In the past, designs made use of an exposed hinge and a centre stile. Often the drawers were supported on wooden runners or tracked in grooves on the drawer box. Early traditional North American cabinets were frame and panel construction, typically using glued-up boards for the sides, backs, and bottoms. And, most often the cabinets were built in place. The European frameless kitchen cabinet consists of a box, normally made from melamine coated particle core boards, and the edges taped with melamine or high pressure laminate.
Doors are often a particle core board with high pressure laminate.
The Europeans have developed the adjustable cabinet base leg to replace the wood base support. As well, a hidden, three way adjustable hinge is used, eliminating the need for a cabinet centre stile. Drawer glides of metal, attached to the cabinet gable ends and drawer bottom, are a European standard. European cabinetry depends in part on the high quality European door hinge and its ability to adjust in three directions. The quality of this hinge allows for very accurate placement of the cabinet doors because of the hinge's mechanical ability to hold that placement.