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Sign in to continueSimple mode shows the common controls with shop defaults. Fill wall and Place my Systainers work here too. Switch to Pro for the full set: toe kick, drawer slides, per-part materials (backs, trays, nailers), the auto-fill overflow settings (ceiling height, adding cabinets past the wall, packing order), and fine gaps and tolerances. It is all free.
Pro mode shows every build parameter in task tabs. Switch to Simple for just the common controls.
The unit every cabinet dimension is shown and typed in. The wall has its own unit, so you can plan the wall in feet while the cabinetry stays in mm.
Air gap left between stacked Systainers so they slide in and out without rubbing. The snug setting is the shop default; the roomy one gives more finger room. Pick Custom to type your own.
Type the air gap you want above each Systainer, in any unit. It applies to every slot, so it adds up over a tall stack.
Rounds each cabinet's built height to a grid. System-32 (32 mm) matches the standard shelf-hole pattern, so shelves and hardware land on real holes.
Plywood thickness for the box sides, top and bottom (the carcass / box), applied to every cabinet at once (thicker sides make each cabinet a little wider). Once you assign a material below, this field shows that material's thickness and turns read-only: change it by assigning a different material.
Set by the material assigned in Component materials. · Add to library
Box construction (toe kick, top, nailer) is on the Lower cabinets tab.
Height of the base frame the cabinet stands on. Standard is 100 mm (about 4 inches). The box sides are cut this much shorter, and the base is built as its own frame underneath.
How far the base frame sits back from the front of the cabinet, so there is room for your feet. 76 mm (3 inches) is the trade standard. Set it to 0 to build the base flush with the cabinet front, which gives you a plinth rather than a recess.
How the cabinets meet the floor. Toe kick base builds a separate frame of front, back and side pieces with cross pieces (sleepers) across it, cut to the same outside width as the cabinet, that the box sits on. Adjustable legs buys levellers instead - four per cabinet, six on a wide one - and cuts no frame at all; you can still add a clip-on kick face in front of them, and it starts off. Platform base stands the run on a platform you build to the wall and the floor; the box sides are cut short for it, but the platform itself is not on the cut list because its size comes from the room, not from a cabinet. All three cut the box sides the same way.
An optional finished kickboard panel that clads the front of the toe-kick recess. Continuous = one board across all the cabinets (joined at a cabinet seam if longer than a sheet); Per cabinet = a separate face per cabinet. The base frame underneath stays either way, whether or not you add this finished face.
Height of the kickboard face. Blank = match the toe-kick height so it fills the recess; set it shorter for a deliberate shadow line.
A full top panel (closed, stiffer box) or front + back stretchers (rails), common when a countertop goes on top. Both use the same height; only the parts differ.
Front-to-back width of each top rail. 100 mm (4 in) is typical; System-32 shops trim to about 74 mm to clear the hole grid.
The front rail is the one you see when you look at the cabinet. The back rail faces into the box, so most shops leave its edge raw. Edgebanding both costs twice the material and a little more time.
Nothing is edgebanded yet on this job. Assign an edgebanding material under Component materials, and this choice starts driving the cut list and the buy quantities.
A back closes the box, squares it up, and gives the cabinet something to screw through. Leave it off for an open-backed rack, or where the cabinets sit against a finished wall you want to see. Its thickness follows the back material you assign.
With no back and no nailer, nothing holds this cabinet square or fixes it to the wall. Add a back nailer below, or plan to brace the run another way.
A grooved (dadoed) back sits in a slot cut into each side, which squares the box and hides the panel edge. Leave it off and the back simply covers the back of the box. Grooving it makes the back wider, because it has to reach into the groove on both sides.
How far in from the back edge of the side the groove is cut. Shops commonly use 12 to 19 mm, and go to the deeper end when a cabinet hangs on the wall and the groove carries its weight. These cabinets stand on the floor, so 12 mm is the default here.
