Lauren's kitchenHmmm, I think you are describing Lauren Liess's kitchen. I'll post a link, but if you google it or search around her blog, you'll find a lot more pictures.
http://www.laurenliess.com/pure-style-home/our-kitchen-before-after

I'm going for the same look. My slab doors are in boxes, while I'm in the middle of assembling cabinets. I wish I had a kitchen to show you. Our house was built in 1948, so I'm running with a 40s approach. Loosely.

Our light fixtures are chrome schoolhouse style. Chrome faucet. Almost-black laminate counters with black hardware or a fun colored laminate with chrome hardware. I'm wearing out the retro renovation blog for inspiration.

Good luck!

Daisy, Lauren's kitchen is great and does have that feel I am looking for. I may do wood on the perimeter and a white or black island. I will spend some time reading her blog. Thank you.

Something like these? Found them on Houzz.

I love Retro Renovation. I definitely think keeping a home in step with its time and feel is a great starting point. Mine was built in 1979 so I wish I could say there is a certain look to it, but there isn't. However, I am blessed to have a family room that has wood beams, a 12 foot cathedral ceiling, built-ins, a reclaimed brick fireplace in a salmon orange color, grass cloth wall paper and hardwood floors in a medium brown tone. All of which will remain. We are very much leaning in the direction of having our kitchen and dining room open up to this space. My furniture is a mix of mid century (Paul McCobb credenza and a walnut dining table) and modern. I love vintage touches and flea market finds. How to mix all this in a suburban home is a puzzle.

Benjes, I really like black hardware and black counters! This is a consideration for us too. What color cabinets?

For our office kitchen reno, we had a major SNAFU trying to get IKEA's drawer fronts in the right size… and our contractor just made us drawer fronts using milled scrap lumber he had on his farm. Sorry I don't have a pic handy, but it looks just like this side panel - same style, same wood.

Didn't even cost that much. :)

Add some cool vintage (or vintage looking) pulls and you're in business.

The thing I notice with slab cabinets is that the straight, squared-off edges say modern to me while the rounded edges say vintage. I haven't found slabs available today with the rounded edges typical of the past. If somebody finds a supplier, I'd love to know about them. We have the rounded edges in a rental with a 1954 original kitchen (in excellent condition, btw). And in our original pantry cabinets from 1949.

Just white slab doors and drawer fronts. I agree with funkycamper that the rounded edges would say retro a lot more than the more modern squared edges of slabs that are most common.

Ahoy, can you elaborate on the issue? I am using some IKEA boxes and have yet to order drawer fronts. Any info you can offer would be a great help. Thanks

The rounded edges are usually semi-inset? Lipped? What's the word? If you round the edges on a modern overlay door, it just ends up pillowed, which is a different look. Modern doors look so chunky compared to these where half the door is inset.

This is the edge I mean--this one is a plywood door so not rounded, but same thing. What's it called? (It wastes a lot of space with the face frame, but great for keeping dust out!):

Ahoy, did you stain the wood? I really like that your GC used local wood from his own farm. That is a special touch to your kitchen.

The rounded edges are usually semi-inset? Lipped? What's the word?

I don't know the term for it but, yes, both of our sets of slabs are semi-inset. Just a scant 1/4" or so. No warping even though they are both 66 and 61 years old and close nice and tight.

I used slab doors and drawer fronts in my kitchen, with the exception of two cabinets which have shaker doors. I was going for a farmhouse modern vibe.

@localeater, I really like your kitchen. Warm and modern! The black pulls are nice. Can you tell me who did your cabs?

I forgot to mention that the room has ceiling crown molding all around. Gives it a bit more traditional look. I want to keep it. If I do, I think, like you, I will want to limit the uppers. Tried to find pictures of slab kitchens with more traditional molding but my searches keep coming up with pictures of molding on the cabinet themselves.

I know it might be too early in the process for me to be thinking of finish details (our goal is to start construction one year from now). However, I have now spoken to two designers and each have suggested thermofoil/laminate, especially given my budget and tastes.

mobuddy89 - I don't think it's ever to early to be thinking of details

localeater - are those solar shades on your windows?

