Full Overlay
While shared panels can be used to build various styles of cabinets, full overlay panels can only be used to build full overlay cabinets. The most common cabinet style is full overlay.
Full overlay cabinets are typically built as individual boxes that are stacked or butted and fastened together. The drawer and door faces are the same size as the box, less a small reveal. A typical reveal is 1.5mm so that when two boxes are placed next to each other there will be a 3mm reveal (~1/8") between the faces.
When building full overlay cabinets you'll likely not be using balanced panels (...better IMO but apparently not the norm) or system holes as construction holes. You'll also be making/assembling a lot more pieces - the example drawing requires 2x (32 VS 16) as many pieces as a half-overlay or inset cabinet of the same design.
Stackable Boxes
If you want stackable boxes with consistent reveals (as in the drawing above), there are only four possible panel designs. There are two reveal options and two indexing options.
Reveal is typically stated as the distance between two doors or drawer faces and is typically 3mm (1/8"). To maintain that reveal between the faces of stacked boxes, the panel to face reveals need to equal the face to face reveal. You can have the faces flush to the bottom of the box (full reveal at the top) or split the reveal evenly between the top and bottom of the box. While it will depend on application and hardware, placing the full reveal at the top of the box will typically provide the needed clearance when opening drawers that are underneath a counter and provides for a 3mm reveal between top-mounted crown and doors. A 0mm bottom reveal also looks better in most applications. The drawback is that unbalanced reveals equal unbalanced panels. With single head boring machines boring balanced panels is more efficient. This is doubly true when drilling a single row requires multiple plunges of the head (e.g. 13 spindle machines).
Hardware, most notably drawer slides, determines which is the best indexing option. For indexing to be a reliable constant, the top and bottom edges (plus 1/2 reveal) of all faces need to be centered on a system hole or at the midpoint between system holes. In most cases the later will work better.
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Other Panel Designs
A thread on the Woodweb forum propted me compare some of the 32mm full-overlay panel designs. Kiss II, Danny Proulx, Process 32 and True 32 are panel designs that use the 32mm system (CabParts, The Pearls and the "A Curriculum for Teaching 32mm Cabinet Construction" panels are not 32mm system panels).
The primary difference between these and the Stackable Box designs is that they all have an increased reveal at the top of the panel. Face edges centering on, or between, system holes is relatively unimportant - drawer slides typically determine which will work the best.
For some folks its easier to bore balanced panels. The 1.5mm reveal of the balanced stackable-box design isn't enough when drawers and a counter are involved. The drawback of a balanced panel is that any increase to the top reveal typically requires an equal increase to the bottom reveal.
The Kiss II design is a balanced panel with the top and bottom reveals increased to 4.5mm, i.e. 6mm taller than the stackable box panels. I'm guessing the Kiss folks decided they needed a 4.5mm top reveal and balanced panels (which forces the 4.5mm bottom reveal). I've never needed more than a 3mm top reveal and I prefer flush bottom faces over balanced panels.
The Proulx design adds a whopping 32mm to the top of the balanced stackable box panel. The panel was designed specifically for 3/4" countertops with a built-down edge (here my preference is a 52.5/30.5 unbalanced, VS his 32/32 balanced, panel). A 19mm built-down edge reduces the huge 33.5mm reveal to a large 14.5mm (VS 3mm with a 52.5/30.5 panel) one. Its an interesting, though convoluted and aesthetically expensive, way (the only way) to have a balanced panel and an unbalanced reveal.
Unbalanced panels aren't a problem when one can bore at least a full system row with a single plunge. The big advantage of unbalanced panels is that you can have faces flush with the box bottom (0mm bottom reveal).
Blum's Process 32 panel is 7mm taller than the unbalanced stackable box panel. While the 3mm reveal of the unbalanced stackable box can be a bit close with self-closing bottom-mount slides (drawer faces can hit the counter if it has too much overhang), I'm not sure why they decided they needed an, aesthetically crude, 10mm top reveal (one of their drawer layouts may require it).
While True 32 allows all stackable box panels, their preferred design is the unbalanced (edges centered between system holes) one. I included it here because the only difference between the Blum and True 32 panel is the 10 VS 3mm top reveal.
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