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Cabinet Door Styles: 9 Popular Types to Choose From

By: Andrew Saladino | 4 min

hand flipping through different cabinet door samples in home improvement shop

The right kitchen cabinets can elevate the desired look and feel of your cooking space. From simple slabs to intricate raised cathedrals, there's a cabinet door style to complement your taste and improve the functionality of your home.

Cabinet door styles can be as simple or elaborate as you make them, depending on what works best for your design. Here's a quick breakdown of the nine most popular cabinet styles available.

1. Slab Cabinet Doors

natural wood slab cabinet doors with black countertops in galley kitchen

Best for: Modern, contemporary, or mid-century modern kitchens

Slab cabinet doors -- also known as "flat-panel" doors -- are flat and frameless, perfect for those looking to modernize their kitchen.

When they feature natural wood tones like chestnut or maple, slab cabinet doors can complement a more warm, traditional look. Inversely, painted slab cabinets work well with a modern or industrial aesthetic. Due to their sleek appearance, they work best with linear cabinet hardware such as our brush satin nickel handle.

2. Shaker Recessed Cabinet Doors

White shaker cabinets with black modern hardware

Best for: Modern, contemporary, transitional, or traditional kitchens

Simple yet beautiful, shaker cabinets have enjoyed widespread appeal since first popularized over 150 years ago. These cupboards feature recessed panels and come with simple, crisp inside and outside edges.

Although it's a traditional style, it's easy to modernize shaker cabinets due to their clean lines and minimal design. If you have loud elements in your kitchen, such as a colorful backsplash or busy wall decor, it's best to opt for something simple like these ice shaker white cabinets.

3. Traditional Square Raised Cabinet Doors

white square-raised cabinet doors with black countertops and kitchen island with dark stained square raised cabinets

Best for: Traditional, craftsman, or rustic kitchens

Traditional square raised cabinets have elevated panels in the same shape as the cabinets themselves. This style brings a level of depth to your cabinets, creating shadows with a textured profile.

Traditional square raised cabinets grant you the flexibility to choose a more intricate or simple design depending on the style of your kitchen. Whetherr you're drawn to a more detailed, traditional aesthetic or a simple, contemporary one, these cabinets can be a perfect fit for you. A great example of the traditional square raised style is our pearl cabinets, which exemplify sophistication.

4. Arch Raised Panel Cabinet Doors

kitchen with white arch-raised cabinets, granite countertop and beige tile backsplash

Best for: Traditional, farmhouse, or cottage-style kitchens

Arch cabinet doors have deep grooves with the top shaped in an arch. Arch cabinets are a popular choice for larger kitchens with more traditional design elements, such as marble countertops or tile backsplashes. If you want to add definition to your cabinets without taking away from other design components in your kitchen, these are a great option.

5. Cathedral Raised Cabinet Doors

Kitchen with dark stained cathedral- raised cabinets and kitchen island with white countertops

Best for: Traditional, craftsman, or Tuscan kitchens

If you're looking for cabinets that radiate refinement, cathedral raised cabinet doors could be the best fit. Similar to arch cabinet doors, cathedral cabinet doors feature a raised arch design with curved lines that are reminiscent of medieval architecture.

Keep these cabinets light to create a breezy elegance throughout your kitchen; paint or stain them dark for a richer, more traditional feel. These cupboard doors best compliment high ceilings for an overall regal atmosphere.

6. Beadboard Cabinet Doors

kitchen with white beadboard cabinets and kitchen island with granite countertops

Best for: French country, farmhouse, cottage-style, or rustic kitchens

Beadboard cabinet doors can help add a rustic feel to your kitchen. This style has vertical planks fitted together with small ridges known as "beads" between each plank. You can choose to have them only on the doors or add matching components to the drawers.

For those who are fond of country or cottage-style kitchens, these can complement wood ceiling beams and distressed furniture.

7. Mullion Cabinet Doors

kitchen with granite countertops, long island and white open frame cabinets with overlapping half circle details

Best for: Modern, French country, or traditional kitchens

If you have a unique set of fine china or intricate crystal, mullion cabinet doors are a great option for displaying prized kitchenware while still keeping items clean and protected.

These doors have mullions or moldings that divide an open frame. Mullions either hold individual panes of glass or serve as decorative accents over a single pane of glass. Mullion cabinet doors come in an infinite number of patterns, making this the most customizable cabinet style.

8. Open Frame Cabinet Doors

kitchen with white hexagon tile backsplash, white cabinets and one open frame cabinet

Best for: Modern, contemporary, or traditional kitchens

Like mullion cabinets, open frame cabinet doors are another popular choice for those looking to add an airy openness to their cabinets – sans mullion.

These cabinets traditionally feature an open frame with a single glass pane insert, resulting in an unobstructed view of your cabinet contents. However, you may use any material less than one-quarter inch thick as an insert, such as lattice or rattan. These cabinets look best in modern, minimalist kitchens as accent cabinets or for all the upper cabinets.

