on the bottom.
• The box is 5 mm above the bottom panel.

Rules:

• When you choose drawers, the fronts disappear. A cabinet has either drawers or fronts.
• If you choose a type but Number stays 0, there are no drawers. Enter a number.
• Drawer fronts get material group F 1 (on a wall unit F 2) and 2 mm edge tape. The drawer box goes into the Shelf group.
• With a slide from the catalogue, EFS picks the slide length from the drawer depth and drills the side panels. With a box system (TANDEMBOX, LEGRABOX, MERIVOBOX) the metal sides leave the cutting list, and the bottom and back get their sizes from the manufacturer's formula. See Project hardware.
• D cycles through the drawer layouts: None → Outer drawers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 → Inner drawers 1 … 5 → None.
• The siphon cut-out in a drawer is explained in the chapter Bathroom: siphon and pipes.

Shelves

You add horizontal shelves and vertical dividers with the Add menu or a key. The Shelves panel sets them all together.

1. Click a board of the cabinet. Only one object may be selected.
2. In the header click Add → Horizontal shelf, or press Shift+H.
3. For a vertical divider click Add → Vertical shelf, or press Shift+V.
4. Press O to open the doors and see inside. O again closes them.
5. Open the Shelves panel and adjust the dimensions, offsets and compartments.

Each new shelf is spaced evenly with the others. Horizontal shelves divide the inner height, vertical dividers the width.

Options

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Thickness	Thickness of all shelves and dividers of the cabinet.	18 mm	0–100 mm
Clearance	The shelf is narrower than the inner width by this amount, half on the left, half on the right. A divider is lower by this amount.	0 mm	−100 to 100 mm
Front recess	The shelf starts this far behind the front edge of the carcass.	0 mm	−1000 to 1000 mm
Back recess	The shelf ends this far in front of the back.	0 mm	−1000 to 1000 mm
Number of shelves	Display only: how many shelves and dividers the cabinet has.	–	–
Shelf supports	Fixed shelves with dowels, or adjustable shelves on pins in rows of holes. See Adjustable shelves, System 32.	Fixed (dowels with the joints)	Fixed (dowels with the joints); Adjustable, System 32 full rows; Adjustable, System 32 around the shelves
Clothes rail	A rail for clothes. See A wardrobe with compartments and a rail.	None	None, Tube across, Pull-out rail
Rail height	Height of the tube above the bottom; 0 means 60 mm under the shelf above or the top. Only with Tube across.	0 mm	0–3000 mm
Shelf 1 offset … Shelf 10 offset	Moves a shelf out of the even spacing: a horizontal shelf up (+) or down (−), a divider to the right (+) or to the left (−). The number is the shelf's place in the order you added the shelves.	0 mm	−2500 to 2500 mm
New shelves in compartment	Which compartment between the dividers the next horizontal shelf goes into, counting from the left. Only when the cabinet has a divider.	1	1–11
Shelf 1, Shelf 2… (compartment)	The compartment that horizontal shelf lies in. Only when the cabinet has a divider.	the compartment the shelf was added to	1–11
Shelf 1 ↑ … mm ↓ … mm	Display only: the clear space above and below the shelf (for dividers ← and →). Not shown when the cabinet has both dividers and horizontal shelves.	–	–

How EFS works out a shelf (cabinet 600 × 580 mm, 18 mm boards, 3 mm lay-on back, no front): the shelf is 564 × 577 mm. With an 18 mm front the shelf is 559 mm deep. With the back in a groove the shelf ends at the back, so it is also shorter by the back's Engagement.

Rules:

• A cabinet can have at most 10 shelves and dividers together.
• With a divider, each horizontal shelf lies only in its own compartment and is spaced with the shelves of that compartment.
• Shelf supports is shown only when the cabinet has a horizontal shelf.
• A shelf gets 0.4 mm edge tape and material group Shelf.
• Add → Horizontal shelf and Shift+H do not work while a shelf on its own or several objects are selected. Click a side panel, a front or another board of the cabinet. Vertical shelf does not work on a corner cabinet.

Watch out

When you select a shelf and press X (or the bin in the header), all shelves and dividers of that cabinet are deleted, not only that one.

Note

The Thickness, Clearance, Front recess and Back recess fields are shown only while Enable material selection is on (EFS tab, Web publish → Settings panel). It is on by default. If you don't see the fields, switch it on.

