Cabinets
- Base cabinet
- A floor-standing cabinet, typically 24 inches deep and 34.5 inches high before the countertop, that carries the counter and most kitchen storage. Base cabinets define the kitchen footprint and are usually the largest single line item in a cabinet order.
- Wall cabinet
- An upper cabinet mounted on the wall above the counter, commonly 12 to 15 inches deep. Heights vary — 30, 36, or 42 inches — depending on ceiling height and whether the cabinets run to the ceiling.
- Tall cabinet (pantry)
- A full-height cabinet, often 84 to 96 inches, used as a pantry, oven cabinet, or utility storage. Tall cabinets add significant storage without expanding the kitchen footprint.
- Framed cabinet
- A cabinet built with a face frame — a flat wood frame across the front of the box. Framed construction is the traditional American style and supports inset, partial-overlay, and full-overlay doors.
- Frameless cabinet
- Also called full-access or European construction, a frameless cabinet has no face frame, so doors mount directly to the box. This yields slightly wider openings and a contemporary look, and pairs with full-overlay doors.
- Full overlay
- A door style where doors and drawer fronts cover almost the entire cabinet face, leaving only a thin reveal between them. It reads clean and modern and works on both framed and frameless boxes.
- Partial overlay
- A door style where doors cover only part of the cabinet face, leaving the face frame visible around each door. It is the most economical overlay and a traditional look.
- Inset door
- A door set flush inside the cabinet face frame rather than overlaying it. Inset is the most precise and most expensive cabinet style, associated with high-end and historic kitchens.
- Shaker door
- A five-piece door with a recessed flat center panel and a simple square frame. Shaker is the most versatile cabinet style, reading equally at home in traditional and modern kitchens.
- Slab door
- A flat door with no panel or profile. Slab fronts are the signature of contemporary and minimalist kitchens and show the material — wood grain, paint, or laminate — without ornament.
- Toe kick
- The recessed space at the bottom of a base cabinet that lets you stand close to the counter. A standard toe kick is about 3.5 inches high and 3 inches deep.
- Filler strip
- A narrow piece of matching material used to close gaps between cabinets or between a cabinet and a wall. Fillers let doors and drawers open without binding in corners.
- Soft-close
- A hinge or drawer-slide mechanism that catches the door or drawer in the last few inches and closes it silently. Soft-close hardware is now standard on most semi-custom and custom lines.
- Stock cabinet
- Pre-manufactured cabinets in fixed sizes and a limited finish range, available quickly and at the lowest price. Stock works well in standard layouts but offers little sizing flexibility.
- Semi-custom cabinet
- Factory cabinets that allow modifications to size, finish, and features within a defined catalog. Semi-custom is the most common choice in Bergen County remodels, balancing flexibility and cost.
- Custom cabinet
- Cabinets built to exact specifications for a specific kitchen, with no size or configuration limits. Custom earns its premium in unusual geometries, historic homes, and high-end projects.
- Cabinet refacing
- Replacing cabinet doors, drawer fronts, and visible veneer while keeping the existing cabinet boxes. Refacing updates the look at a fraction of replacement cost when the boxes are structurally sound.
Counters & surfaces
- Quartz (engineered stone)
- A countertop material made of ground natural quartz bound with resin. It is non-porous, needs no sealing, and resists stains, but is less heat-tolerant than natural stone because of the resin binder.
- Quartzite
- A natural stone — not the same as engineered quartz — prized for marble-like looks with high hardness and heat resistance. Quartzite is porous and needs periodic sealing.
- Granite
- A natural igneous stone with high heat and scratch resistance and wide color variation. Granite is porous and should be sealed, and each slab is unique.
- Marble
- A natural metamorphic stone valued for its veining and soft, classic look. Marble is softer and more porous than granite or quartzite, etches with acids, and needs careful maintenance.
- Sintered stone
- An ultra-compact surface made by fusing mineral particles under heat and pressure. It is highly heat-, scratch-, and UV-resistant and non-porous, and is often sold in large, thin formats.
- Waterfall edge
- A countertop design where the slab continues vertically down the side of an island or cabinet to the floor. It is a contemporary, material-intensive detail.
