Kitchen Design: Helpful Hints On How To Choose A Kitchen Cabinet Door Style

Beginning to notice, when renovating, you agonize over the smallest details you had never even considered before? It happens. A lot. Especially with kitchens. You are asked to choose things that you had never even thought about before, like the style and details of your cabinet door. All of a sudden, there is a million to choose from; ones with coves and curves, others with no detail at all, one with glass. You begin to question yourself...but what do I like? What does everyone else do? Panic sets in. But before you jump off the deep end, I am here to help. This decision will make a difference in the overall look of the kitchen so let's begin.

Raised Panel vs. Recessed Panel

To not overwhelm you, let's skim over the technical. There are three common styles of cabinet doors: raised panel, recessed panel and slab door. The difference between these styles is mainly the centre panel, as you can see in the photo above. Raised panel tends to attract those who are more traditional in style and recessed panel is more contemporary. Yes, it is that simple. Slab door, on the other hand, has no profile or panel. It literally looks like a flat slab of wood. This bridges contemporary and modern styles.

Raised Door Panel Kitchen
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Recessed Door Panel
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Slab Door Style
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When deciding on a door style, keep the following in mind:

What is the style you are going for? Traditional? Modern? Country?
What are the details on your trims, mouldings and doors in your house?
What is the door style on other furniture pieces you own? Try to keep things constant, but there is no need to perfectly match. As long as they don't fight against each other.
What added details could make your door style better? Beadboard or glass in the centre? Adding a cove to the inside panel?

Today's most common door style is the shaker door. It is a recessed panel, with no details. As you can see, Ikea has perfected this look!

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The shaker door has made a name for itself because of it's clean lines and flexible style. With a shaker door, you can add traditional details or keep it contemporary. It is really up to you! It can look "ikea-ish", and so if you are going with custom cabinetry, try to add deatil to your door style to make it different...like these examples.

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Notice that all these door styles have the shaker look (flat around the perimeter) but include a different detail around the centre panel. I would suggest to keep your cabinetry door style simple for the most part. Kitchens have no become more streamlined and less fussy, which is reflected in the door styles.

Now, do you feel better about making this decision?