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.

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.

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.

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.