Your poll is about materials, not styles. So I can't tell whether you are truly concerned about your kitchen going out of style, or about it being durable--not falling apart over time. The choice of materials will determine durability; the choice of door trim and details will determine style. Main LIne has given you advice that is excellent for both issues. A classic Shaker cabinet door will stay in style longer than any other, IMO, and using good materials like plywood boxes with solid wood fronts will give you the necessary durability. And natural or stained wood cabinetry will hold up to hard usage better than painted wood, though you can always touch up painted cabinets if needed.

We have beautiful custom cabinets that are painted white. 4 years later the paint is wearing off or chipping. If I had to do it again I'd get wood cabinets from the best manufacturer I could afford!

Painted cabinets are the least durable finish.

It is counter intuitive but, the custom made cabinet lines often have the least durable painted finishes. Often the more expensive cabinet lines make door panels and sometimes the entire painted door in MDF because if the kitchen is not used it will look the best the longest and not develop expansion cracks where solid wood doors would at the joints. Most of the custom cabinetry that we sell is to homeowners that get painted cabinets, marble tops, and European ranges. All things that if you actually cook in your kitchen a lot you should never get. Their kitchen are showpieces not really meant to handle everyday wear and tear, and you can't even fit a turkey in their $20,000.00 ranges.

Also small custom shops don't have the ovens that the larger manufacturers bake the painted cabinets in after the paint is applied, making it a more durable finish. Semi-Custom American made painted cabinets sometimes will actually not be paints but opaque stains that look like paints and are more durable.

And the Chinese cabinet lines will sometimes use more durable oil based painted finishes that US companies can't use do to OSHA regulations. Of course the factory workers in China are being exposed to unknown dangers.

The most durable painted finish that we carry is our least expensive line 6 Square, a combined Chinese and American made cabinet that is also well made.

A friend purchased beautiful wood cabinets with all the bells and whistles from a Canadian maker. They look just as new as they did 12 years ago. We did have the Master bath cabinets painted in our whole house remodel but that painter used a subtle glaze and put something else (varnish?) over it. Those have held up in a very steamy bathroom, no signs of wear and tear. Next time I am doing more homework on durable finishes. AND you are right! My gorgeous Wolf stove gets scratched because I actually cook! (and I'm careful) The stainless on it can't be repaired so not sure why people put it in. I'll get it right in next house!

stainless steel scratches can easily be repaired. go to Lowes or HomeDepot. a stainless steel scratch repair kit cost $5.00-$7.00 :)

Really???! We'll try it! THANKS!

Main Line, great advice, but the homeowner should know that you can do a frameless design on plywood cabinets. I did my kitchen last year with a cabinetmaker who convinced me to do a frameless design. I insisted that he use 3/4" plywood for the carcasses because I plan on dying in this house and I want to be able to repair the cabinets should something happen. Being a woodworker myself, I know that you can't do that with mdf or pressboard. Even though it added to the cost, I think it's well worth it.

Hi Maureen,
Plywood frameless cabinetry is definitely better than MDF, but still not as durable as well made framed cabinetry. We sell framed and frameless and always in plywood. The most modern door styles look better in frameless because the doors and drawer fronts are closer together due to the hinges used. But knowing the engineering of both, and being in the field for many years, there is no question that the cabinetry that lasts the longest is the well made framed plywood cabinetry. Kitchenaid dishwashers from the 50's seem to last forever as well, and not the Maytag's that advertised their durability back in the 60's.

And Lakemom stainless can be polished no problem.

I agree that face frames are best. My cabinetmaker talked me out of them with the notion that if I needed to have them refinished long down the road (we have a combo of solid cherry and solid, painted and glazed maple) it would be better to have frameless. 3/4 birch ply is pretty durable though, and a frameless cabinet can give a more modern feel.
My stainless gas cooktop is pretty scratched (I cook a lot)- I have used 0000 steel wool, even dremel tools. Can you enlighten me as to whether the finish can be brought back to new and how?

The contractors scratch stainless steel hoods and ranges on site and sand them back to new. Here are two techniques I found on line:

1) ......use 3-M's Scotch Brite pads. The coarser grey one and the finer maroon or purple coloured lighter pad for finishing off.

