In solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell stacks, increasing the height of support features in the transition regions and/or increasing the depth of the transition regions improves the flow of reactants therein and thus improves the sharing of flow in the channels in the reactant flow fields. The support feature height and transition region depth are increased so as to be out of plane with respect to the landings and channels in the reactant flow fields. The invention is suitable for cells employing metal flow field plates or plates in which no adhesives are employed in the transition regions.