Line Boring Specs for Kitchen Cabinet Components

Line Boring

• Line boring entails a mechanical process by which a manufacturer creates a uniform row or rows of holes in a building material. The process derives its name from the fact that a line boring machine bores holes in straight lines. For mass produced housewares, like cabinets and bookshelves, boring lines allows manufacturers to use the same planks or boards in myriad applications. The lines in building materials accommodate for varying dimension and components by allowing you to install a shelf, cabinet or other piece at any point along the line.

Distance Specifications

• The European cabinet system also is called the 32 mm cabinet system due to the boring specifications used. In this system, all holes in a single line sit 32 mm, or approximately 1.26 inches, apart. Gregory Paolini, author of “Kitchen Cabinets Made Simple,” recommends using 1.25 inches as the approximate measurement for ease of use when boring lines in the English system. Create your own line bores by drilling holes at 1 1/4-inch intervals in a straight line from one end of a kitchen cabinet to the other.

Size Specifications

• Manufacturers using the European cabinet system bore holes 5 mm in diameter. This equals about 0.2 inches, or 1/5 inch. Maintaining a uniform diameter for holes in the system allows for the mass production of pins used to fill those holes. When undertaking line boring for your kitchen cabinets as a DIY project, use a drill bit measuring exactly 5 mm in diameter at its thickest point to ensure that generic pins fit into these holes. If you plan to use a specific set of pins for your project, bore holes in keeping with the specifications of these pins.

Additional Information

• Several other specifications accompany kitchen cabinet line boring, though these specifications vary depending upon the material in question. For instance, the depth of bored holes may depend upon the thickness of material used, while the total number of holes depends upon the number of lines bored laterally and the number of holes bored lengthwise in a cabinet. Cabinet line boring specifications affect other specifications. For instance, the distance of holes from each other affects specifications, such as the distance between shelves in a cabinet – they must fit at 32-mm intervals or multiples thereof.