Recess Mount vs Face Mount Shutters: Which Fits Your Windows?
Recess mount, sometimes called an L frame, sits the shutter inside the window opening. Face mount, the Z frame, fixes it to the wall over the opening. It sounds like a detail. It changes how much glass you keep, how the window looks from the street, and what the job costs.
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Recess or Face Mount - Which Should You Choose?
- The window reveal is deep enough to take the frame
- You want the shutter to sit flush and read as part of the window
- The architrave around the window is worth keeping visible
- There is a windowsill you want to keep usable
- You want the cleanest look from inside the room
- The reveal is shallow or there is no reveal at all
- The window is out of square, which most older Melbourne homes are
- You want to cover the architrave entirely for a built-in look
- You want to keep every millimetre of glass
- The window is a slider or awning with a handle in the way
Recess vs Face Mount Shutters Comparison
Z Frame and L Frame Explained
You will hear both sets of words, often in the same conversation, and they mean the same two things.
It is an L in section: one leg sits against the reveal, the other returns to hold the panel. It goes inside the window opening, so you need depth to put it in.
It steps out from the wall in a Z, which lets the panel sit clear of the opening while the frame covers the edge of the reveal and the architrave behind it. It needs no depth at all, which is why it is the more common answer in Melbourne.
Two reasons, and neither is about looks. The first is depth. A lot of Melbourne housing, particularly anything with aluminium windows fitted into a brick veneer wall, has a reveal too shallow to take an L frame with the panel clear of the glass and the handles. There is nothing wrong with the window. There is just nowhere to put the frame.
The second is square. Older homes move. A window opening that is 8mm wider at the top than the bottom is completely normal in a 1930s or 1950s house, and a recess-mounted shutter shows that gap down one side as a tapering line of daylight. A Z frame covers the edge of the opening entirely, so the shutter reads square even when the window is not. That is not a cosmetic preference, it is the difference between a job that looks right and one the customer keeps looking at.
If the reveal is deep, the window is square and there is an architrave or a sill worth keeping, recess wins. It is flush, it keeps the sill usable, and in a period home it lets the joinery around the window stay part of the room. It is usually a little cheaper too, because there is less frame.
The Reveal Depth Test
You can settle most of this yourself in about a minute per window. Open the window fully. Put a tape measure on the face of the wall beside the window and measure straight back to the glass, or to the nearest thing that sticks out: a handle, a winder, a lock, a flyscreen track. That distance is your usable reveal depth, and the thing that sticks out is what matters, not the glass.
Measure the opening width at the top, the middle and the bottom. Then the height at both sides. If any pair differs by more than a few millimetres, a recess mount will show it.
- A shallow reveal, or a handle sitting close to the wall face: face mount
- A deep reveal, square opening, architrave worth keeping: recess mount
- Deep reveal but a winder in the way: face mount, or recess with the panel set forward
- More than a few millimetres out of square: face mount
- A flyscreen you want to keep operable: measure to the screen track, not the glass
If you would rather not, this is exactly what the free measure is for, and we will tell you which way each window goes and why.
Best Choice by Window
Usually face mount. The reveal is rarely deep enough once the handle is accounted for.
Recess mount, if the opening is square. The architrave is worth keeping visible.
Face mount. The handle or winder on both of these is the thing that rules out recess more often than depth does.
Face mount is common, both for handle clearance and because it keeps the frame off a wet sill.
Usually recess per section, so each face of the bay is treated as its own window.
Face mount is almost always simpler, because the frame absorbs the shape rather than having to follow it exactly.
What It Costs You in Light
A recess-mounted shutter sits inside the opening, so the frame takes up part of the glass. On a small window that is more noticeable than people expect: the frame is the same width whether the window is a metre across or three, so the proportion it eats is much higher on a small bathroom or toilet window.
A face-mounted shutter sits over the opening, so you keep the full width of glass behind it. When the shutters are open you get the whole window. The trade is at the edges: because the panel stands off the wall rather than sitting inside the reveal, a face mount lets slightly more light past at the sides when it is closed.
Neither difference is large. On a small window the recess frame costs you more visible glass than the face mount costs you in edge light, which is why small windows tend to go face mount even when the depth would allow either.
Maintenance Requirements
Mount position barely affects maintenance. Both are wipe-down products with no cords and no mechanism. Two small differences are worth knowing.
