Home> Help> Kitchen Cabinets> What is a Kitchen Carcass?

A kitchen carcass is the cabinet box itself — the structural frame that everything else is built around. It is the part of the unit that sits on the floor or hangs on the wall, holds your shelves and drawers, and supports the worktop above. The doors, drawer fronts, handles and worktop are all fitted to the carcass afterwards.

What is a carcass made from?

Our carcasses are manufactured from 18mm melamine-faced chipboard (MFC), a rigid, moisture-resistant board with a durable, wipe-clean surface. The back panel is a solid 8mm board rather than a thin hardboard sheet, which adds strength and helps the unit stay square once assembled and fixed to the wall.

How is a carcass put together?

Flat-pack carcasses are assembled using a cam-and-dowel system. The dowels locate the panels accurately and the cam locks pull the joints tight, giving a strong, secure box without the need for glue or specialist tools. This makes them quick to build at home while remaining sturdy enough to last for years.

Types of carcass

Carcasses come in three main forms: base units (720mm high, 570mm deep) that sit on the floor and carry the worktop, wall units that hang above, and tall or larder units for ovens and full-height storage. Because the carcass is the foundation of every cabinet, a well-built, square box is the key to a kitchen that fits together neatly and lasts.

Want to know more about our cabinet construction? Call 02920 007 948 or email info@flatpackkitchens.co.uk, or view our kitchen cabinets.

What is a Kitchen Carcass?

A kitchen carcass is the cabinet that, with the kitchen doors, make up the kitchen unit, that in term make up your full kitchen.

A carcass is the cabinetry that is assembled to make up the storage space in the kitchen. This typically falls into three categories. Kitchen base carcasses, kitchen wall carcasses and kitchen larder carcasses. The larder carcasses are also used for appliance housing, for use with integrated appliances such as ovens and microwaves.

These units, also called cabinets, are made from a number of different materials. In our case we sell 18mm MFC carcasses. They are available in a number of different colours and many different different sizes.

Base Carcasses

Base unit carcasses are 720mm high once assembled. They are 570mm deep, including a void at the back for fitting pipework etc. behind. They are fitted on to legs that are normally hidden behind plinths. These legs hold the carcass roughly 150mm off the floor. They are adjustable to account for uneven floors.

Wall Carcasses

Our wall carcasses are 330mm deep. They have three different heights for standard wall carcasses, and a number of other variations, such as top boxes. The standard height of the wall carcasses are 575mm high, 720mm high and 900mm high.

Larder Carcasses

Larder carcasses are 570mm deep. They are available as two heights. Standard, or medium, larder carcasses are 1970mm high. Tall larder carcasses are 2150mm high. They are both then fitted with legs that add an additional 150mm of height. These legs are adjustable, to help with levelling the kitchen units and account for uneven floors.