Me! Although I like them in other people's kitchens, they just aren't my style. I'm also not doing white cabinets. I just don't want a white kitchen (again, love to look at other people's white kitchens). I like the warm feel of cherry cabinets, and that's what I'm getting in a very traditional door style.

Also, I have a colonial style house, and I think it's more keeping with the style of the rest of the house to do a more traditional look.

As others have said, it's your kitchen so do what makes you happy!

I have Shaker cabs, and I really like them. I am still drawn to them in magazines, etc.

But I do think they are trendy. They have become just so common, and are at every price point, and to me that means they are headed toward over-done.

But if I had to do it today I would still pick them.

Shaker style is the only one for me. I have loved them since I was a kid. I don't care if they are trendy right now or not.

Pick a style you love and that works with your kitchen and home. Where are you looking for photos? Houzz tends to be very modern.

I love their clean lines.
In my MB I'm doing Shaker and Cottage.
In my MBR, I'm doing Mission (which look like thick Shaker).

However, in my not-white kitchen, I probably won't. I keep being drawn to them, though. But I'm fighting it.

I'm not even sure I'm going to make my cabinet doors match each other. There are so many door styles (all flat panel, though, nothing raised so far) that I like, I'm having a hard time choosing. Given the fact I'm painting and have always been eclectic, I'm confident I could make that work.

We'll see.
But I have often commented to myself, "Self? If anything is going to date a room, it'll be the espresso Shaker cabinets." And most choosing them are worried about "timeless". huh.

I did do Shaker but the only other style I would have done was slab which I just had in my kitchen and wanted a change.

There is plenty of interest in white shaker, and yes, I chose to do the most expensive vignette in the new showroom in inset white shaker for that reason, as it's an "aspirational" look for many. But you get a lot of sticker shock from people who don't understand that it's a pretty expensive look to choose if you're going to get the details right, and it's not "just" a coat of 20% upcharged white paint that makes it.

Being in the South, I also still do plenty of raised panel cherry kitchens, but the trend has been away from the overly dark faux red stains and towards a more natural wood tone with less alteration by stain. There has also been a HUGE trend towards wood flat panel cabinets, but using them in a more transitional way by combining them with more traditional elements. And there are still plenty of people in my neck of the woods that want oak. O they are looking at hickory for a lake cabin.

The biggest trend has been the move away from the overly faux detailed kitchen. If someone wants a glaze, they are more likely to want a VERY subtle one and then not add in the fancy corbels and onlays and other decorative elements that were popular in the 90's. The Tuscan look is completely dead, even in my less design savvy location. Well, unless you are one of the Soprano clan.

Live wire oak, you're totally speaking my language! Where in the South are you? I totally agree about the overly faux detailed kitchen being very 90s!

I'm in the Memphis metro area. We still love WOOD around here. A lot.

No shaker here. In the right space they're great, but it needs to be the right cabinet for the house. We're in a 100 year old home and like marble etc. so went with a more traditional trim profile. BM Cloud White, no glazes. Clean and simple like a Shaker, but a little detail softens it up and frankly makes it easier to keep clean.

Avoid faux finishes like the plague in my opinion (i.e. 'glazes'). Faux is a fancy French word for fake.

TorontoTim, Could you provide the brand name of the cabinets and the door/drawer style that you chose for your kitchen. They are gorgeous. Is there a beveled edge on the rails and stiles that works to the flat panel? Grazie

TTim, your kitchen is one of my favorites, and one of the reasons I chose Cloud White...love it. I would consider your cabs Shaker, even with the stylistic differences. The bevel on the stiles and rails is really pretty.

Y'all ain't gonna believe THIS, but at the Shaker Village, the doors do NOT have a square edge!! They have that rounded over stepped down inside edge. Really. I did it wrong, not my cabinet maker.....hanging my head in shame.......

Nancy

Lots of people aren't choosing Shaker. Personally I've always, always, always (did I mention always?) lusted after raised panel cabs with mitered corners so that's what I did. It's not currently trendy or fashionable, but one day it will be. After living through 25 years of kitchens once thing I know is certain, styles will come and styles will go. So it's important to do what you really like in your heart (unless you are planning to sell in a few years).

I do think Shaker cabs are beautiful though and even one day if they might not be 'trendy' anymore they will continue to be beautiful. You can make yourself crazy chasing trends, but if you pick an IMO classic style like Shaker then your kitchen will always look great.

P.S. TorontoTim, your cabinets are gorgeous!!

The cabinets in my kitchen were built in 1930: white, inset Shaker.

I have slab. I love slab.