@mobuddy Thank you for your kind words. My cabinets were made by a local cabinetmaker after I got a lot of estimates and he was comparable. I recommend considering local cabinetmakers as your money can often go further.

I think limiting the uppers goes toward a more minimalist modern feel. In my case the beams are structural, and I wanted to let the architectural element shine so eliminating uppers was my #1 priority. I also have great views out my kitchen windows and fewer uppers, I think, brings the views into the kitchen more because there is less cabinet 'busyness'. This also led to my cabinet maker choice. My guy really maximized the interior space of cabinets, my top drawer have much more space than the same drawer front size of the Dynasty cabinets I priced, for example.

Laminate cabinets are great, check out this picture with matte black laminate and lots of wood details. Yummy!

I also found you some images of ceiling crown and flat panel cabinets. Hope this helps. If you look at them closely they integrate the cabinets and the ceiling crown in different ways.

Lower uppers with no cabinet crown

Lower uppers with cabinet crown

Taller uppers, different ceiling and cabinet crown styles

Taller uppers, no cabinet crown

My bathroom vanity will be inset slab doors, which is a twist on slab. We are mid remodel and it's not here yet so no pictures. But here's an image I grabbed to illustrate.

eam44 the issue with getting the right drawer fronts… long story, but the real crux of it is that we didn't order ahead of time. It was just 2 cabinets, I thought I could just waltz into the store. 4 trips later… Wrong! If you plan ahead and do your whole order, I suspect you will be fine.

mobuddy89 We didn't stain it, just poly! And thank you :) I will try to post a pic of the fronts later today when I get into the office

@benjesbride Yes those are solar shades on the windows. Love 'em. Got them from Budget Blinds, we have a local franchise(?) and they are wonderful. I actually put the shades up, them several months later decided I needed the wooden valances and they came back and did those separately. I have since used them for woven shades in my MBR and fabric shades in my den-extremely satisfied with everything. I may eventually add panels to my MBR and I will just call them again :)

Here is sixtyohno's beautiful kitchen.

Thanks everybody. Quite helpful.

Localeater, thank you especially for the pics with crown molding! When I could not sleep last night (it is going to be a long, sleepless year!), I tried finding sample pictures but had no luck. My search skills need a brush up. These pictures are helping me very much.

I do have a local cabinet maker coming next month and I am hoping my funds can go farther. I also like the idea that the cabinets would be made only four miles from my house. It took three months to even get an initial consultation appointment.

These are a bit less modern but still clean lines.

Slab front with rounded edges.

nanj, the link or picture did not come thru.

I'm so excited to see that I'm not the only one that loves the slab doors! My cabinets just came in today, but this is what mine looks like.

I love your kitchen, localeater. Lovely colors, finishes and layout.

Here are my slabs in my laundry room where I have floor-to-ceiling, built-in pantry cabinets with the rounded slab doors. Also a row of them above my washer/dryer. I just wanted you to see the difference between the slabs of the 30's to about the early 60's when they began switching to the squared edge. (I may not have the time-frame exact but it's there-abouts.) This is the difference between true vintage and retro. :)

Yeah, I know, someone painted the hinges. This will be removed when I get around to it.

And the partial inset inner part of the door as Fori also showed on her doors.

Here's almost three of the four pantry doors. Yeah, ugly handles which will be replaced with whatever I decide on for the kitchen.

Mobuddy89 I have a question and for everyone else? What are your interior doors? Are they slab also to match?

Clueless, what wood did you use? Very pretty. And Posky, I am looking forward to reading more about your reno. Who made your cabs? The color?

Of course I am quite torn right now. Colors and cabinet materials keep getting tossed about in my head.

I love the look of wood and white (one along the perimeter, the other the island). The space of the kitchen and dining area opening to the living area is about 41 feet long. The hardwood floors are already stained Provincial brown (that color will remain). Natural light can be limited. I plan on keeping uppers to a minimum.

Given that, I think I would like white along the perimeter and wood island (walnut or quarter sawn oak, budget allowing). Leathered black granite countertops and white (quartz?) on the island.