Never, go 'against' the grain but buff/pad in the same direction.

2) ......use Rubbing Compound Perfect-It that can be purchased at an automotive shop. My scratches in my SubZero, and Decor Hood came out with a little elbow grease. Just make sure that you rub in the same direction of the grain, and buff with a soft cloth. I ended up spraying vinegar on it to get the 'greasy' look off. It is brand new!

thanks so much! I'll try it!

Thx for the responses. My appliances are black floating glass so as far as stainless that may be the door handels or the sink or backsplash. I dont feel very drawn to the shaker style although I agree its a good option. main line you think with all the craze over painted cabinets its really not very durable? Maureen I like framelass and modern. Does ikea use plywood? where did you get yours? Custom you say. About what did that cost compaired to the kind that needs assembly or plywood frameless pre made. Mainline............so framed plywood is better? That must be why cabinet makers say my cabinets are better than ikea. But the issue for me iswhat you mentioned,the doors wont meet and the frame cant be covered by the door. I was trying to understand the hinges and whats possible but It just seems I will need filler pieces to cover the 5 inches of exposed face frame that now exists and since new doors are 100 each it just doesnt seem worth the cost to reface. What specific cabinet lines do you recommend that will give we the look I want.. modern..lower cost..simple..european? Thx

Seems all the votes are for solid wood on my poll. So where does that leave me given I cant spend over 15k at the moment .

http://www.urbanakitchens.ca/ has a number of choices for custom manufactures featured on links to their various product lines such as Merit, Nickels & Columbia. All our fabricators have plywood interior options and a variety of door styles that feature a variety of woods, painted wood or MDF, laminate & thermofoil. If I was looking for a contemporary look I'd suggest a slab style door. As example Merit has the Avanti high pressure laminate door in African Limba finish that is extremely durable. Keep in mind a high pressure laminate is available instead of a solid wood door. A slab door can't really be done frameless if it is solid wood. That's why many advocate a framed cabinet, but you don't' get the right finished look of that truly contemporary modern, clean lined look. Look for construction information, hardware & cabinet warranties & lead time when considering a cabinet manufacturer. A better quality product will also have designers for support that can guide you to styles & layouts that will achieve your desired look at a budget that is realistic for you. best wishes...

OMG... so confusing. So you MUST get a face frame cabinet to get a solid wood door? why? Even if I could afford it. How much of the frame would be showing and why cant you get frameless that is made of wood? Or are you just saying that a slab door cant be made of wood and put on a frameless cabinet? I dont understand.

You can get solid wood doors without great expense on the total cabinets. Custom cabinet makers have many levels of quality in their cabinets. The key is the door. If the doors are solid wood -- you can rework them. Do not go very dark, nor very light. We put in maple cabinets 11 years ago with a stain that was "pink tone" (so the maple cabinets would not turn yellow). They are still hip, and beautiful. A bearutiful piece of wood does not go out of style. Spend the extra money now if you want to be timeless. Natural cherry is gorgeous!

Look for beautiful wood and your look is timeless.

The Shaker cabinet style is timeless. It all depends on the materials and colors you choose; there are many choices. They can look modern, or they can look traditional. It depends on the paint or stain, and the hardware chosen. The question is, what do you want to look at every day? What fits your lifestyle? I would browse through Houzz and the various styles and colors given.

I tend to keep very true to Shaker and will get my new house kitchen in solid oak with a medium stain and flat finish, black hardware and dark granite with slate backsplash. Nothing shiny or glitzy for me, but that is just my style. I would never criticize what others may choose because that is their style. Take your time, do your research, determine what you love and be happy with your decision. Good luck.
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When I was looking around at cabinets when I did my kitchen, I fell in love with a solid cherry door style with a beaded detail that was made by Kraftmaid. I spent a number of days at Lowes building my kitchen with one of their staff. I have a visual arts background and had already designed exactly what I wanted, especially having lived in the house for a dozen years. I quickly became frustrated with the lack of flexibility and the rapidly increasing price point. I called around to a number of cabinetmakers and found someone who said he could get me those doors (They have to be factory made on a cnc machine - the beaded detail can't be shop made). We worked out the kitchen and price. He got me the doors I wanted, built me the 3/4 birch ply cabinets with a frameless design and did exactly what I requested for a substantially lower price than the big box. Our kitchen turned out beautifully. Now, the cabinetwork was a lot more than the 15K budget you have, but it really depends on how long you plan on being in your house and what the local market is like for you if you do plan on leaving. I always say go for the best quality you can where it counts. Kitchens can get a lot of abuse and you won't regret something well made.

