Cabinet styles

Door styles. Shaker is a flat center panel in a square frame — the safest, most widely available style and the reason it appears in nearly every cabinet line. Slab is a single flat front, the simplest to clean and the natural fit for contemporary kitchens. Raised panel has a contoured center panel and reads traditional. Beadboard and applied-molding doors read cottage or period.

Overlay. Partial overlay leaves visible face frame between doors and is the standard on most stock lines. Full overlay covers nearly all the frame for a tighter, more contemporary look. Inset sets the door flush inside the frame — the most demanding to build and align, and it costs the most while giving you slightly less usable opening.

Practical considerations most people learn afterward. Detailed profiles collect grease and dust in the corners; slab and shaker are easier to wipe. Very dark and very glossy finishes show fingerprints and dust badly. Inset doors are beautiful but will need occasional adjustment as the house moves seasonally.

Style also travels with tier. If you want inset doors or an unusual profile, you are typically shopping semi-custom at $150-$300 per linear foot or custom at $500-$800, not stock at $80-$120.

How to choose

Pick overlay before door style

It is a construction and price decision. Door style can change later in the process; overlay generally cannot.

Match the house, not the feed

A style that fights the architecture of the rest of the house dates faster than any color trend.

Simpler profiles clean easier

Deep detailing in a cooking kitchen is a recurring chore.

Get a full-size door sample

Small chips misrepresent both color and profile depth. Look at a real door in your own kitchen light.

Inset costs more than the doors

It demands tighter tolerances throughout, so it raises the whole job, not just the fronts.

Keep the island simple

If you want a contrasting island, do it in color rather than a second door profile.