I thought standard was 1 1/2"?

Approx 1.5" is standard today. It covers the front of the cabinets + 1/8" to 1/4" opening b/w the front of the cabinet door or drawer front + 1" thick door or drawer front + 1/2" to extend out past the door or drawer front.

The purpose of the overhang is to direct spills away from the cabinet and its doors/drawer fronts. This means it has to extend out past all of these. It has to extend out far enough to be effective...and that's usually around 1/2" past everything.

Perfect timing for this discussion as my counters are being templated on Thursday.

Thanks texanniew for asking. I too dripped lots on my old cabinets and will request a 1.5 overhang.

The amount of water you get down the front of your cabinets doesn't just have to do with the amount of overhang, but also the type of edge detail you have. An edge like a demi-bullnose that drops straight down will have water dripping off the straight edge. A bullnose that is curved around will have water follow along the curve and water will drip off under the edge of the counter. If you have the type of edge that will have water running down along the curve, you may want to go with more of an overhang. Just something to think about.

Poohpup, so a bullnose is going to just redirect the spill down along the cabinet? If I have a thick molding would be better to have a square or even ogee edge or just the bullnose coming out 1.5" or even 2"?

In laboratory countertops that I have used, there is often a channel/groove cut into the underside, about 3/4" back from the edge. This serves the same purpose as a drip edge or drip rail at the edge of your roof. Any liquids that do make it around the corner will fall off at that point. Does anyone have this detail on their countertops? It would be fairly easy for me to put one in at this point; is this ever done on kitchen countertops?

Hi Angie -- that's right! I'd forgotten about that underside runnel ... and I haven't seen it (though I might not have noticed) in a residential setting. Funny... It's a great idea though. I'd do it if I were you.

I'm not sure there is a "Standard" overhang -- I think it depends where you live and whom you talk with. I think it must have been here that I read 1.5" was "Standard" and when it came time for me to discuss this with fabricators and the like, they all acted like I'd crawled in from Mars. And they charged me extra for the "extra" overhang.

I do believe, though, it is nevertheless "standard" for some, despite the protestations I happened to receive. But I wouldn't assume anything!

This was totally confusing to me so I'll try to spell it out. Please ignore if it's patently obvious to you: I'll call it a mini-treatise on overhang.

(i) There is no standard overhang
(ii) over hang is measured from the cabinet box ... or at least it can be. And hence the possibility for confusion.
(iii) If you choose drawer fronts that do not "inset" right inside the cabinet box, then they will set on top of the front of that box, and add extra thickness. This comes out of the "overhang" measurement.

Thus, if you have, say, frameless cabinets with 5/8" drawer fronts, and your fabricator says "Sure, sure, 1.5", standard overhang..." what that translates to, functionally, is (1.5" - 5/8" = 7/8") overhang. That's less than an inch.

Thus it is possible for everyone to do as you specified, sort of, and still wind up with less overhang than you'd anticipated.

I had them cut "2" overhangs", from which the 5/8" was subtracted resulting in a little less than 1.5" overhangs. It's enough. But it was a fight! And one that I'm glad I put up.

And also, remember that your drawer fronts usually have a little cushion they will sit on on top of the cabinet box, a pad or something -- that takes away a teensy bit more depth too.

However, it was never clear to me during the skirmish why there was all this miscommunication. But I understand now; it depends where you're measuring from. As a homeowner/user, I don't care about the box at all; I don't pay attention to it. It's the drawer's front panel that matters to me, where it ends. But the contractors sometimes don't even *see* those drawer fronts so they completely ignore the issue.

A real miscommunication. My experience at least.

One more thing. I've whined about this a bunch but I just spent several moments ruing my ogee edges all over again. A day never goes by when I don't at least once, usually several times. I hate em. Lots of folks on here love em; I don't. This time it was bits of eggshell -- can't sweep it into the compost bucket. They get stuck, hide, on the little swoopy edge.

Someone mentioned that also not-standard may be the angle of the ogee. Another had probably tighter curves and loved theirs very much; it could be that mine are very "lazy" and better catch stuff. It is the one thing I regret the most about my kitchen (which means I'm overall as happy as a clam; I admit this is not exactly calamitous).

But I do want to mention, that I felt this, dunno, "glamour-pressure" to sex up the counter edges and yet, function is the most important thing to me and for some reason I just glazed over that consideration. If you're a stickler for function, you might want to consider skipping the whole countertop edge thing. Wish I had!

