Handleless kitchens are very popular and give a very clean look with great lines to a kitchen. The handles are built into the tops of doors for base units and the bottoms of the doors for wall units in like a fishing hook style or as it is more commonly known, a J profile, as shown below.
The beauty of this door style allows you to keep the contour of the handle all around your base units. The corner posts come pre made at a 90 degree angle to give the handle effect around the corner, right up until your last door, but there’s more!
Creative uses for handleless doors
If you have a kitchen run that will just end at a certain point and not butt up to a wall, and you don’t want any side units, then you can use an external corner post to keep the contour of the units and then use a door, rather than an end panel to keep the effect and door contour, right up until the back wall.
As you’ll see below, the effect looks great and gives the impression that there are doors all the way around.
You can get the same effect from wall units as well. Use an external corner post and a thinner door to create the look, see below.
If you had a kitchen island with a solid back to it, then you could use the same idea as above and use doors on the back rather than a peninsular end panel.
And 1 last ideal for wall units. Rather than having a piece of filler at the end of a run of wall units to cover the gap between the unit and the wall, you can simple cut off a section from a door (a 150mm door would be the best and cheapest to use) and use the piece to fill in the gap. The rough exposed end would butt up to the wall and never be seen and you will be left with the door contour right up to the wall.
See the image below to visualise what it could look like. Our latest Luca gloss white kitchen that has been installed in our showroom has this effect on display.
When ordering your kitchen, don’t forget to add additional doors to your order rather than end panels. You’ll need to cut the doors to size so that they are wide enough to fit into the gap required. We have doors available with widths of 150mm right up to 600mm.
Gloss or matt finish?
That is the million dollar question. They both give a great finish but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it’s ultimately your decision.
To help you decide, the gloss effect reflects light around your kitchen, which is ideal if you have a small kitchen, as the light reflects around your kitchen via the fronts of the kitchen doors, which makes your kitchen feel bigger.
The matt finish, especially the white tends to be a crisper white than the gloss and looks really clean and vibrant with an incredibly durable door.
We have a  Luca Gloss White & a Luca Matt White kitchen for you to look at on our main website.
Luca end panels
With regards to Luca end panels, there is a slight difference with regards to the matt and gloss finishes.
For all Luca Matt end panels, these are flat edged end panels.
For all Luca Gloss end panels, these are rounded edged end panels.
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Real customer kitchens
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What is the difference between the l shaped corner units you can order? Which one allows a continuous j pull gap around the corner as the images I have seen on the real customer reviews doesn’t show this. Thanks
October 29, 2022 at 12:08 pmHi, all the L-shaped base units are 900x900mm and have 2 connected doors that carry on the handleless profile. Example here.
October 31, 2022 at 10:08 amHi, I’m trying to find a tall filler panel in door material for Luca Matt White but the only thing I can find is FPC21 – 2115 X 100 FILLER PANEL in the “carcass material accessories” section. Do you sell fillers in this door material or do I need to use a filler panel from a different door style? E.g. ICLWHFPP23 – CLAYTON WHITE – FILLER PANEL – 2300 X 100 X 19MM.
Thanks
May 31, 2020 at 11:57 amHi Darren, the only filler & end panels available in the Luca range, are shown here. You would either need to get and end panel and chop it down or use one from another range. Please speak with our sales team first (01977 608 414), before mixing styles, just to ensure that the colour is the same.
June 1, 2020 at 6:59 amI’ve been trying to emulate the Luca pan-drawer matching lines across all base cabinets, to keep the visible lines/handles, all at the same height. Can I order doors that match the pan-drawer lines for the front of a 1000 wide double cupboard and an integrated dishwasher?
May 13, 2020 at 12:29 pmHi Jack, you can do this, as long as the pan drawers are the 2 pan drawers only and not 1 cutlery drawer and 2 pan drawers.
To keep the lines matching up with a 2 pan drawer unit, for the dishwasher you would need: 2 x (355×597) Pan Drawer fronts
For the 1000mm wide base unit, you would need: 4 x (355×497) Pan Drawer fronts.
May 13, 2020 at 12:34 pmHi, we have a luca alabaster gloss kitchen and need a base end panel measuring 1.5metres by â–ª86 metres. How can I order this please?
Becca Broadhead
April 15, 2020 at 12:49 pmHi Becca, we don’t have any end panels that deep (860mm) in door material. We do have base end panels in unit material here. These are 900mm high and you can chose the width of them.
April 15, 2020 at 1:40 pmHi please can you advise what depth of worktop and worktop overhang you suggest for Luca handleless kitchens?
Thanks
March 16, 2020 at 3:26 pmHi Andrew, we recommend an overhang of around 20-30mm and the front and sides to cover the units and any end panels that you may have on the sides.