I didn't think white painted doors were possible in a slab with a thicker modern profile (the true retro ones like Funky's seem fine painted). But in Lauren Less' kitchen she indeed paint. I like this look. However, I am really concerned painted slab in a modern profile will not hold up. BUT, I am have trouble getting over the idea of laminate/thermofoil. Help educate me if my fears are unfounded!

I don't know if this is a local thing or what, but many homes in my area built in the 30's-60's that I've been in over the years have original slab doors with the same rounded edges and partial inset innards like in my photo. All of them are painted. I don't recall ever seeing any that have warped.

As an additional FYI, we purchased my parent's home so I'm aware of the history and those pantry cabinets were professionally painted in the early 90's. The paint only has one small chip and that is on an outside corner where we accidentally clipped it when changing out an appliance. While I'm not super-fond of the color, I hesitate painting them because the paint job itself was so well done.

In our rental with the same style cabinets, we painted them sometime around 2001-2002 ourselves and the paint job still looks great. Showing some wear but nothing that would require a new paint job yet.

I don't know if this helps or not as we're talking a different shape door with different woods than you'll likely be getting. I suspect squared off doors would chip easier than the rounded ones.

Poshky can you please provide information on your flooring? I love it! Thanks!

Mobuddy89 i'm sorry it took so long to get back to you! I really didn't think anybody was interested in my post because they usually are not:/ My cabinets were made by Shiloh and the color is dovetail. I absolutely love the color and the way they look! At first I was a little leery but after I looking at them with the flooring for a minute it all worked out:) I will tell you right now that painted cabinets scratch easily:( this is going to be a bad deal because we have three dogs and they are large!

I came from my house with oak cabinets that I thought were awful but if they were oak and a slab door I think I'd take them back in a heartbeat! I went with painted cabinets because I fell in love with the floor! Luckily I liked the gray cabinets and they matched!

TR8036 The tile is porcelain 8 x 48 Mediterranean Boardwalk Myrtle Beach. It is throughout the whole house!

Poshky, your light fixtures are very nice too. I am confused though. Are these new cabinets from Shiloh painted? I assumed they were a veneer slab that was stained dark gray or a laminate as well. If I go with wood, I actually don't mind quarter sawn oak on a slab door. Oak gets a bad rap but should not always. I see quarter sawn and rift cut being the next big thing.

I will admit scratches and chips would bother me. Perhaps that it is why both KDs are steering me in the direction of laminate. One carries Poggenpuhl, but we can't afford them. I also like tile floors in a kitchen. In many respects I wish I was not already working with hardwood. If I had tile, I feel like my wood cabinet choices could be greater. I like contrast.

Yes they are painted from Shiloh. I love them don't get me wrong, I just can tell they are going to scratch easy. My husband just tried to open a cabinet without the pulls and scratched the corner:(. My old house had oak cabinets. That is what I was meaning.

Thank you on the light fixtures. I searched forever and I couldn't find anything I liked until I found these at a local lighting place. They are Kitchler Lighting 65408 Crystal Ball Mini-Pendant.

Also to add we had laminate hardwood in our old house. I loved it at first, but we have 3 dogs! But laminate wood was not good on the 2 labs and the beagle or on me lol!

mobuddy89 - the cabinets are walnut, solid doors/drawers and veneer on boxes.

Clueless, do you have more pictures? Love walnut and black counters. Is this not your current kitchen?

Funky, I know you are in the process of updating. Are you keeping your cabs? Your home is MCM, if I remember reading. I really liked your glass block window reveal.

poshky - Your cabinets look fantastic! Now I'm looking forward to more pictures. Love your pendants too!

localeater - Loved the 'Tall Uppers No Crown' shot. Do you think that's a rug runner on the floor or - be still my heart - tile?! (eam, you out there!?)

OB2B I think its a rug, one of the questions says "who makes the rug" and answer says "Ill ask" I figure if it was inlaid tile(which would be oh so cool) they would have said its not a rug. :)

OB2B thank you! They put my upper cabinets in yesterday, so here's a pic.

This is what I was trying to link. Sorry it took so long to get back to this - busy week.

[From Houzz[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-traditional-kitchen-phvw-vp~80788)

mobuddy89, What did you end up going with? I would love to see!