Oh -- except I would, given the ability to choose again, ask for mitred edges, as opposed to standard. Both wind up straight but the mitred blends the swirls of the stone's pattern and the sandwich has a random-looking join - with very happening stone it can make quite the lightening streaks. Not sure whether this was depicted in the posted options.

Hi Angie -- that's right! I'd forgotten about that underside runnel ... and I haven't seen it (though I might not have noticed) in a residential setting. Funny... It's a great idea though. I'd do it if I were you.

I'm not sure there is a "Standard" overhang -- I think it depends where you live and whom you talk with. I think it must have been here that I read 1.5" was "Standard" and when it came time for me to discuss this with fabricators and the like, they all acted like I'd crawled in from Mars. And they charged me extra for the "extra" overhang.

I do believe, though, it is nevertheless "standard" for some, despite the protestations I happened to receive. But I wouldn't assume anything!

This was totally confusing to me so I'll try to spell it out. Please ignore if it's patently obvious to you: I'll call it a mini-treatise on overhang.

(i) There is no standard overhang
(ii) over hang is measured from the cabinet box ... or at least it can be. And hence the possibility for confusion.
(iii) If you choose drawer fronts that do not "inset" right inside the cabinet box, then they will set on top of the front of that box, and add extra thickness. This comes out of the "overhang" measurement.

Thus, if you have, say, frameless cabinets with 5/8" drawer fronts, and your fabricator says "Sure, sure, 1.5", standard overhang..." what that translates to, functionally, is (1.5" - 5/8" = 7/8") overhang. That's less than an inch.

Thus it is possible for everyone to do as you specified, sort of, and still wind up with less overhang than you'd anticipated.

I had them cut "2" overhangs", from which the 5/8" was subtracted resulting in a little less than 1.5" overhangs. It's enough. But it was a fight! And one that I'm glad I put up.

And also, remember that your drawer fronts usually have a little cushion they will sit on on top of the cabinet box, a pad or something -- that takes away a teensy bit more depth too.

However, it was never clear to me during the skirmish why there was all this miscommunication. But I understand now; it depends where you're measuring from. As a homeowner/user, I don't care about the box at all; I don't pay attention to it. It's the drawer's front panel that matters to me, where it ends. But the contractors sometimes don't even *see* those drawer fronts so they completely ignore the issue.

A real miscommunication. My experience at least.

One more thing. I've whined about this a bunch but I just spent several moments ruing my ogee edges all over again. A day never goes by when I don't at least once, usually several times. I hate em. Lots of folks on here love em; I don't. This time it was bits of eggshell -- can't sweep it into the compost bucket. They get stuck, hide, on the little swoopy edge.

Someone mentioned that also not-standard may be the angle of the ogee. Another had probably tighter curves and loved theirs very much; it could be that mine are very "lazy" and better catch stuff. It is the one thing I regret the most about my kitchen (which means I'm overall as happy as a clam; I admit this is not exactly calamitous).

But I do want to mention, that I felt this, dunno, "glamour-pressure" to sex up the counter edges and yet, function is the most important thing to me and for some reason I just glazed over that consideration. If you're a stickler for function, you might want to consider skipping the whole countertop edge thing. Wish I had!

Oh -- except I would, given the ability to choose again, ask for mitred edges, as opposed to standard. Both wind up straight but the mitred blends the swirls of the stone's pattern and the sandwich has a random-looking join - with very happening stone it can make quite the lightening streaks. Not sure whether this was depicted in the posted options.

Different installers have different "standards".
The minimum from the box would be 1 inch and usually try for at least 1 1/4 inch. And in a pinch, you have to do just whatever works. The main goal is to keep the overhang consistent all the way around.

On my bathroom vanity, I have 1.5" and it is not enough b/c the doors have raised panel and get wet all the time (not good, lol). I would have asked for 2" (at least) but was limited by the the space between the vanity and the door on one side and was told that it should be the same on all sides.

I am still not sure why all sides should have the same overhang, but it is done and I have to live with it.

In my future kitchen, I will have at least 2" - and no raised panels!

I've seen as much as 3". But I think it depends on what YOU want as to style.

Water dripping over is one thing, but I think the bigger problem (for me) is opening an adjacent door, like a fridge door, or how much overlap one gets with a slide-in range.