Which cabinet door style is best for you?

Installing new kitchen cabinets is an exciting part of a kitchen remodel. Think of your new kitchen cabinets as a facelift for the room. Your new features will not only add beauty and increase efficiency, they will take years off your design style. It's important to stay informed on the different types of cabinet faces so that you can choose the best one for your home. Take a look at the most popular cabinet door styles below:

Shaker
Deriving its name from Shaker design style, these cabinets have clean lines and are optimized for efficiency. Shaker style is also the most common cabinet door style. It consists of four cabinet panels with one larger center panel. Because it's a simple style, Shaker cabinets will work nicely with almost any design theme and are often a budget-friendly option.

Inset
If you're willing to pay a little extra, you can get the beautiful quality of inset cabinet doors. These doors are constructed to fit into the frame of the cabinet, hence the name. Because the door sits snugly in the frame and allows very little extra room for expansion and contraction, the hinges of inset cabinet doors are generally placed on the outside. Inset cabinet fronts can be made of either wood, laminate or glass, giving you even more ways to customize your kitchen design.

Louvered
Stealing charming qualities from coastal style, louvered cabinet doors are made of overlapping horizontal boards. This design is unique, will set your kitchen apart from others and is sure to give you the seaside style you were looking for. Just beware that these cabinet doors can also be a more expensive option and may be a challenge to wipe down.

Distressed 
If you're looking to create a more rustic design in your kitchen, consider distressed cabinets doors. The faces of these doors are either sanded, scraped or distressed by some other artisan technique to create an antique look. Distressed cabinet doors often look great in country-style and provincial French-style kitchens.

Slab
Though slab cabinet doors may appear simplistic at first glance, there is so much more to this door option. Slab doors often make a minimalist style look clean and charming. This style has also grown in popularity in the past few years because of its budget friendliness. An advantage of these cabinet doors is that they are available in many different colors of wood and laminate.

Beadboard
Beadboard was originally used as a wall treatment, but when people discovered its aesthetic advantages, they began using them for cabinet faces. These doors are usually all white with vertical wood panels. Beadboard lends a crisp, refreshing look to any kitchen.

Raised/Mitered
A raised and mitered door style with applied moldings will give a formal, traditional look to the space.  Rich woods in this style are usually considered very elegant and high end.  When using detailed cabinets, be sure to incorporate details in the trimmings, such as ogee edged countertops and decorative crown moldings.

When you make the decision to invest in a kitchen remodel, you want to make sure your money is spent in the smartest way possible. For this reason, it's imperative that you know exactly what your style goals are and how to best achieve them. Choosing elements like lighting fixtures and flooring is important, but the cabinets are usually the first thing people notice in a kitchen. Put your best foot forward by installing beautiful kitchen cabinet doors.