diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/look_feel.ui b/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/look_feel.ui
index 1b47365a83..5d46429deb 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/look_feel.ui
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/look_feel.ui
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@
        </item>
       </layout>
      </widget>
-     <widget class="QWidget" name="cover_grid_tab">
+     <widget class="QTabWidget" name="cover_grid_tab">
       <attribute name="icon">
        <iconset resource="../../../../resources/images.qrc">
         <normaloff>:/images/grid.png</normaloff>:/images/grid.png</iconset>
@@ -308,9 +308,6 @@
       <attribute name="title">
        <string>Cover &amp;grid</string>
       </attribute>
-      <layout class="QVBoxLayout" name="verticalLayout">
-       <item>
-        <widget class="QTabWidget" name="tabWidget_2">
          <property name="tabPosition">
           <enum>QTabWidget::West</enum>
          </property>
@@ -714,9 +711,6 @@ A value of zero means calculate automatically.</string>
            </item>
           </layout>
          </widget>
-        </widget>
-       </item>
-      </layout>
      </widget>
      <widget class="QWidget" name="book_details_tab">
       <attribute name="icon">
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/widgets2.py b/src/calibre/gui2/widgets2.py
index bd1d829971..c221d4af6f 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/widgets2.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/widgets2.py
@@ -509,6 +509,13 @@ class ScrollingTabWidget(QTabWidget):
 
     def wrap_widget(self, page):
         sw = QScrollArea(self)
+        pl = page.layout()
+        if pl is not None:
+            cm = pl.contentsMargins()
+            # For some reasons designer insists on setting zero margins for
+            # widgets added to a tab widget, which looks horrible.
+            if (cm.left(), cm.top(), cm.right(), cm.bottom()) == (0, 0, 0, 0):
+                pl.setContentsMargins(9, 9, 9, 9)
         name = 'STW{}'.format(abs(id(self)))
         sw.setObjectName(name)
         sw.setWidget(page)