Handles

The Handles panel drills holes for handles in doors and drawer fronts: the through holes go onto the drawing, and the handles and screws into the hardware list. The same is set for the whole project in Project hardware, so here you change only one cabinet. The details are in the chapter Project hardware.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Handle	Handle type.	None	None, Bar handle, Knob, Push to open
Hole spacing	The distance between the two holes of a bar handle. Only for Bar handle.	128 mm	16–1200 mm
Orientation	A bar handle on doors runs vertically or horizontally. On drawers it is always horizontal. Only for a bar handle on doors.	Vertical	Vertical, Horizontal
Position	Height of the handle on the doors. On drawers the handle is in the middle. Only with doors.	Top edge	Top edge, Bottom edge, Mid height
From opening edge	From the door edge on the opening side to the centre of the handle (or to the nearer hole of a horizontal bar).	40 mm	10–500 mm
From top/bottom edge	From the top or bottom edge of the door to the centre of the handle (or to the nearer hole of a vertical bar).	50 mm	10–1000 mm

Rules:

• Push to open adds one push latch for each door, flap and drawer, without handle holes.
• If the cabinet has neither doors nor drawers, No doors or drawer fronts to drill appears under the Handle field.
• From opening edge and From top/bottom edge are hidden while the cabinet has no doors.
• On a wall unit, Project hardware puts the handle on the opposite edge: the project's Top edge becomes the bottom edge of the wall unit.

Gola profile

The Gola profile is a groove in the side panels for opening without a handle. Count sets how many grooves the cabinet has. In the video: open Gola profile and enter Count 2.

1. Click a board of the cabinet.
2. Open the Gola profile panel.
3. Click the Count field, type the number of grooves and press Enter.
4. Set Depth, and the Z location and Height of each groove.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Count	Number of grooves. 0 means no Gola profile.	0	0–3
Depth	How deep the groove goes from the front edge of the side panel towards the back.	28 mm	0–200 mm
Z location 1	From the top edge of the side panel to the top edge of the first groove. 0 means the groove is open at the top (L-profile).	70 mm	0–5000 mm
Height 1	Height of the first groove.	70 mm	5–200 mm
Z location 2	From the bottom edge of the first groove to the top edge of the second.	70 mm	10–5000 mm
Height 2	Height of the second groove.	70 mm	5–200 mm
Z location 3	From the bottom edge of the second groove to the top edge of the third.	70 mm	10–5000 mm
Height 3	Height of the third groove.	70 mm	5–200 mm

The fields for the second and third groove are shown only when Count is 2 or 3.

Rules:

• EFS cuts the groove only into the left and right side panels, if the cabinet has them. Fronts, the top board and the cross boards stay as they are. If a front has to leave room for the grip above it, shorten it yourself: give a drawer a negative Top overflow, and doors a negative Top overflow in the Front panel.
• If the grooves don't fit into the height of the side panel, EFS reduces Z location by itself so that they fit.
• Add → Gola profile places an aluminium profile across the full width, one for each groove: an L-profile for the top groove when Z location 1 is 0, otherwise a C-profile. The button is greyed out while the cabinet has no grooves or while several objects are selected.
• Cost estimate counts two cuts per groove and the length of the profile (the cabinet width times the number of grooves).

Legs

Adjustable legs under the cabinet. The cabinet is raised by the height of the legs. In the video: open Legs and choose Squared legs.

1. Click a board of the cabinet.
2. Open the Legs panel.
3. In the Type field choose Rounded legs or Squared legs.
4. In the Height field type the height of the legs.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Type	Type of legs.	None	None, Rounded legs, Squared legs
Height	Height of the legs. The cabinet is raised off the floor by this amount.	100 mm	10–500 mm

Height is shown only after you choose a type.

Rules:

• The cabinet gets four legs, 60 mm from the edges.
• The cabinet's Height does not include the legs: a cabinet 720 mm high on 100 mm legs has its top edge at 820 mm.
• A cabinet on legs cannot be a wall unit (Is upper): the field switches off and is hidden.
• When you set None, the legs disappear and the cabinet drops to the floor.
• The legs and their screws go into the hardware list.
• L cycles through the legs: None → Rounded legs → Squared legs → None.
• You add a kickboard in front of the legs with Add → Kickboard over selected. See Kickboard, fillers, end panels and cornice.

Hardware and joints

The Hardware and joints panel chooses hardware and joints for this cabinet only. For the whole project you choose them in Project hardware. The details are in the chapters Project hardware and Joints: dowels, confirmat, minifix.