thank you.............alwaysdesigning. why do they call it shaker style?

maureen .. the first kitchen I fell in love with was this one................... problem is always money. I have expensive taste but I dont have the money. I could maybe spend 15k but honestly I dont think I should spend more. The house cost 250k and if I spend 15k on the kitchen and 10-15k on the floor plus other smaller projects.. fireplace etc.. I think thats plenty. I dont want to go over board. How does one determine how much to put into a house anyway?Oh here is the kitchen i love. But unfortunately in my need for a freig I went with black since the other appliances were blk.. I love solid cherry from Kraftmaid. Its expensive.

http://www.kraftmaid.com/imagine/photo-gallery/photo/90/details.html#/ds:ContemporaryDynamic|LightTimeless|LuxeTransitional|NaturalWarm/rt:Kitchen/rft:/rsh:/rch:/dst:/p:1

I LOVE this kitchen and tried to create it for less but it was ugly. You cant turn honey oak into cherry and you cant build an island that looks like that out of some peices of wood. Money is my problem. That and expensive taste. I wish I could get the look I want for less. I would be happy with ANY of those kraftmade kitchens.

Sounds like you got a great kitchen and a great price. I plan to be here in this house as long as I can afford to pay the morgage and bills. We have a decent amont of equity in it but things could change for me when my son goes to college or if my mother has to go to nursing home or dies. I guess I will just try not to let the future scare me but it does. I have to be realistic too. I dont have that much security.

But the more I procrastinate the longer I live here with out finishing the kitchen at all. I try to save but its a very slow process. the bills are high and the income is not going up.

It's called Shaker style because it dates back to the very simple style of furniture built by the original Shakers in the 18th century.

Design,

That Kraftmaid kitchen would have been better looking and more authentic to the modern style with a shaker cherry door style instead of the doorstyle with the bead.

Money isn't your problem, its finding a kitchen designer that can design you the best kitchen in the style you like for the money you have. Don't throw away money on 25K in appliances like the Kraftmaid kitchen. Don't get a doorstyle, like the Kraftmaid with the bead, that is double the price of a well made Shaker cherry doorstyle in another simpler cabinet line. The design is what you are really liking I'll bet: the layout, the wood, the colors. The doorstyle has little effect on the look.

You need help to spend your money wisely.

Here is a blog about this concept:

http://www.mainlinekitchendesign.com/general/you-have-to-see-our-new-kitchen/

Look for a good kitchen designer and once you find them listen to their advice. Their help is almost always free and included in the cost of the cabinetry.

Cheers,

Paul

Design, I agree with Main Line. I live in an Edwardian house and although I love modern and try to incorporate it into decor, for something integral to the style of the house, I needed to be sensitive to the era. I looked at your ideaspage and with your place, you have much more flexibility. A shaker door, as Main Line said, would be a fraction of the door I got.My raised panel,beaded cherry door has a whole lot more expensive wood and machining than a Shaker, which has a thin ply floating panel.Plus, you want a clean,modern look and there are many woods that will look lovely stained and sprayed, like poplar,birch and maple and be much cheaper than cherry.I would suggest finding a local cabinetmaker. Ask around, stay away from the big stores, they have overhead to worry about which you will pay for. If you don't know exactly what you want, hire a kitchen designer. You need to spend wisely.

I disagree with Main Line about European ovens. I live in Europe and I fit a turkey in my tiny European oven that fed 20 people. Sure, if you don't adjust the shelves, stick the turkey in the middle of the oven in a roasting rack that raises the bottom of the turkey 10 inches from the bottom of the pan, you need a bigger oven. If you know your oven, you can cook your turkey in it.

