The drawer front — sometimes called the drawer face or cabinet face — is the visible decorative panel attached to the front of a kitchen drawer. It's the surface the household sees, the dimension showrooms quote, and the thing most likely to be confused with the actual drawer's internal dimensions.
How a drawer front relates to the drawer box
The drawer front is always wider than the drawer box behind it. The overhang serves three purposes:
- Conceals the runners. Side-mounted runners sit between the cabinet wall and the drawer-box wall — invisible from outside because the front overhangs them.
- Closes the cabinet aesthetically. The fronts of adjacent drawers butt up against each other (or have a small reveal), making the cabinet look continuous.
- Provides a handle surface. Pulls and handles attach to the front, not the box.
The standard overhang for a UK kitchen drawer is 2–4 cm per side. A 60 cm drawer front typically hides a 52–56 cm internal-width drawer box.
Why the front misleads when sizing
Drawer-front dimensions are the most common mistake when measuring for an organiser. The face says "60 cm" but the box says "54 cm." Order an organiser to the face dimension and it won't fit. See cabinet face and drawer interior for the full story.
Front styles and the box
The drawer front's style — flat, panelled, shaker, slab, with or without handle — has no effect on the drawer box dimensions. Style is decorative; the box is structural. A 60 cm flat-front drawer and a 60 cm shaker-front drawer typically have identical internal dimensions.