I don't see Shaker ever going completely out for the reasons ctycdm states ("one of the simplest, and most inexpensive doors to make") and also they appeal to folks who don't want a lot of detail, but slab seems too stark (that'd be me; I have Shaker). But it is also trendy based on how much it has dominated the market lately to the exclusion of other styles.

Raised panel definitely seem more traditional (Shaker are usually termed transitional). Lots of people still like and use raised panel, although (as you note) it seems like more often with stained cabinets than with white. I've definitely seen white raised panel, and if that is what you like I don't think you should let any perceived trend keep you from doing that. Especially if your house is otherwise traditional.

I did not choose Shaker. Been there, done that. I've graduated to raised panel and loving them. Shaker catches dust that is not easy to get out without a toothbrush and meticulous scrubbing. I think they are being pushed because of today's economy. They're inexpensive to construct and simple to put together.

I did not choose Shaker. Been there, done that. I've graduated to raised panel and loving them. Shaker catches dust that is not easy to get out without a toothbrush and meticulous scrubbing. I think they are being pushed because of today's economy. They're inexpensive to construct and simple to put together.

TorontoTim your kitchen is beautiful! Is there a link on GardenWeb with more pictures and details, if so can you provide it and who did your cabinets?

Wow, I think I need a primer on what's Shaker and what isn't because I would have though Toronto's were Shaker. I say I want a white Shaker, but I guess it would be more accurate to say I want a recessed door panel that is Shaker-ish rather than pure Shaker.

The original kitchen in my late 1980's home was cheap builder's grade washed oak with a recessed door panel. I associated the recessed door with cheap and when I remodeled in 1999 I did not want "cheap" and therefore chose the opposite, a raised door panel with more picture frame routing on the rails...Sorry don't know the proper termonology. I still like them, and they were't inexpensive, but I ended up with a much more traditional looking kitchen than what I envisioned. So back to recessed this time, just need to figure out which recessed "Shaker-ish" door profile will give me something stylish yet classic (IMO) like TorontoTim's, BeekeepersWife's, PipDog's and several other GW's who used recessed panels. The devil must be in the details for these great kitchens!

Toronto Tim- Forgot to ask, can you please tell me how tall your upper cabs are and also your ceiling height? Thanks.

TTim - like your "faux" walnut floors? They're oak stained to look like a darker, more expensive wood, which is a faux finish that is quite beautiful nonetheless. You might want to let a GWer without "faux" throw the first stone, or else just don't worry so much about the terminology, focus on the authenticity of the look that you have achieved.

I find it so interesting that many of you think of Shaker cabinets as a modern aesthetic. That just goes to show you how classic and timeless the look, a hallmark of the woodwork of that religious sect, really is. It dates from the 1700s by the way!

Never cared for raised panel and I was going to go with slab doors on my lowers until I saw this pic. Love the simple raised centers and it almost looks like a miter detail at corners:

[Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Richmond Design-build Shearman Associates PLC

Probably going with some version of Tim's on the uppers (mostly glass).

Can't afford to chase trends so I don't really think about them. :)

I don't know WHAT I have! lol I think they are a Shaker style but wanted a little more going on than only slab or the plain 5 panel doors.

TorontoTim, gorgeous kitchen! Thanks for sharing! (And I think there is nothing "faux" about your floor! It's beautiful!!) 2LittleFIshies, I love your cabinets! It's the extra detailing that makes them appeal to me more than plain shaker doors. (My cabinet maker has concluded that I'm a girl that does NOT have simple tastes, ha! I like the ways your cabinets are not simple!) :) Yet another gorgeous GW kitchen! Thanks for all the input here.

Go with a cabinet door style you love. Shaker IMO will not go out of style, nor will raised panel or flat panel, slab or beaded inset or a white kitchen. They have all always been around. It seems that right now you see a lot of clean lines. And if you look at old white kitchens, they seem to have the same clean lines. You don't need shaker to achieve that look.

Like F---.
Food,
Free,
Faux,
Fake,
Fart,
Flat,
(and others that don't spring to mind)
are 4-letter "f" words.
So don't use 'em or do 'em. Mama would frown.
(That's 5 letters.)

Mine are shaker with an applied molding. I originally planned shaker but wanted a little more oomph.

fishies-what YOU have is a fabulous kitchen! :) I saw a yellow kitchen on a commercial the other day and immediately thought of yours and pffft, not even close! My second thought was hmmm, fishies blows that one away. I can't wait to see your final reveal.