In the video: open Hardware and joints, choose Dowels in the Joints type field, then press Alt+Z for the X-ray view.

Option	When it is shown	What it does	Default	Values
Hinge type	The cabinet has doors or a flap	A hinge from the catalogue drills the cup, the screws and the mounting plate.	No drilling (count only)	hinges from the catalogue
Auto hinge count	The cabinet has doors or a flap	Number of hinges from the door height: up to 900 mm 2, up to 1600 mm 3, up to 2000 mm 4, above that 5.	off	on, off
Hinges	Auto hinge count is off	Number of hinges per door.	2	0–6
Flap lift	Top opening	The flap lift system. Below it you see the power factor, the weight of the front and the suggested device; in red if none fits. See Wall units, tall units and flaps.	None (hinges)	lift systems from the catalogue
Slide type	The cabinet has drawers	A slide or box system from the catalogue.	No drilling (count only)	slides from the catalogue
Wall unit hangers	Is upper is on	Hangers, and a wall rail as long as the cabinet.	None	None, Hangers on a wall rail, Hangers screwed to the wall
Joints type	Always	The joint between the carcass boards.	None	None, Dowels, Confirmat, Minifix, Minifix and dowels
Dowel size	Dowels, Minifix and dowels	Dowel diameter.	8 mm	4–20 mm
Dowel count	Dowels	Number of dowels per joint.	2	1–10
Dowel length	Dowels, Minifix and dowels	Dowel length. The hole in the face goes by the board thickness, the hole in the edge takes the rest plus 2 mm for glue.	30 mm	16–100 mm
Face hole depth	Dowels, Minifix and dowels	Depth of the hole in the face of the board. 0 means automatic: board thickness minus 6 mm, at most half the dowel.	0 mm	0–60 mm
Connectors per joint	Confirmat, Minifix, Minifix and dowels	Number of confirmats or minifixes per joint.	2	1–10

Rules:

• If EFS has to move hinges so that they don't hit the shelves, a line under the field says how many hinges were moved.
• With Minifix and dowels each minifix gets one dowel next to it, so there is no Dowel count field.
• Dowels and drillings are not boards: they don't go into the cutting list. Dowels go into the hardware list.
• Alt+Z switches the X-ray view on and off; in it you see the dowels and holes.

Note

In the screenshot the Face hole depth field still shows an older, shortened label: Dubina rupe u li…. The current program shows Face hole depth.

Construction

The Construction panel has five collapsible sections, one for each carcass board: Back, Top, Bottom, Left and Right. Click a section to open it.

Back

The back is a thin 3 mm board. It can be laid on over the back edge, set into a rebate or slid into a groove. In the video: open Back and change Construction to Grooved.

1. Open Construction → Back.
2. In the Construction field choose the method.
3. Set Thickness, and for a rebate or a groove also Engagement and Depth.

Construction	What you get
Lay-on	The back is screwed on over the back edges of the carcass. It covers the whole width and height of the cabinet.
Rebated	The back sits in a rebate cut into the back edges of the carcass.
Grooved	The back slides into a groove cut into the carcass boards, set in from the back edge.
None	A cabinet without a back.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Construction	How the back is fitted, see the table above.	Lay-on	Lay-on, Rebated, Grooved, None
Thickness	Back thickness. With a lay-on back the side panels, the top and the bottom are shallower by this amount.	3 mm	3–38 mm
Gap	The back is smaller by this amount on each of its four sides. Only for Lay-on.	0 mm	0–100 mm
Left overflow, Right overflow, Top overflow, Bottom overflow	The back extends this far past the edge on that side (negative: shorter).	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm
Engagement	From the back edge of the carcass to the back. Only for Rebated and Grooved.	14 mm	3–50 mm
Depth	Depth of the groove or rebate in the board. Only for Rebated and Grooved.	10 mm	0–15 mm

What EFS does by itself:

• For Grooved it actually cuts a groove, as wide as the back and as deep as Depth, into the left and right side panels, the top and the bottom, and the back cross board. The groove starts at Engagement from the back edge.
• For Rebated it cuts a rebate from the back edge to Engagement + the back thickness, as deep as Depth.
• A back in a groove or rebate is smaller than the cabinet by the board thickness minus Depth, on each side. A 600 × 720 mm cabinet with 18 mm boards and Depth 10 mm has a 584 × 704 mm back.
• In the cutting list these boards get a note, for example Grooved for back 3 mm thick or Rebated for back 3 mm thick. The groove also goes into the DXF and the board drawings. See Cutting list and cut size.
• Shelves and drawer boxes end at the back: with the back in a groove they are also shorter by Engagement.
• For Lay-on and Rebated the hardware list counts screws for the back, one for every 150 mm of perimeter. A back in a groove is held by the groove.
• For a groove and a rebate, Cost estimate counts CNC routing along the perimeter of the cabinet.

