A question that we were recently asked was, “What is downturn & a gable end? Are they the same things in relation to kitchens?”
Well, a downturn and a gable, both do the same thing by covering the end of a non matching carcase, so that the colour and texture is carried on. See the sections below for more details and examples of these.
Downturn
A downturn is a piece of worktop that is cut and placed at the end of the last unit in the kitchen run, to give a very stylish and modern look to the kitchen.
The downturn can be made from any worktop material, such as quartz, granite, solid wood and laminate. If using laminate worktops though, the worktop would need to be edged on both sides, so that there are no exposed edges.
Here are some examples of kitchens that have used downturns.
Gable ends
Gable ends, in relation to our own kitchen units are the left hand and right hand sides of the carcase that run to the back of the unit, which go past the 8m back panel.
The gable ends are the same material as the units, so to get a matching look with that of the doors, you need to order either a matt finish door style with one of our colour matched carcases or buy end panels if you want to complete a gloss look, for example, throughout the kitchen.
Some manufactures do produce units with a built in finished gable on the exposed side of the unit but we prefer to give people the option of a carcase finish or separate matching end panels.
So, although end panels are not gables per se, end panels perform the same job by hiding the side of the carcase.
Here are some examples of kitchens that have used end panels to hide the gable ends.
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