The designer kitchen in my American house has too big burners. I think the range was probably sold as restaurant quality -- it certainly is restaurant sized!

The quality of laminate and veneer over MDF varies hugely.

Singrid..................I like the laminate or laquar doors that are made of mdf and have a frameless cabinet but the european cabinet maker I spoke to today said all the cabinets like ikea brand or Leicht brand are made that way. So what am I to think? Are these good cabinets or not due to the melamene and mdf?

My vote is for plain bamboo, walnut, or sapele slabs (no style and rail of any sort), and frameless. While I love the look of the horizontal graining, and find it much more modern, it does pose problems with consistancy of graining, which are easily avoided with vertical installation. Most cabinets are plywood boxes and solid wood doors, but with a solid slab door or drawer front, I would advise a veneered plywood with edge banding, because the plywood will give you a dimensional stability you won't get with a solid wood that is always shifting-- critical if you do frameless. When solid wood warps, it prevents proper opening and closing. I am in the minority with Shaker doors, and have always seen them as traditional-- Arts & Crafts at best.

From a design and lay-out perspective, I would make almost all of the lower cabinets drawers with full-extension glides-- Hafele's are the most durable. I would also eliminate a portion of the upper cabinets, and replace them with shelving. While this is new to the American market, it is a classic kitchen set-up introduced to the US market through Ikea.

Your door and drawer fronts obviously dictate style, which will change over time, unless your house is high modern, which is the most timeless. It is important to note that modern and contemporary are not interchangable, as contemporary indicates a current style trend, and modern indicates minimalism, the International Style, lack of ornamentation, and the avoidance of any traditional elements. I have worked with kitchens that used plywood boxes for durability and Ikea fronts for the doors and drawers. They are very inexpensive, and can be easily swapped out in 10-15 years. The key is making sure your cabinet boxes follow industry width standards to ensure doors and drawers will fit.

nbaxter.. I dont follow everything you said but most of it and having just spent 4 hours talking to a kitchen refacing saleswoman who was really very knowledgable , its hard to think right now but you seem to have some good ideas about the look I am going for so maybe we can discuss this more. Can you advice me as to what cabinet line to look at in my area...southern ca. ..

Interesting discussion! I need new cabinet doors (and hinges and hardware) and am really drawn to the raised panel full overlay. Of course the shaker and the raised panel traditional overlay are about 30% less in cost.... at least at one company I've talked to. Current ones are recessed panel traditional overlay. Decisions, decisions.... :)

I've had Shaker cabs for a decade, stained wood. HATE the fact that they collect EVERYTHING, and if I want to get them clean it takes toothpicks, Q-tips or toothbrush-sometimes all three! I'd love slab cabinets in my '50's ranch, tho' some of my furnishings are traditional and I wonder if slab would be too great a contrast.

Re durability of painted cabinets: both my grandmothers had white kitchens. One has been used nearly 70 years; maybe repainted 1-2 times? House, cabinets built by Amish; very simple lines. ( Aren't paints supposed to be BETTER today??? Maybe there's nothing like good ole' oil-based enamel or the milk paints which have survived forever.)

We're preferential to LEICHT kitchen cabinets when you want kitchen cabinets that will stand the test of time. One of our most durable cabinet lines is also one our best values, check out the Avance K line, a laminate over MDF.
Be aware, there are many factors that contribute to the quality of kitchen cabinets and their ability to endure. Small components, like, hinges and drawer mechanisms are exceedingly important. Other information to be aware of is that not all materials are created the same, for instance, the MDF board we used in our kitchen cabinets is very high density and quality tested to out last wood and plywood in strike tests and high moisture.
One more factor to consider is, in the event you do have an issue with your cabinets, will a small manufacturer be there for support or be able to replace parts, doors or drawers. You can rest assured that LEICHT will be there in 20 years. But our engineers tell us that your cabinets should still be in perfect working order.

Forget the wood. Expensive and the seems will show if you decide to paint them. Go with an MDF (for a custom look) or thermofoil (for a modern flat panel look). cheaper and they look great!