9. Louvered Cabinet Doors

close up of white louvered cabinet door with white knobs and butcher block countertop

Best for: French country, cottage-style, or traditional kitchens

Similar to old-fashioned shutters, Louvered doors have fixed, horizontal slats that allow air and light to pass through.

The improved ventilation makes these cabinets a stylish and functional choice for kitchen cabinets, especially pantries and places where you keep other dry goods. Although most commonly seen on windows or closet doors, they can add a unique style to a kitchen or laundry room. These are a top choice for adding a classic homestyle twist to a modern kitchen.

How to Choose a Kitchen Cabinet Door Style

Picking your perfect cabinet doors shouldn't be a hasty decision. This is the chance to give your kitchen a major organization and style upgrade.

To get the most out of your renovation, consider the following:

By Price

Your cabinets are one of the most important elements of your kitchen design, and your budget should reflect that. As a general rule of thumb, cabinets generally make up about 50% of kitchen remodeling budgets. With this in mind, plan to set realistic guidelines for what you'll be able to afford.

Cabinets are priced based on material, style, quantity, and any customizations you may want to incorporate. Make a list of what you must-have for your cabinets and research less expensive alternatives that'll help you achieve the same look. For example, you could purchase ready-to-assemble cabinets at a cheaper price point as opposed to more costly pre-assembled or custom cabinets if you're willing to put in some extra work.

By Kitchen Layout

Not all cabinets will work in certain spaces. Consider your kitchen layout and how you'd like to organize it for maximum space and efficiency.

If you're working with a smaller kitchen layout, such as a galley kitchen, you may want to consider a simple cabinet design so as not to overwhelm the rest of the space. On the contrary, you may want to add more detailed cabinets to large u-shaped or g-shaped kitchens to add more warmth and visual interest to your cooking space.

By Function

Your kitchen is the heart of your home, and improving its functionality should be paramount when designing a remodel.

For example, messy cooks or busy moms may prefer cabinets with fewer grooves and details for simple cleaning. You can also have wall cabinets reach the ceiling or incorporate custom features like lazy susans to maximize space in a small kitchen. Make a list of things you'd like to improve in your current kitchen -- chances are there's a solution that'll work for your design and budget.

By Style

Are you leaning towards a more modern or traditional aesthetic? A light and airy or dark and dramatic color palette? Is Natural wood grain a must for the design you have in mind? These are questions you must ask yourself when choosing your kitchen cabinets.

Cabinets should complement your existing decor to help rooms flow seamlessly together -- unless you're using your remodel as an opportunity to revamp your home decor. Keep reading to discover how different styles of cabinet doors can impact the overall design.

Not sure what style of kitchen is right for you? We've created a kitchen design style guide to help you determine your ideal design based on your MBTI results.

Cabinet Door Style FAQs

If you're trying to decide which cabinet door is right for you, you're not alone. To ensure you have all of the details you need to make your best decision, we've included a list of answers to the most common kitchen cabinet door style questions .

What Are the Different Cabinet Door Styles?

There are nine main cabinet door styles, including

  1. Slab: Flat and frameless cabinets
  2. Shaker: Cabinets with recessed panels
  3. Square Raised: Cabinets with raised panels the same shape as the cabinet itself
  4. Arch Raised: Cabinets with a raised arch design
  5. Cathedral Raised: Cabinets with a raised arch design with curving lines
  6. Beadboard: Cabinets with small ridges between vertical planks
  7. Mullion: Cabinets with moldings that divide an open frame
  8. Open Frame: Cabinets with a single glass pane insert
  9. Louvered: Cabinets with fixed, horizontal slats

What Are the Most Popular Cabinet Door Styles?

The two most popular styles of cabinet doors are shaker and traditional square raised. These styles have adapted to over a century’s worth of design trends and are still a staple amongst most aesthetics, from industrial to traditional.

What Is the Least Expensive Cabinet Door Style?

The least expensive cabinet door style to manufacture is slab cabinets, which are flat and frameless. However, there are many affordable options for different styles of cupboards, such as manufactured wood or unfinished cabinets.

What Are the Two Basic Types of Cabinet Doors?

Put simply, the two basic types of cabinets are framed and frameless. Frameless cabinets, called slab cabinets, consist of a single, flat piece of wood or wood composite. Framed cabinets include shaker, square raised, arch raised, cathedral raised, beadboard, mullion, open-frame, and louvered cabinets.

Once you've perused through the options of cabinet door styles, consider which color and stain will work best in your kitchen and order door samples to help visualize the final look.

For more design inspiration, explore our kitchen cabinet gallery to see real examples of how cabinet styles can complete different aesthetics.

Browse our selection of kitchen cabinets to continue DIYing the kitchen of your dreams.

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