Tip

When you change Thickness in Cabinet properties while the back is in a groove or rebate, enter the back's Depth again (or choose Grooved again). Only then does EFS recalculate how much smaller the back is than the cabinet. Without that, the back goes into the side panels deeper or shallower than the Depth field says.

Top

The top board can sit between the side panels or over them, and a pair of cross boards can replace it. In the video: open Top, change Left joint to Continuous, then set it back to Inset.

1. Open Construction → Top.
2. In the Construction field choose a full board or cross boards.
3. For a full board choose Left joint and Right joint.

Construction	What you get
Standard	A full top board.
Double cross boards	Two cross boards, at the front and at the back.
Front cross board	Only the front cross board.
Back cross board	Only the back cross board.
None	No top board.

Option	When it is shown	What it does	Default	Values
Construction	Always	See the table above.	Standard	5 choices
Thickness	All except None	Thickness of the top board or the cross boards.	18 mm	0–100 mm
Left joint, Right joint	Standard	Inset: the top board sits between the side panels. Continuous: the top board runs over the side panel, and the side panel is lower by the thickness of the top board.	Inset	Inset, Continuous
Left overflow, Right overflow	Joint Continuous	The top board extends this far past the outer face of the side panel.	0 mm	0–2000 mm
Engagement	All except None	The top board or the cross boards are lowered this far below the top edge of the cabinet.	0 mm	0–1000 mm
Front cross	Front cross board	Horizontal: the cross board lies flat. Vertical: the cross board stands on its edge.	Horizontal	Horizontal, Vertical
Front recess	Standard and front cross board	The board or the front cross board is set back this far from the front edge.	0 mm	−1000 to 1000 mm
Front cross width	Front cross board	Width of the front cross board.	60 mm	10–500 mm
Back cross	Back cross board	As for the front one.	Horizontal	Horizontal, Vertical
Back recess	Standard and back cross board	The board or the back cross board is set in this far from the back edge.	0 mm	−1000 to 1000 mm
Back cross width	Back cross board	Width of the back cross board.	60 mm	10–500 mm

How EFS works out the top board (cabinet 600 × 580 mm, 18 mm boards, 3 mm lay-on back, no front): with both joints Inset the top board is 564 × 577 mm, and the side panels are 720 mm high. With both joints Continuous the top board is 600 mm wide and the side panels are 702 mm high.

Cross boards instead of a top board

Base kitchen units have two cross boards instead of a full top board, and the worktop goes on them. In the video: in Top choose Construction: Double cross boards.

Rules:

• The cross boards sit between the side panels: they are as wide as the inner width of the cabinet (564 mm for a 600 mm cabinet with 18 mm side panels).
• When you choose cross boards, both joints go back to Inset, and the joint and overflow fields disappear.
• With the back in a groove or rebate, the back cross board gets a groove too.
• Shift+T cycles through the top: None → Standard → Double cross boards → Front cross board → Back cross board → None.

Note

When you set None, the top board disappears and its thickness counts as 0. When you go back to Standard, the board comes back with its old thickness.

Bottom

The same fields and the same choices as Top: Standard, Double cross boards, Front cross board, Back cross board, None. The cross boards are called Cross bottom front and Cross bottom back.

Differences:

• Engagement here raises the bottom (or the bottom cross boards) above the bottom edge of the cabinet. The side panels still go all the way down, so they can serve as a plinth. Drawers and shelves start above the raised bottom.
• The Continuous joint means that the bottom runs under the side panel, and the side panel is shorter by the thickness of the bottom.
• There is no key like Shift+T for the bottom.

Left and right sides

The side panels of the cabinet. The Left and Right sections have the same fields.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Construction	Standard: the side panel exists. None: no side panel.	Standard	Standard, None
Thickness	Side panel thickness.	18 mm	0–100 mm
Front recess	The side panel stops this far short of the front edge.	0 mm	−1000 to 1000 mm
Back recess	The side panel stops this far short of the back edge.	0 mm	−1000 to 1000 mm
Top overflow	The side panel extends this far above the top edge (negative: lower).	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm
Bottom overflow	The side panel extends this far below the bottom edge (negative: higher).	0 mm	−2000 to 2000 mm

The fields other than Construction are shown only for Standard.