- The sill stays exposed, so it still needs cleaning
- Dust settles on the sill behind the panel
- Easier to get at the outside of the glass for cleaning
- Nothing sits on a sill behind the panel
- Opening the panel to clean the glass is a slightly wider swing
- The frame face collects dust and wipes off in one pass
Cost: Recess vs Face Mount
Face mount usually costs a little more, because a Z frame uses more material than an L frame. It is not a big gap on a single window and it adds up across a house.
Mount position is one of the three things that move a job to the top of its price range, alongside custom shapes and colour options. For real installed figures by window type, see our plantation shutters pricing guide. For a price on your own windows, book a free measure and quote, and we will tell you which mount each window takes before we price it.
- Frame type: L frame or Z frame
- Window size and the number of panels
- Blade size
- Colour or stain finish
- Custom shapes, raked heads and arched windows
- Whether the reveal needs packing out
Warranty Considerations
Mount position does not change the structural warranty on the panel. What it can change is fixing, and that is worth a sentence.
A face-mounted shutter fixes to the wall rather than into the reveal, so what it is fixing into matters: brick, render over brick, and plasterboard with no noggin behind it are three different jobs. Getting that wrong is an installation issue rather than a product one, which is the reason we measure and install rather than dropping the shutters off.
10-Year Structural Warranty
Both Mount Types
Measured and Installed by Us
Fixing Is Part of the Job
Which One Should You Choose?
- The reveal is deep enough once handles are accounted for
- The opening is square
- The architrave or sill is worth keeping visible
- You want the flush, built-in look from inside
- The reveal is shallow or absent
- The window is out of square, as most older homes are
- There is a handle or winder in the way
- You want to keep the full width of glass
- Bedrooms recess, bathrooms face mount, in the same house
- Bay windows treated per section
- Small windows often face mount regardless of depth
- We decide it at the measure, window by window
See Both Frame Types Up Close
- Free measure and quote
- Reveal depth and square checked at every window
- Mount recommended per window, with the reason
- Frame samples brought to you
- Moorabbin: 1022 Nepean Hwy, Moorabbin VIC 3189
- Pascoe Vale South: 12 York Street, Pascoe Vale South VIC 3044
- L frame and Z frame side by side in full size
- Bring reveal depth measurements and a photo of the window for an initial view
- Showroom visits by appointment only
Common Questions About Recess and Face Mount Shutters
Same two options, different words. L frame is the recess frame: an L in section, one leg against the reveal and the other returning to hold the panel, and it goes inside the window opening. Z frame is the face-fix frame: it steps out from the wall in a Z, so the panel sits clear of the opening while the frame covers the reveal edge and the architrave behind it.
Neither in the abstract. Recess wins where the reveal is deep, the opening is square, and there is an architrave or a sill worth keeping visible. Face mount wins everywhere else, which in Melbourne housing is most windows. It is decided at the window with a tape measure, and it can differ room to room in the same house.
Enough to take the frame with the panel clear of the glass and of anything that sticks out. The thing that sticks out is what matters, not the glass: a handle, a winder, a lock or a flyscreen track. We measure from the wall face back to the nearest obstruction at every window rather than working to one number across the house.
Yes. That is what the Z frame is for. It fixes to the wall over the opening and needs no depth at all, which is why it is the more common answer on aluminium windows in brick veneer. You also keep the full width of glass, because nothing is eating into the opening.
Yes, and on most jobs that is the point. The frame covers the edge of the reveal and the architrave behind it, which gives you the built-in look from the street and hides an opening that is out of square. If the architrave is period joinery you want to keep visible, that argues for recess.
Face mount. An opening 8mm wider at the top than the bottom is completely normal in a 1930s or 1950s house, and a recess-mounted shutter shows that as a tapering line of daylight down one side. A Z frame covers the edge of the opening entirely, so the shutter reads square even when the window is not.
Yes. Face mount usually costs a little more, because a Z frame uses more material than an L frame. It is not a big gap on one window and it adds up across a house. Mount position is one of the three things that push a job to the top of its price range, alongside custom shapes and colour options.
Routinely, and it is usually the right answer. Bedrooms go recess where the reveals allow it while the bathroom and kitchen go face mount, both to clear the handles and to keep the frame off a wet sill. Bay windows get treated per section. We specify it per window at the measure rather than applying one mount across the house.
On a slider or an awning window, often yes, and it is the handle rather than the depth that rules out recess more often than people expect. Measure from the wall face to the handle, not to the glass. If it fouls, the options are face mount, or recess with the panel set forward.
