Kitchen Cabinets: Stylish Ideas for Cabinet Doors

A Custom Creation

A piece of fabric inspired the unique fretwork pattern carved into these custom cabinet doors. While custom cabinets are expensive, they can offer a one-of-a-kind look. Embellish clean-line cabinet doors such recessed-panel Shaker-style or flat-front contemporary panels with molding for a custom look for less.

Play Up Hardware  

Different pieces of refurbished antique hardware dress up these cabinet doors and drawers with unique style. The aged pieces compliment the country style of the glazed cabinets.

Display Collectibles 
Use glass doors to showcase personal collections of fine antiques, sentimental glassware, or playful pottery. Display colorful dishes to energize an all-white kitchen.

Disguise Clutter
Textured glass in upper cabinets helps define the open storage without demanding neatness. Mismatched dishware is muted behind textured glass panels.

Turn It Sideways 
Running the wood grain of these white oak cabinet horizontally lends a loft-like urban style to this sleek, modern kitchen.

Include Decorative Molding 
Add character to cabinetry with traditional moldings. This decorative addition to understated, cream-color cabinets gives them a little extra energy.

Contrast a Dark Finish  
Polka-dot glass panels and black-glazed zinc knobs accent the black-painted cabinet doors, glazed in cinnamon red for greater depth.

Make a Memo Board  
Inset a tall cabinetry panel with an old-fashioned chalkboard to serve as a large message pad. Or, paint a cabinet door with chalkboard paint. A pantry door is the ideal size and the perfect location for jotting grocery lists, snack suggestions, and don't-miss messages.

Get Innovative 
 Transform a standard cabinet into an appliance garage. Replace cabinet doors with tambour doors that slide up out of the way for easy access to small appliances behind. Choosing a contrasting finish breaks up large spans of mundane cabinets.

Combine Door Styles  
 Cabinets feature doors of varying panel styles for a gathered look in this welcoming kitchen. Raised panels blend with beaded-board inserts for traditional style with a hint of casual country and glass doors provide an opportunity for personal display.

Add Wood for Warmth  
A pretty and prominent wood graining in these walnut cabinets give contemporary slab-door styles a warmer look. Mixing traditional-style doors with modern finishes, and vice-versa, lends unexpected interest.

Repeat Patterns  
Add decorative muntins to glass-front cabinets to pick up architectural features of the house, such as in  windows. Openings in just the upper portion of these cabinets add interesting display opportunities without requiring the entire cabinets to be neat and orderly.

Use Leaded Glass 
Leaded-glass panels in upper-cabinet doors add artistic detailing and vintage style.

Soften The Look  
Upper cabinets fitted with frosted-glass doors offer a filtered view of their contents. 

Mingle Finishes 
Rustic pine armoire-style doors on the pantry add warm texture and historic flavor to a new kitchen.

Make Them Old  
Tone down painted cabinets by giving them a distressed finish or a coat of glaze to blend into old-world style.

Cut It Out  

Enlist the help of a woodworking craftsman to embellish cabinet doors with handiwork. These scrollwork cut-out patterns add Scandinavian style to this Swedish country home.

Visit the Coup

Chicken-wire door inserts are another way to show off collections within an open cabinet door. This rustic panel insert compliments country and cottage decors.

Mix It Up

Warm wood door fronts blended into crisp white cabinetry creates noteworthy contrast and visual interest in this clean-lined kitchen. Equally bright and light, the wood adds warmth and color to the monochromatic room.