- Edge profile
- The shaped finish of a countertop edge — eased, beveled, bullnose, ogee, or mitered. Profile affects both look and cost, since more complex profiles add fabrication labor.
- Undermount sink
- A sink mounted beneath the countertop so the counter edge forms the rim of the opening. It gives a seamless look and easy counter cleanup, and requires a counter material that can support it.
- Backsplash
- The wall surface behind a counter, range, or sink, finished in tile, stone, or slab to protect the wall and add a design accent. Coverage ranges from a short ledge to full height.
Kitchen layout
- Work triangle
- The classic planning relationship between the sink, cooktop, and refrigerator. Each leg ideally runs 4 to 9 feet, with the three legs totaling 13 to 26 feet, to keep the core work path efficient.
- Galley kitchen
- A layout with two parallel runs of cabinets and a corridor between them. Galleys are space-efficient and common in mid-century Bergen County homes; a comfortable corridor is about 42 to 48 inches.
- L-shaped kitchen
- A layout with cabinets on two adjoining walls forming an L. It opens to adjacent rooms and suits open-concept living, with the corner managed by a lazy Susan or blind-corner unit.
- U-shaped kitchen
- A layout with cabinets on three walls. It maximizes counter and storage and tightly contains the work triangle, but needs enough width to avoid feeling closed in.
- Peninsula
- A counter run connected to the cabinetry or a wall at one end and open at the other. A peninsula adds work surface or seating without the all-around clearance an island requires.
- Kitchen island
- A free-standing counter unit with clearance on all sides. Comfortable walkways around an island run 42 to 48 inches, and seating overhangs are typically 12 to 15 inches.
Bathroom
- Vanity
- The bathroom cabinet that holds the sink and supports the counter, providing storage and concealing plumbing. Vanity tier — stock, semi-custom, or custom — is usually the largest single line in a bathroom budget after tile.
- Vessel sink
- A basin that sits on top of the counter rather than recessed into it. Vessel sinks are a design statement and raise the effective sink height, which affects faucet selection.
- Comfort-height
- Fixtures set taller than the traditional standard — vanities around 36 inches and toilets with a higher seat — to reduce bending. Comfort-height is standard in accessible and aging-in-place design.
- Curbless shower
- Also called zero-entry, a shower with no threshold to step over, draining through a sloped floor or linear drain. Curbless showers are central to barrier-free, aging-in-place bathrooms and read as modern luxury.
- Wet room
- A fully waterproofed bathroom where the shower is open to the rest of the room without a separate enclosure. Wet rooms suit small footprints and curbless designs but require comprehensive waterproofing.
- Shower niche
- A recessed shelf built into a shower wall for soap and bottles. A niche keeps the shower uncluttered and is framed into the wall during construction, so it must be planned before tiling.
- Linear drain
- A long, narrow shower drain set against a wall or across the entry, allowing the floor to slope in a single direction. Linear drains pair well with large-format tile and curbless entries.
- Frameless shower glass
- A glass shower enclosure built from thick tempered panels with minimal metal hardware. It gives an open, custom look and is a common upgrade in full-program Bergen County bathrooms.
Process & systems
- GFCI outlet
- A ground-fault circuit interrupter outlet that cuts power when it detects a fault, required by code near sinks and water. Remodels that add or move outlets must meet current GFCI rules.
- Dedicated circuit
- An electrical circuit serving a single appliance, such as a range, dishwasher, or microwave. Adding major appliances often requires new dedicated circuits, which generally means a permit in New Jersey.
- Lead time
- The time between ordering a product and receiving it. Cabinet lead times commonly run 6 to 12 weeks for semi-custom and longer for custom, and are a frequent cause of schedule slippage.
- Punch list
- The list of small items to finish or correct at the end of a project, walked and agreed before final payment. A clear punch list is the homeowner main quality-control tool at closeout.
- Ordinary maintenance
- Under New Jersey construction code, like-for-like work — paint, flooring, cabinet replacement, and fixture swaps with no piping change — that requires no permit. The dividing line is whether plumbing, electrical, or structure is altered.