Rules:

• When you set a side panel to None, its thickness counts as 0: the top and bottom, cross boards and shelves run to the edge of the cabinet. This is how you build cabinets that share a side panel with their neighbour.
• The Gola groove goes only into side panels that exist.

Relations

Related cabinets go together with this cabinet: when you move it, they move too, with the gap you enter. Use it for a run of cabinets and for a wardrobe with a top box. The details are in the chapters Base units and the corner and A wardrobe with compartments and a rail.

1. Select a cabinet, then add a second cabinet with Shift + click.
2. Open the Relations panel and click Relate to the selected cabinet.
3. Or choose the cabinet yourself in the Left, Right, Above or Below field.

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Relate to the selected cabinet	The second selected cabinet becomes the left, right, upper or lower neighbour of the active one. Shown when two cabinets are selected; otherwise the panel says Select a second cabinet to relate it.	–	button
Show IDs	Shows the internal names of the cabinets in the scene, by which you pick them in the fields below.	off	on, off
Left, Right, Above, Below	The cabinet that stands on that side.	empty	cabinets in the scene
Left offset, Right offset, Above offset, Below offset	The gap between this cabinet and the neighbour.	0 mm	−5000 to 5000 mm
Include in scaling: Width, Depth, Height	When you change that dimension of this cabinet, the related cabinets get the same dimension.	off	on, off

Rules:

• A neighbour follows only the cabinet in whose field it is entered, not the whole chain.
• When you change the width of this cabinet, the right neighbour moves along with it.

Watch out

When you delete a cabinet, the cabinets entered in its Left, Right, Above and Below fields are deleted too. If you want to keep the neighbour, clear the field first.

Corner cabinet

The corner cabinet is an L-shaped cabinet for the corner of a kitchen. One arm runs along the width of the cabinet, the other along the depth, and each has its own door. In the inner corner of the L the doors close against two narrow corner post boards. You add it with Add → Corner cabinet or Shift+C, or from the templates. When you select it, the EFS - Cabinet tab has the Corner cabinet properties panel and its own sub-panels. How to put it in the corner of the room is explained in the chapter Base units and the corner.

The boards of the corner cabinet (names from the Cabinet elements list):

Board	Where it is
Right side 2	The back panel along the whole width of the cabinet.
Left side 2	The side panel along the whole depth of the cabinet, against the other wall.
Right side 1	The end side panel of the arm along the width.
Left side 1	The end side panel of the arm along the depth.
Corner top, Corner bottom, Corner shelf 1 to 3	The L-shaped top, bottom and shelves.
Front right	The door on the arm along the width.
Front left	The door on the arm along the depth.
Post right, Post left	Narrow corner post boards in the inner corner, flush with the doors.
Left back, Right back	Boards that close the cut-out in the back corner. They exist only with a cut-out.

The corner cabinet has no thin back: its back panels are boards of the same thickness as the carcass.

Corner cabinet properties

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Width	Outer width of the L-shaped cabinet.	1200 mm	100–5000 mm
Depth	Outer depth of the L-shaped cabinet.	1160 mm	100–5000 mm
Height	Height, without legs.	720 mm	100–5000 mm
Thickness	Thickness of all boards of the corner cabinet, the doors included.	18 mm	0–100 mm
Shelves	Number of shelves, evenly spaced over the height.	1	0–3
Is upper	As on a regular cabinet. Shown only without legs.	off	on, off
Z rotation, Name, Note	As on a regular cabinet.	–	–

Front side

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Width	The opening on the arm along the width: from the inner corner to the end of the cabinet. The other arm is as deep as the cabinet's Width minus this value.	638 mm (new corner cabinet)	0–5000 mm
Depth	The opening on the arm along the depth: from the inner corner to the front end of the cabinet. The arm along the width is as deep as the cabinet's Depth minus this value.	598 mm (new corner cabinet)	0–5000 mm
Gap	The gap around the doors. The doors are lower than the cabinet by one Gap, half at the top and half at the bottom.	2 mm	0–100 mm
Hinges	Number of hinges per door.	2	0–6
Hinge type	A hinge from the catalogue.	No drilling (count only)	hinges from the catalogue

How EFS works out the corner cabinet doors (default dimensions): Front right is Width − corner post width − 2 × Gap = 638 − 60 − 4 = 574 mm wide. Front left is Depth − corner post depth − 2 × Gap − Thickness = 598 − 60 − 4 − 18 = 516 mm wide. Both are 720 − 2 = 718 mm high.