As to shaker - it is kind of interesting that it can seem modern to some while it dates back to the 1700's and ties into period looks also. I am drawn to shaker (in some form) but do not consider myself contemporary at all but more transitional? This is a fun thread. FUN is 3 letters so it passes the test. ;)

TorontoTim, beautiful kitchen. I would have called your cabinets shaker style too.
Ours are also shaker'esque - here they are complete with their 'faux' glaze. ; )

This post was edited by hobokenkitchen on Sun, Jan 6, 13 at 15:34

Ok, I call mine shaker with a slight detail. Yet when I read Springroz's post about the subject, I think mine might be "true" shaker :) BTW I had a light glaze put on mine to highlight the routed edges. I was after an old look from the early part of the 20th century.

What exactly qualifies as Shaker - some that claim they aren't shaker are shaker in my mind. Technically since we have a beveled edge - maybe it isn't shaker but I call it "shaker"

How far do you have to diverge to be shaker-esque? I'm getting a flat recessed panel door with beveled inside edge detail, beaded edged set in a beaded inset frame.

A2gemini - it normally means that the large doors are 5 piece cope and stick (i.e. the stiles go from top to bottom of the door and the rails run between them) with flat panels and minimal shaping detail on the profiles of the stiles and rails. In any historic furniture made by actual Shakers that I've seen, drawer faces and most doors small enough to be made from one board are slab - the 5-piece construction is just on the larger doors. But in modern "Shaker" the drawers can be either slab or 5 piece.

Southernmom - we like Shaker and used it for our kitchen. It is clean lined enough to fit our MCM house and I didn't want slab doors again. Plus it fits with our transitional style better. We wanted the family room cabinets to be different from the kitchen but still without fussy details so we chose a fairly simple mitered corner raised panel profile:

For a kitchen, I would probably have done more of a bevel on the raised panel profile because the narrow slot between the raised panel and the frame would be hard to clean, but for this case it's fine.

We got a lot of ideas on potential door shapes by looking at catalogs from cabinet door places like Scherr's and Caldoor.

I chose raised panel. Shaker reminded me of my old cabinets and I wanted a change. Pick what you like and don't worry about what's "in" at the moment.

Okay, here's my crazy realization-- maybe my last house had Shaker cabinets and I'm just now realizing it?? Since I didn't pick out the cabinets (bought it already built) I wasn't aware of the cabinet style. It was a more "simple" kitchen than my previous kitchens, but I still really loved it. So, were my cabinets Shaker style? (Just sold this house and living in a rental while we build... miss my kitchen!!)

weird - the photo was in the preview, but didn't show up. let me try again:

Well, I think shaker cabinets are one of the beautiful cabinets for your kitchen. I agree many people are not in favor of choosing shaker cabinets. I recently remodel my old aspen white shaker cabinets and done with a kitchen lighting. I think choosing a shaker cabinets will be a good choice for your kitchen.

TorontoTim, Where are you? Would love to have follow up details on your cabs, they are so handsome. Brand name, edge details for the rails, paint color.... Grazie

I was going to go with a Shaker cabinet, but then I started to imagine it looking like an apartment with cheap cabinets. I know.....crazy. So, I found this style which added just a little something to make them not so plain.

odd photo, I know.

A small beveled edge on the inside of a stick and cope recessed panel can still be considered "shaker", but most of these doors pictured above do not qualify as shaker. Shaker has become a popular buzzword to refer to almost any recessed panel cabinetry, but most recessed panel cabinetry isn't shaker.

If you have anything other than just a plain stick and cope with either a 90 degree inside edge on the door or a simple 45" bevel on the inside door, then you don't have shaker. You can refer to it as "modified shaker" if it's still a very simple look, such as a bead on the inside door profile instead of a bevel, but when you start down the road to applied molding or mitered doors, you've veered completely out of shaker territory. You're in the land of "recessed panel" cabinets. That just doesn't sound as sexy or au courant as Shaker, so the term shaker is used. Bee's kitchen, and Cloudswift's kitchen, though both are quite lovely, are NOT "shaker" doors. Enduring is at the borderline of calling hers "modified shaker" as the bead has almost a little too much detail for the simplicity of true shaker.

And they are still beautiful kitchens, no matter what the actual label might be for them.

Hollysprings, my kitchen cabinets are definitely Shaker. Perhaps you misunderstood my post above - the pictures are of my family room cabinets which I wanted to be different from my kitchen cabinets.

This photo shows a bit of the kitchen Shaker cabinets in the foreground and the family room mitered, raised panel, not-Shaker family room cabinets in the background.

We told our builder we wanted raised panel oak cabinets & what showed up were Shaker cabinets. I can't stand shaker cabinets! They look cheap & plain and doesn't match the 6 panel doors or the style of the . Now worrying to find a solution we can live with. Route the edges, add trim inside the frame panel or ? Get what we asked for?