March 16, 2020 at 3:30 pmDear DIY Kitchens
November 2, 2019 at 4:08 pmI am planning a Luca gloss white kitchen and have a 570 mm x 600 mm space above the fridge freezer. I would like to have a run of 360mm top boxes along the ceiling, so this leaves a space of around 200 mm to fill just above the freezer. Can you suggest how I can best do this? Ideally, I would like to create a usable space as it is a very small kitchen.
Many thanks
Alison
Hi Alison, we don’t sell any doors that are 200mm tall. You would need to get a filler panel in door material to cover any gap that was visible.
Alternatively if it is an integrated f/f, just put a filler panel at the side and towards the back (at the top of the f/f unit to stop items falling down the back) and use it as a space to store chopping boards, trays etc.
You could even even turn a wine rack on its side and use that, but that would only be 560mm wide on its side. You would have to fill the 40mm gap with a door material filler.
If you need anymore advice on this then our sales team will be happy to help on 01977 608 418.
November 4, 2019 at 10:29 amI am looking to install a continuous 6m run of Luca 2 Pan drawer base units but will need to install an integrated dishwasher and fridge within the run. I really do not want to spoil the aesthetic of the continuous 2 drawer lines by using cupboard door fronts. Can I maybe screw / glue 2 x 600m drawer fronts on some 4mm or 6mm ply / mdf to form fronts and maintain my symmetry. Many of the very high end kitchens that I have looked at actually provide 1 piece appliance fronts that look like 2 drawer fronts. My other question would be, can I get some paint Luca Graphite to paint the edges? Or can I special order these from DIY Kitchens. pre- made?
December 19, 2018 at 2:24 pmHi Simon, you can order 355×597 drawer fronts and ask for door straps to be added to join them together,the paint is only available for matt finishes. If you need need any more assistance on this then the sales team will be happy to help on 01977 608 418.
December 19, 2018 at 3:20 pmwhich manufacturers make outside vents that accommodate hoods with 200mm by 50mm ducting
November 15, 2018 at 11:45 amHi Len, ducking kits come with extractors. You just need to make the hole in the wall for the ducking and put a vent plate on the outside, available from most highstreet hardware store. This article talks about ducking kits.
November 15, 2018 at 12:58 pmI am planning a run which comprises of the following:
130mm void
950 Le Mans2 corner
150 pull out unit
800mm Drawer unit
150 pull out unit
950 Le Mans2 corner
130mm void
The total calculated run including the voids is 3260mm. The space available is 3300mm. What would you suggest is the best way to fill this 40mm gap to keep a uniformed/symetrical look?
Thanks!
November 27, 2017 at 4:13 pmHi, depending on the door style that you choose, the only way to fill that gap symmetrically would be to increase the size of the corner post to 90mm. You may have to cut a door down to do this though as our standard corner posts in door material are 70mm wide.
See the image below that shows a corner posts that would need to be increased in size.
November 28, 2017 at 6:51 amThanks for confirming how this could be acheived. Seeing as the corner post would need to be custom made, could the sales team remove the linked product from the basket?
November 28, 2017 at 10:16 amYes, please give them a call (01977 608 418) when you have your basket ready and they will be able to remove the corner post from there or from your final order before payment is taken.
November 28, 2017 at 10:26 amI have a few questions regarding end panels in the Luca Gloss range:
What is meant by a rounded edge end panel for the Luca Gloss compared to the square edge of the Matt range?
The display kitchen on your site (https://www.diy-kitchens.com/kitchens/luca-gloss-white/details/) shows very deep (curved looking) end panels on the wall units and base units in the main run – how is this look acheived?
Can you advise how end panels are used for integrated appliances as mentioned here: https://advice.diy-kitchens.com/customer-questions/space-end-panels-take-up-kitchen-design/ ?
Thanks in advance.
November 22, 2017 at 9:08 amHi, rounded edges means there is a slight bevel to the edges of the end panel to give it a smoother look, not squared as with the matt painted end panels.
Base radius feature ends are used to create the curved looking end panels https://www.diy-kitchens.com/kitchen-units/decorative-items/
With regards to end panels and integrated appliances, here is an example. If you are using an integrated Dishwasher then a Washing Machine, you will need to use a base end panel on the very end of a run and down the middle of the two appliances.
November 22, 2017 at 10:01 amThanks for the quick reply. So to acheive the look of the rounded end in the gloss finish, would I follow the radius feature with an end panel trimmed to fit squarely?
And the end panel is only needed if the integrated appliance is not enclosed by standard units?
Many thanks.
November 22, 2017 at 10:24 amHi, for the rounded end, you would need a radius feature end and an end panel cut to size. And, yes, the end panel is only need if 2 appliances are side by side or at the end of a kitchen run. If the integrated appliance is placed between 2 units then the only thing that you need is an appliance door.
