What is an Onlay

An onlay is a decorative piece which is later added and attached to furniture, cabinets, or molding. Onlays are typically pre-carved and set aside to be added at a later point in the manufacturing process or during assembly. As opposed to an inlay which requires hand-carving and significantly more time, onlays are pre-carved which allows cabinet makers to be more efficient in both the design and manufacturing processes, enabling separate workers to be working on separate components of your cabinets in different locations.