Edging and exposed edges
Published
In short: edging is protection, not decoration. Inside the board is compressed chipboard, and through an open cut it draws in moisture, swells and never returns to its original shape. Thin 0.4 mm edging sits almost without a visible seam and is fine where nothing touches the edge: shelves inside a unit, back panels, internal dividers. Thick 2 mm edging has a rounded profile and takes knocks, so it goes on everything hands touch and things bump into: doors, worktop edges, exposed end panels, and low runs where the vacuum cleaner passes.
What edging actually does
A cut in a board is exposed chipboard. While it stays sealed, the board behaves like a solid material. The moment the edging lifts even a centimetre, water gets into the seam, from a cloth, from steam over a kettle, from a spill on the worktop, and from then on the process cannot be stopped: the swollen core pushes the edging out from inside and tears it away further.
That is why most complaints about kitchens after two or three years are not about doors or mechanisms but about edges: a swollen worktop by the sink, lifted edging on a low door, a bulging end panel beside the dishwasher. And almost always these are places where either the edging thickness was cut back or nobody thought about how wet that particular edge would get.
Four kinds of edge in an ordinary kitchen
The same material behaves differently depending on where the edge sits.
The worktop edge by the sink
The wettest place in the kitchen. Here 2 mm edging is essential, and the cut-out for the sink itself gets sealant right around its perimeter, because it is that internal, invisible cut that swells most often. From the outside everything can look fine for months while it happens.
Doors
A door is handled several times a day, caught by a sleeve, knocked against its neighbour. Here you want 2 mm with a rounded profile: thin edging on a door fails from a corner, usually a lower one, because that corner meets feet and mops. Once it goes, the corner cannot be restored, only replaced.
Exposed end panels and the plinth
The end panel at the end of a run, the side of a tall unit, the plinth: everything standing in a walkway. The knocks here are accidental but regular, from a vacuum cleaner, a suitcase, a scooter. The rule is simple: if people walk past that edge, use thick edging, even when the edge itself is invisible with the doors shut.
Hidden edges inside
Shelves, dividers, the back panel, internal ribs. Nothing knocks them and nothing wets them, so 0.4 mm here is not a compromise but a sensible choice: thin edging projects less, and a shelf seats into the carcase more tightly without a needless gap.
How to check edging on finished furniture
Run a fingernail along the seam
Good edging feels continuous: a nail runs along the edge without catching. If it catches, or the tip of your nail fits into the seam, the glue line went on unevenly. Check corners rather than the middle of a run, because edging always lifts from a corner first.
Look along the edge at an angle
Held to the light you can see whether the trim is cut level and whether there is any waviness. Waviness means the edging was pressed unevenly, and that spot will be the first to lift. You will also see glue squeeze-out, which is absent in good work because the excess is cleaned off while still warm.
Check edges near anything wet
The sink, dishwasher, washing machine, the spot where the kettle stands. Here look at the board edge itself rather than the edging: if it has risen slightly and feels like a ridge, the core has taken on water. The only way to stop that is removing the source of moisture, because new edging will not hold on a swollen edge.
The short answers
Should 2 mm edging go everywhere?
There is little point. Inside a unit thick edging protects nothing, because there is neither moisture nor impact there, while it adds to the cost and leaves a projection on every shelf. The sensible scheme is 2 mm on everything visible and handled, 0.4 mm on everything internal. That works out both more reliable and cheaper than 2 mm throughout.
Why does edging lift even when it was done properly?
There are usually three causes, and none of them is the edging itself. First, steam: a kettle standing under a wall unit gives its base a dose of hot steam every day. Second, water that leaked and sat in the seam for a few hours. Third, a sink or appliance fitted without sealant along the internal cut. In all three cases the edging is not the cause, just the place where the consequence becomes visible.
Can lifted edging be re-glued?
Yes, provided the edge itself is sound and has not swollen: the edging is removed, the glue cleaned off and a new strip applied. If the board underneath has already taken on water and the edge feels ridged, the repair will not last, because the new strip is bonding to an uneven surface. In that case the part itself is replaced, and it matters a great deal whether that part is a single shelf or a whole door.
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Where to start
Tell us where the edging is lifting in your kitchen and we will say whether it is a local repair or a case of removing the source of moisture first.
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- MEBLI DIM KUZMENKO
- _andriy_kyzmenko_
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