November 22, 2017 at 10:40 amOk that makes sense. What about the when the radius feature is on a wall unit, how would you recommend boxing in the underside of the feature?
November 22, 2017 at 12:35 pmHi, the underside of the wall units are not boxed in. Lighting pelmet can be used to get a clean edge at the bottom. If you give our sales team a quick call on 01977 608 418 then they may be able to help you further with this question.
November 22, 2017 at 12:52 pmHow many cm I need to allow from the wall for handless Luca door to open? Is it enough just end of panel thickness?
October 4, 2017 at 2:35 pmHi, we recommend using a 50mm filler if you are placing a fridge/freezer next to the wall.
October 4, 2017 at 2:36 pmWhat about if it was an integrated washing machine at the end of a run, next to a wall? What size end panel would I need so that the washing machine door opened properly and didn’t hit the wall?
October 28, 2019 at 9:18 pmHi, we recommend using at least a 50mm filler panel, to allow the door to open properly without the handle hitting the wall too much.
October 29, 2019 at 1:37 pmHi, what sized doors would I need as end panels to fit in between corner posts on island?
September 11, 2017 at 7:39 amI’m using 800mm pan drawers with 300mm deep slimline base units backed on so the depth of island would be 900mm in total. I can’t work out the width of the gap after the external corner posts are mounted.
Would it be 2 x 715mm x 447mm?
Thanks
Hi, you would need a door width of 720mm as the external corner posts are 72mm x 72mm. You would need to opt for 2 x 400 doors and separate the units slightly or opt for cutting the doors down.
September 11, 2017 at 12:31 pmVery useful tips on this post, thanks. I am creating an island out of two 800mm pan drawers (forming an island of 1600mm x 600mm before worktop and panels are added of course). Can you confirm which items I would need to order in addition to the units themselves to achieve the continuous handleless island look you are describing. Something is not quite adding up and I’m scared of making a mistake with my order. Sorry if this is going over old ground. 🙂
September 16, 2016 at 4:38 pmWhat you require is the external corner posts to go on the corners, you can then add false doors to the back and the ends if you wanted to.
September 28, 2016 at 4:07 pmIs a Luca gloss base end panel in door material finished on all edges? i.e. can I cut it in half and use it either side of the units next to a range oven and have a painted edge showing?
July 7, 2016 at 9:01 amIs a Luca gloss base end panel in door material finished on all edges? i.e. can I cut it in half and use it either side of the units next to a range oven and have a painted edge showing?
July 7, 2016 at 9:01 amHi, what about filling the gap with a cut of section from a door between a fridge freezer and wall? Can this only be done if it’s a 50/50 split?
Thanks.
June 22, 2016 at 11:51 pmWe wouldn’t usually advise to fill a space between a tall unit and a wall with the same split as in the doors of the unit. The easiest and most efficient way to fill the gaps, is to use items such as tall end panels cut to the width you require with the finished front face being visible. This can also be done using door matching plinth and depending on the door style, you could use the lighting pelmet.
June 23, 2016 at 2:35 pmWhat are the dimensions of the external corner post? And how do you put it together to the spare door to create the continuos contour on the side of the end unit?
August 31, 2015 at 3:49 amHi, the dimensions are 70x70mm, the doors will need mounting on end panels so the continuous contour is in line.
September 1, 2015 at 1:06 pmThanks for the answer, just to clarify: in order to get a continuous look around a kitchen island, I need to order the units + 2 side end panel + 1 back panel + 4 corner posts and enough doors to cover the sides and the back of the island. Is it correct? And then screw/glue together layers of end panels to make for the void created between the corner posts and the side of the unit…
September 1, 2015 at 6:00 pmHi,
The answer to your question above is yes.
As you can see from the mock up image here, once the external corner post is added, there is a void between the end of the kitchen unit and the end panel that continues the door profile around the side.
Once you attached a door to an end panel, there will still be a small gap, the best solution here could be to create a framework inside here with some cheaper wood, as it would never be seen so that you have something to attach the end panel/door to.
September 2, 2015 at 7:50 amRegarding the idea that you can cut off a section from a door to fill in the gap between units and wall (rather than end panel), this is a brilliant idea, and one I was planning to use having seen the display at your showroom. However, you now seem to have stopped selling the doors separately, so it is no longer possible to do this… Very frustrating!
August 24, 2015 at 9:47 amHi, a 150mm door can be cut to size to use as a filler whilst keeping the j groove handle profile. If you email your shopping cart number to the sales team (sales@diy-kitchens.com) requesting the door style and colour, then they can add the door for you to use as a filler to your shopping cart for you.
August 25, 2015 at 9:57 am