How deep the groove is cut into each side. 6 mm (about 1/4 inch) is what most North American shops use - it is common trade practice rather than a published rule, because no standards body sets a number for this. European shops often go 8 mm in 18 mm sides. The tool will not cut a groove deeper than half the side material.
A hanging rail across the back to screw the cabinet to the wall. It sits between the sides, so its thickness reduces the depth left for the drawer slides (accounted for automatically). Choose where it goes below.
A rail at the top is the usual way a base cabinet hangs on the wall. A rail at the bottom fastens the cabinet down at the deck. Choose both when the run needs holding at both ends. Each rail is its own line on the cut list, so nobody has to guess which board is which.
Vertical width of the rail. 100 mm (4 in) is the common default; 75 to 150 mm is normal.
Plywood thickness of the nailer, usually the same as the cabinet box material, set by the nailer material you assign. This is the amount taken off the usable drawer-slide depth.
Set by the material assigned in Component materials. · Add to library
Pick the material for each part of the cabinet. Every component follows the Cabinet boxes (carcass) material unless you choose a different one here, so a 32 mm box can mix ¾" sides, a ¼" back and ½" trays. The cut list groups and nests each material on its own sheets, and choosing a material also sets that part's thickness (top stretchers are the exception: they are always cut at the carcass thickness, so their picker sets the material only). Stock comes from your Materials library.
Your Materials library has no materials yet. Add sheet stock or hardwood stock in the Materials library, then pick it for each component here.
Box sides, top, bottom, and every piece of the toe kick base frame underneath (front toe, back toe, side toes and sleepers). Not the same as the optional toe-kick face, which has its own material below.
The cabinet back, usually a thinner stock (¼" or ½").
The back panel cut thickness follows the assigned back material.
The trays the Systainers sit on (bottom + two sides). Thickness also raises each box and widens the cabinet.
The hanging rail(s) across the back, when a back nailer is enabled. Wherever you put them (top, bottom, or both), they all use this material.
The front and back top rails, when the lower top is set to stretchers. Always cut at the carcass thickness; this picker sets the material only.
The visible kickboard face, when a toe-kick face is enabled. Defaults to the cabinet box material; pick a finished face (prefinished, paint-grade, or a veneer to match doors) to differ.
The shelves the Systainers rest on in wall (upper) cabinets.
Edgeband the exposed front edges of the open rack so no raw plywood plies show: the front edges of the box sides, top and bottom, each tray front, and the front nose of each tray side. Pick an edgebanding from your Materials library; the Cut List tool prices it by the length used.
Your Materials library has no edgebanding yet. Add an edgebanding (a material of type Edgebanding) in the Materials library, then pick it here.
On top of the nose edgebanding already included in Edgebanding above, this edgebands the long edge that runs the full depth of each tray side. Uses noticeably more edgebanding per tray.
Drawer pull-outs and a dedicated pull-out shelf are planned; this design currently builds open pull-out trays for the Systainers.
Plywood thickness of the pull-out trays the Systainers sit on. Thicker trays raise each Systainer (so fewer fit) and widen the cabinet slightly. Set by the tray material you assign.
Set by the material assigned in Component materials. · Add to library
Gap on each side between a Systainer and its pull-out tray, so it mounts with room; the tray is never the exact box width. Tray width = Systainer + 2× this, which widens the cabinet. Default 3 mm per side.
Height of the U-channel side walls on each pull-out tray. They keep the Systainer from sliding off when the tray is pulled out. 50 mm is typical; below about 40 mm the Systainer can lift off, and much above 75 mm starts blocking access.
Side-mount slides take half an inch per side and add no height. Undermount slides run under the tray: the cabinet gets narrower but each tray costs about 14 mm of height.
½″ per side · 0 mm/trayOptional. Picks a specific slide from your Hardware library so cabinets are sized to its exact clearance and depth. On Generic, the side-mount or undermount profile above is used. Setting a model locks the slide type above; choose Generic here to unlock it.
