Things to Know about Kitchen Cabinet Design

By James Mahoney

Kitchen cabinet doors can add to the beauty of your kitchen. The appearance of your kitchen cabinets rests on the quality of your cabinets. You can therefore completely change the look of your kitchen simply by changing the doors of your kitchen cabinets. Good kitchen cabinet design is also important if you want to get the most storage use possible out of your available storage space, and this should also be the goal in the design of any kitchen.

Kitchen Cabinet Wood Types

Kitchen cabinets can be made from dozens of woods including Oak, Maple, Pine, Cherry, Hickory, Poplar, Alder and Birch. Hickory and Oak are the hardest and the heaviest. Cherry, Birch and Maple are considered to be well suited to cabinetry. Less expensive and more plentiful woods such as Alder and Poplar work best with glazed finishes used in creating an ‘antique’ look. Pine is a soft wood that can be more prone to dents and scratches.

There are three types of cabinet door shapes: slab, recessed panel, and raised panel.

There are many cabinet design styles to choose from. Four of the more common cabinet design styles are: traditional, country, shaker and contemporary.

Kitchen Cabinet Construction

Kitchen cabinets are generally constructed using a combination of these kinds of woods, as well as particleboard or plywood.

Some cabinet doors are made of solid wood, which is generally more expensive. Although solid wood and plywood kitchen cabinet doors are regarded a stronger and thicker, particleboard is considered less likely to expand.

When selecting kitchen cabinets it is a good ideas to start by defining your style. Will your kitchen design be more along the lines of a traditional look with raised panel doors and a lot of ornate molding? Or will it be more of a rustic look with knotty pine and more simple detailing?

There are three main types of kitchen cabinets: in-stock kitchen cabinets, semi-stock kitchen cabinets, and custom kitchen cabinets.

While custom-cabinet doors are more expensive than the do-it-yourself variety, the advantage is that you are able to get exactly what you want at a very high level of craftsmanship. You can tailor the cabinets to the exact specifications and needs of your kitchen.

There are also several styles of cabinet doors that can be related to one or two of the overall design styles. Doors for a custom kitchen cabinet can be flat or frameless, raised, curved, simple, or carved.

Cabinet construction types include framed and frameless. Framed consists of a box with a frame that surrounds the front edges. Hinges are used to attach the door to the frame. Frameless type doors consist of a box with no face frame.

Decorative Pulls and Knobs

Most styles of doors require decorative pulls or knobs. Knobs and pulls protect the wood and finish of the cabinets. Also knobs for kitchen cabinets can provide a beautiful finish for your cabinets and they are available to many shapes, sizes, and styles including brushed chrome, plastic, ceramic, glass and iron.

James Mahoney is the author of many kitchen design articles. Check out his web site about kitchen design ideas at  Kitchen Designers Ideas.com. In addition, he also publishes a newsletter on kitchen design.

Courtesy of Doityourself.com