Not sticky-backed at all. In fact it looks almost like packing foam, but thicker and stiffer. I like that it cushions the drawers and pull-outs where I used it. It muffles some of the noise when I put my pots and pans and glass bakeware away, and cuts down on the rattling when I open/shut those same drawers/pull-outs. It keeps my electric fry pan, my stand mixer, my food processor and its assorted parts from sliding around when I open or close their pull-outs and my cutting boards from doing the same in their drawer (not to mention protecting the wood from the mineral oil I use on my wood carving and cutting boards). I also ended up putting some pieces of CC on the bottom of my tray cab. I don't know if sliding my baking sheets and cooling racks in and out would have scraped up the cab floor or not, but my pizza stone stored in that cab surely would have, so I put pieces of CC on the cab floor on both sides of the divider. Is it a must have? That's up to you. Oh, and they do pretty much stay in place.

As Fabritec has its' own RTA line that is going after the Ikea market I did talk to a Contractor who had used both RTA lines and liked the Ikea better. He said he thought they assembled more easily and were machined more accurately. In terms of the assembled lines like Expressive\Expressions the veteran installer we had from Home Depot liked the Fabritec product a lot more than Thomasville and thought the finishing was better than Thomasville and Kraftmaid. Both Expressive and Instant were produced by Maax who sold to Fabritec a few years ago. HD staff in a few locations were very impressed with the improvements made by Fabritec since they took over production and they were supplier of the year to HD Canada a couple of years ago. Construction on the cabinets is pretty unique and they are much stronger than most frameless cabinetry before installation (they don't rack at all). All the cabinets except the sink base have solid backs made of the same material as the sides (Ikea just has a 1\4 inch cover you nail on). Fabritec uses 3\4 for their RTA line but only 5\8 for the assembled. I don't think you can get the ply in Canada, upgrading to ply is really a US thing and isn't really that desirable for frameless in my opinion.Fabritec Edgebands (in a PVC) to match your door colour. Hettich makes good hardware. My Mom didn't get full extension hardware (it isn't standard on the Instant) but I have seen the hardware in store and you can't notice any difference from displays using Blum. My Mom did a thermo finish but she only returned a couple of fronts and it wasn't a problem. Here are some pics of my Mom's kitchen. The cabinetry lined she used is called Instant and is stock line not semi-custom like Expressive\Expressions. Her kitchen isn't fancy (thermo, resilient sheet flooring, laminate etc.). Still the cabinets had some thoughtful details - the interiors were colour matched to the doors, the one piece MDF doors have a second routered edge that makes the corner appear to be square not rounded like many thermo door styles also they do all matching drawer fronts (no slab drawers, they always match the door style even on the RTA product). I contacted Fabrited directly with some questions and they were very responsive.

It is a pain to do. But it's a job that you only have to do once ;) My Mom lined & I do, too. I've had spillage of sticky things in the past - honey, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar - and I was able to scrub the liner without worries of damaging the finish in my cabinets. This time around (thinking it's my last remodel..) I sprang for the pricey Cushy Cupboard brand. Might be overkill, but I love them, especially in my wide dish drawers. It provides traction so the dishes never slide as well as providing cushioning. Found it easy to work with, too. This is a job that goes faster and is less tedious if you have a friend (or sister, or daughter) to lend a hand. Put on your favorite music and just do it!

I lined my new cabinets with a clear liner from the Container Store. I am glad I did becuase I had some potatoes in a drawer that went bad and leaked. Super easy to take the liner out and rise it under the sink. I know I didn't need to line all the cabinets/drawers but it gives me peace of mind. The liners were super easy to cut with a scissors.