Leave blank for AUTO: the standard 840 mm base-cabinet height with your Systainers fitted inside. Type a value to force a specific height on every cabinet.
auto · standard 840 mmHow tall the cabinets are built across a wall. Standard: every cabinet the standard height. Flat: one level top, where Place my Systainers grows all the cabinets to the tallest height your fullest cabinet needs, up to your ceiling. Stepped: each cabinet is built down to exactly its own stack, so the tops step down.
Cabinets fill from the bottom up: the first Systainer sits on the cabinet floor, the next goes above it, and the spare height is left at the top. That is how a shop loads a cabinet, and it is what the drawing shows. Tick this to reverse it and stack down from the top instead. Either way the same Systainers go in the same cabinets at the same height; only which end they stack from changes.
When the wall is full, keep adding cabinets past it (flagged as over the wall) so every Systainer gets a home. Off makes the wall a hard limit: no cabinet is ever placed past it, and whatever does not fit inside the wall is reported. With no wall width set, Off adds no new cabinets at all.
Applies when cabinets can grow (Cabinet tops is Flat or Stepped) and Add cabinets past the wall is on. When a Systainer overflows, this decides which to try first: grow an existing cabinet taller, or add another cabinet.
Active when Cabinet tops is Flat or Stepped.Grouped by brand and category keeps your Systainers in brand and category order and packs each into the tightest cabinet that fits. Tightest by height ignores grouping and stacks the tallest first, so each cabinet packs as short as possible.
Applies when cabinets can grow (Cabinet tops is Flat or Stepped). The ceiling for a grown cabinet's overall height; growth never passes it, so a stack that cannot fit under it is reported instead of built too tall.
Active when Cabinet tops is Flat or Stepped.Type a custom inside depth below, or tick this to size the depth from a standard drawer-slide length. It accounts for the slide type and any back nailer.
Standard sizes for the chosen slide type. The cabinet depth is set to fit it; for deeper than 24 in, untick and type a custom depth.
Inside front-to-back depth available for the Systainers. Festool Systainer³ are about 296 mm deep.
Auto-filled when you size the depth from a drawer-slide length above.
Set by the drawer-slide length you chose above.
Exterior width is computed from the Systainer size (M / L / XXL) plus slides and material, not a fixed number.
Overall height of every upper (wall) cabinet, no toe kick. 30 in (762 mm) is standard; over 30 in a ¼" back also gets a middle nailer.
Front-to-back depth of the uppers. A Festool Systainer is about 296 mm deep, so a plain 12 in (305 mm) upper is too shallow to hold one on a shelf; ~14 in (350 mm) gives clearance. Still shallower than the base cabinets.
Gap on each side between a Systainer and the upper opening, so it slides onto the shelf, never the exact box width. Upper interior width = Systainer + 2× this. Separate from the lower tray gap, so an upper cabinet can be narrower than the base cabinets below. Default 3 mm per side.
Shelf material thickness, set by the upper-shelf material you assign (¾" / 19 mm is common). Shelves are adjustable on the 32 mm System-32 hole grid. Set how many per cabinet on each upper card.
Set by the material assigned in Component materials. · Add to library
¼" back needs a nailer (top + bottom, plus a middle one over 30"). A ½" or full-thickness back screws to the wall directly, so no nailer. You can also build it with no back.
The same choice as the base cabinets: a grooved back sits in a slot cut into each side and squares the box. The groove depth is shared with the base cabinets, so a shop sets its saw once.
Width of the hanging rails used with a ¼" back. 100 mm (4 in) is the common default.
A ¼" back has no rigidity of its own, so the rails hold the cabinet flat and screw it to the wall. On a tall upper the unsupported back can bow and too much wall is left un-fastened between the top and bottom rails, so a third rail is added in the middle. Standard practice over 30 in (762 mm). Recommended on.
An upper taller than this gets the third (middle) rail. 30 in (762 mm) is the standard break: a standard 30 in upper is fine on two rails; anything taller (33, 36, 42 in) is the "tall cabinet" case.