What are kitchen end panels and filler panels, and how do I fit them?

Kitchens are built from modules in 100mm steps and rooms are not, so there is always a leftover gap somewhere. Filler panels are the designed solution to that, not an admission of a mistake — and a corner run physically needs a filler, because two units meeting at 90 degrees would otherwise trap their own doors against each other.

What you'll need

• End panel or filler panel in a matching finish
• Compasses or a scribing block
• Jigsaw with a downcut blade, or a fine-tooth saw and a plane
• Fixing blocks or brackets, and short screws
• Clamps (optional)
• Clear sealant for cut edges

Step by step

1. Work out which panel you need.End panel: the exposed side of a run, seen as a face. Filler panel: a narrow strip closing a gap to a wall or making room for a corner door to open. Decor panel or plant-on panel: a thin sheet applied over a visible carcass side to match the doors.
2. Understand why a corner needs a filler.Two base units meeting at a right angle put their doors and handles in the same space. A filler of 50 to 100mm on one leg pushes the units apart enough for both doors to open and for a handle to clear the wall. Leaving it out is how a corner door ends up permanently jammed.
3. Measure the gap at top and bottom, and in the middle.Walls lean and bow. Three measurements tell you whether the panel needs to be a parallel strip or a tapered one, and that decides whether you can cut it square.
4. Scribe to the wall rather than cutting square.Hold the panel plumb in position, with its edge against the wall's high point. Set compasses to the widest gap, run the point down the wall with the pencil on the panel, and cut to that line.
5. Back-bevel the cut edge.Angle the cut slightly so the back face is cut away more than the front. That lets the visible front edge close tight against the wall even where the wall is not flat, and it is what makes a scribe look like a scribe.
6. Test-fit, then adjust with a plane or a sander.Nobody hits a scribe first time. Offer it up, mark the high spots, take them off, and repeat. A block plane on a chipboard panel takes fine shavings and is quicker than repeated jigsaw cuts.
7. Fix from behind, into the carcass.Small blocks screwed to the carcass side, with the panel screwed to the blocks from behind. On an end panel, screws from inside the carcass through the side panel into the back of the decor panel work well and show nothing.
8. Seal the cut edges.Every cut edge is raw core. On an end panel next to a dishwasher, or a filler at the end of a run near a sink, that raw edge is exactly where water gets in.
9. Take end panels down to the floor where the plinth returns.The plinth normally returns around the end of a run, so the end panel finishes at the plinth line and the plinth carries on around. Check the sequence before cutting the panel's length.

Tips

• Buy end panels in the same batch as the doors. Foil and paint finishes drift between production runs, and a panel ordered six months later beside a door is noticeably different in daylight.
• A tall end panel at the end of a run of base and wall units usually comes as one full-height piece rather than two. It looks better and it is easier to scribe once.
• Where a filler is very narrow — under about 30mm — consider moving the whole run along by a few millimetres so the filler is wide enough to be cut and fixed sensibly. A 12mm filler is fragile and fiddly.

Common mistakes

• Cutting a filler square and caulking the gap — A wall that is out by 8mm over a metre leaves a tapering line of caulk that reads as a mistake from across the room. Scribing takes twenty minutes and reads as a fitted kitchen.
• Omitting the corner filler — The two doors or the handles then collide, and the corner unit cannot be opened. It is not optional on a corner run.
• Fixing an end panel through its face — The holes are visible on the most-seen panel in the kitchen. Fix from inside the carcass or from behind, always.

Questions people ask