What is the 32 Millimeter Cabinet System?
In the days immediately following World War II, people across the European continent came to the realization that there was a tremendous amount of rebuilding ahead of them. The deadliest and costliest war of all time had ravaged the continent, destroying millions of housing units and a great number of factories.
What was needed was a smart, efficient and resource-conserving building method for interior cabinetry to simplify construction.
The solution was the 32 mm cabinetry system. Through standardization and mass production, a new cabinetry style was adapted from the simple strong lines of the Bauhaus movement.
Today, the Euro-style cabinet system is widely used for cabinetry in Europe and beyond. This site offers a primer on how the system works for cabinets and with many of the commonly used pieces of cabinet hardware such as cup hinges and drawer runners.
While reading this won’t make you an expert on the 32 mm system, it will give you an idea of how it works and what elements you can incorporate into your work.
I don’t see the link. Did I miss it or did you? 🙂
You can get to the link by clicking the title that reads “What is the 32 mm Cabinet System”… it links you here:
http://fixmycabinet.com/2009/02/23/what-is-the-32-mm-millimeter-cabinet-system/
Pretty interesting Tom.
I’ve used these on some shop cabinet projects.
They are easy to install & align, but won’t win any design prizes.
Smart of the Europeans to use one system to streamline their rebuilding effort after the war.
Thanks Tom.
This article kinda makes the 32mm system out to be more than it really is, or atleast in this day and age. I mean its true most boring machines the tools are spaced out every 32mm but that is kinda where it ends. You wouldn’t resetup an inline bore machine to do hardware drilling. Which brings us to that not all hardware manufactures follow the 32mm standard. If you had CNC or NC equipment spacing would be irrelavant cause more than likely the machine can be programmed to whatever anyways.
True, Tim, but when it was invented, it did away with face frames and made flat packed, assemble on site cupboards and cabinets a possibility.
With the need to rebuild large segments of one of the most densely populated continents behind us, it’s not as important as it used to be to build with this system any more… but then, when you think about it, the Swedish furniture giant Ikea has made a mint with flat packed 32mm furniture…