Kitchen Cabinet Door Styles
POSTED ON Friday, September 27, 2019 IN Kitchen
Exploring today's popular cabinet door styles for your kitchen
Doors are essential to every kitchen. While their purpose is to close off, contain, hide, or organize what we choose to store behind them, kitchen cabinet doors also offer an opportunity to enhance a space. Today’s kitchen cabinetry benefits from a wide range of styles and finishes, offering designers the freedom to go in whatever direction they so desire.
But out of that seemingly endless array of options, favorites have emerged. Traditional styles have receded in favor of modern and contemporary styles that feature minimal or subtle details. Shaker, flat panel, and slab cabinet door styles come to mind.
You can’t make a choice unless you know your options, and there are a handful of popular kitchen cabinet door styles that merit your attention.
Shaker Cabinet Doors
The clear cut favorite among today’s homeowners, shaker style kitchen cabinet doors feature a clean, simple, and timeless design for a staying power that all but assures it a spot atop other styles for the foreseeable future.
The look and feel can vary dramatically based on the material, finish, and even hardware choices, but the versatility of shaker style doors are what designers covet. They can be integrated into almost any style, although they are most commonly associated with contemporary and craftsman style kitchens.
In terms of construction and design, shaker style is a five-piece door with a clean square profile on the frame, both on the interior and exterior of the door. It will typically feature rectangular stiles and rails, in addition to a flat center panel.
Rainier, Quincy, and Lexington are examples of shaker style Bertch cabinet doors.
There is also an available variation of the shaker style, referred to as modified shaker. The two are very similar, with the exception of the slightest bit of detail added to the modified style, which can appear in the form of a subtle profile, bead, or other small detail.
Modified shaker style doors are typically best suited for transitional style kitchens. Examples of modified shaker style Bertch cabinet doors are Edgewood and Northbrook.
Slab Cabinet Doors
Shaker style doors have competition when it comes to contemporary kitchens, and that rival is slab style. Slab style kitchen cabinet doors are popular because of their clean look. They are one solid piece, with no center panel or frame.
The simplistic look, frameless design, and full overlay also endear slab style to homeowners more interested in crafting a modern of mid-century modern kitchen, for what some would term as a European or Scandinavian design.
Slab style doors can be manufactured in either wood or laminate, but really their distinguishing feature is the lack of a center panel and frame. No other kitchen cabinet door styles covered here can claim that distinction.
Clairmont, Lakeside, and Odyssey are examples of slab style Bertch cabinet doors.
Mitered Cabinet Doors
Whereas shaker and slab style kitchen cabinet doors trend more towards modern and contemporary kitchen designs, mitered doors represent a more traditional option. There is a depth and complexity to mitered style doors that lends itself to a more high-end look and feel. This is especially true of mitered doors that offer additional moulding around the frame (Portland, Victoria, or Capela). Applied mouldings can add another dimension to the design.
Mitered style is a five-piece cabinet door with a 45-degree angle at the joints. Four of the five pieces are the stiles and rails that comprise the frame. The fifth piece is the panel that is surrounded by the frame. Mitered doors also use blind mortise and tenon joints. The center panel can be either flat (District) or a raised panel (Tuscany).
Where you’ll find that mitered style kitchen cabinet doors vary is in the edge treatments on the frame, either on the inside of the frame (Marcus or Preston) or both inside and outside (Tuscany or Heritage). You can opt for an elegant ornate treatment (Donovan or Centurion) around the mitered frame or go with something more subtle and subdued (Lancaster).
Traditional Cabinet Door Styles
Mullion kitchen cabinet doors are framed doors that contain individual panes of glass or a single pane of glass. Mullion style doors are normally used in upper or wall cabinetry. Held in place by wood mullions that typically partition the door, the glass offers you picturesque cabinetry, showcasing the beautiful dinnerware in your cabinets.
The blend of functionality with stylish design is what makes mullion doors so appealing to homeowners. There are a variety of pattern designs to choose from, whether you are looking to make a bold statement or keep it simple with a subtle but classy look. There is no question that mullion style doors can provide a more stately appearance designed to grab attention.
Raised panels are another example of a kitchen cabinet door with a more classic look and feel. As their name indicates, the center panel is raised higher than the surrounding wood. These cabinet doors feel right at home in a more traditional style kitchen.
There is no shortage of options when it comes to choosing the cabinet doors for your kitchen. You may not know exactly what you want until you see it up close and in person. To see our cabinet doors for yourself, visit our nearest showroom.
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