Handles: the same fields as the Handles panel of a regular cabinet.

Cut-out

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Width	Width of the cut-out in the back corner of the cabinet (against both walls), for example for a pillar or pipes.	0 mm	0–5000 mm
Depth	Depth of the cut-out.	0 mm	0–5000 mm

The cut-out appears only when both values are greater than 0. Then the back panels, the top, the bottom and the shelves are shortened around the cut-out, and the Left back and Right back boards close it.

Corner post (in the parts list Post right and Post left)

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Width	Width of the Post right board, next to Front right. 0 removes it.	60 mm	0–500 mm
Depth	Width of the Post left board, next to Front left. 0 removes it.	60 mm	0–500 mm

The corner post boards are in the fronts' material group (F 1, on a wall unit F 2).

Legs

Option	What it does	Default	Values
Type	Type of legs.	None	None, Rounded legs, Squared legs
Height	Height of the legs.	100 mm	10–500 mm

Rules:

• The corner cabinet has six legs, and seven with a cut-out (both values greater than 0).
• Shift+H adds a shelf, up to three. The corner cabinet has no dividers, drawers or carcass joints.
• Project hardware gives the corner cabinet only hinges and handles.
• The Corner cabinet properties panel is shown only while one object is selected.

Common problems and solutions

The EFS - Cabinet tab is empty or missing. No board of a cabinet is selected, or you are in edit mode. Click a board of the cabinet in the 3D Viewport. If the header says Edit Mode, press Tab.

I chose Outer drawers, but there are no drawers. Number is 0. Type the number of drawers and press Enter. Or press D.

The fronts disappeared when I added drawers. A cabinet has either fronts or drawers. For a cabinet with doors and a drawer, stack two cabinets one on top of the other and relate them (Relations, Above/Below). That is how the Door and drawer template among the base kitchen units is built. See Templates and My templates.

Horizontal shelf is greyed out in the Add menu. A shelf or several objects are selected. Click one side panel or front of the cabinet.

I deleted one shelf and they all disappeared. Deleting a shelf deletes all the shelves and dividers of the cabinet. Undo with Ctrl+Z and give the shelf you don't want an offset (Shelf N offset), or add the shelves again.

I can't see the Is upper field. The cabinet has legs. Set Legs → Type: None.

I can't see the Engagement and Depth fields for the back. They are shown only for Rebated and Grooved. The Gap field is shown only for Lay-on.

I can't see Left overflow for the top. It is shown only when Left joint is Continuous. Cross boards have no joints.

The side panels are shallower than I expected. The cabinet's Depth includes the front and a lay-on back. A cabinet 580 mm deep with 18 mm doors and a 3 mm back has 559 mm side panels. If you need 580 mm side panels, enter Depth 601 mm.

There are no fronts in the cutting list. The fronts are hidden with Shift+F. Bring them back with the fronts icon in the header and export again.

The Gola profile button in the Add menu is greyed out. The cabinet has no Gola groove. In the Gola profile panel enter a Count greater than 0, and select only one board of the cabinet.

The neighbour disappeared when I deleted a cabinet. The neighbour was entered in the Relations of the deleted cabinet. Undo with Ctrl+Z, clear the field and delete again.

Shortcuts in this chapter

Key	Action
N	Sidebar with the tabs on / off
Shift+A	The Add menu (the same as the Add button in the header)
Shift+H	New horizontal shelf in the selected cabinet
Shift+V	New vertical shelf (divider) in the selected cabinet
Shift+C	New corner cabinet
O	Open / close doors and drawers of the selected cabinet
F	Next front: none, left, right, two doors, then the same with Inset
Shift+F	Hide the fronts in the scene
D	Next drawer layout: outer 1–5, inner 1–5, no drawers
L	Next legs: rounded, squared, no legs
Shift+T	Next top: full board, cross boards, no top board
U	Upper / lower cabinet
Alt+Z	X-ray view: you see the dowels and drillings
X	Delete: the cabinet, or all the shelves of the cabinet if a shelf is selected
Ctrl+Z	Undo the last action

The keys F, D, L, Shift+T and U also work on several selected cabinets: they all get the next state of the active cabinet. All the shortcuts are in the chapter Keyboard shortcuts.

Next

Next chapter: Decors, edge tape and materials