Thank you. Where do you suggest I buy from?

Designideas4me, I echo Paul from Main Line Kitchen design in much of what he has said in this discussion thread. You need to go to a designer that you trust who has a good range of cabinetry lines. If you don't know anybody, then one of the best ways is to look for a local designer on Houzz (use the "Find Local Pros" function). If you want to know who is good, check their reviews, but also see what they have commented on and how logical and experienced it sounds. If you like them, get in contact with them.

A big misconception is thinking one will only get the best prices by going to places like Home Depot, Lowe's, Just Cabinets, etc. This is not true at all (I know this because I designed and sold at a big box for several years). Cabinet companies charge the same to either side of the aisle, so the price can be competitive. Many private dealers have very competitive pricing and you will usually get a better design and fewer road-bumps and delays than the big box stores. Plus, these private dealers have more control over the quality of their installers (be they subs or full-time installers), cabinets, etc.

Good luck.

Chad

Working with a local cabinetmaker also allows one to make some changes if necessary. I really wanted a tambour door for small appliances; turned out we'd then have only 27" of work space on the counter!

I love Leicht cabinets but when I gave the dimentions to a local dealer here in so. cal. they gave me a quote of over 20k and that didnt even include instillation. Thats more than I want to spend.

Also I did recently meet with a designer and she said she just makes suggestions on materials and brings me samples of all aspects of the design and remodel process but she doesnt find or hire the contractors, So that concept didnt work too well for me. When I spoke to some guys who do custom cabinets in palm springs for investors who flip houses, they told me that I need at least 30-50k for a custom kitchen that they would design. than I met with a local realtor to get an estimate on my house and she suggested ikea, because she owned it before and sait its very functional and affordable and fits my style. So thats where I am now. Nowhere..lol

actually I am working on scrapping off the glue, paint and thinset on my floor so I can try to paint or stain it myself and save 15k by not putting in a wood floor that I wanted. This way I have more money for the kitchen.

I sent you an email and hope maybe you can find an affordable solution for me. Leicht I was given a picture of the kitchen you have as your main website photo when I was at ikea and have loved that kitchen even since. How much would that kitchen cost? My kitchen is a long L and about 8 feet by 25 ft with a large island. I am open to some shelving and open cabinets and just keeping it simple. But I love that island you offer its the main focal point and very unique.

Get a shaker door style, those seem to never go out of style.

Designideas4me: Look at the IKEA site for some ideas. People on Houzz have been very happy with them.

If you want white shaker cabinets, I recommend that you do not get the painted Reading style doors from American Woodmark (or equivalent Shendoah, they're the same company). The finish quality is very poor and inconsistent. Even though they are made in the US, they are quickly mass produced without inspection. We are on the third iteration of replacement doors from them.

You can buy the boxes from Ikea and there is a company in ca. That will make doors to fit any Ikea cabinet.

It looks like the boxes at Ikea are actually the problem. They feel very flimsy!

^ Ikea boxes ARE very flimsy. They changed their cabinet system completely in 2015 & the new SEKTION system is not a good long term investment. I know firsthand, because I designed & installed almost 100 Ikea kitchens with their old AKURUM line. When the new line came out, I couldn't risk my business reputation on it, so I dropped them.

Look for full 3/4" panel construction on the cabinet boxes. Don't go with solid wood anything: solid wood and plywood both will warp and crack veneers over time. Particle board has been bashed for a long time, and undeservingly so. There are different grades of particle board that tolerate vertical stresses (the most important stress in cabinet construction) almost identically as well as plywood but for much less cost. You want a commercial grade, denser compression particle board. If it doesn't say commercial grade, or AWI, it's not what you want.

Particle board is also the greener choice, since it comes from 100% wood waste.

Hope that helps.

What about textured laminate doors? They look nice. Will they last?

^ Textured laminate doors are quite durable. Like anything, they won't survive the apocalypse, but they are UV stable and scratch resistant.

Thanks. Any recommendations for textured laminate doors vs traditional shaker doors.

I like the high definition and quality of the textured laminate doors made by Tedd Wood, of which I am a dealer.