I agree white cabinetry looks beautiful. However I don't recommend painted cabinets in any colour to my clients. I know this is an unpopular opinion among many people, including fellow designers but below is my experience with them.

I work for a custom cabinet shop in a rural area. In the past few years we have had to update our warranty policy specifically in regards to painted cabinetry. The expansion and contraction of wood with changes in humidity and temperatures throughout the year can cause your doors (if you use solid wood or 5 piece mdf doors) to crack at the seams, this also causes the paint to crack/ peel.

If you decide to go with painted cabinetry I want to warn you that one of the biggest complaints we have ever had is that white hood fans or upper cabinets over/ near a gas stove seem to change colour over time (usually they yellow) We don't know what causes this but it has happened in several painted white kitchens that we have done with gas stoves.

Thank you! We plan to have a gas stove.

Then my recommendation is either no white cabinets or make the hood fan and cabinets on either side of your stove a different colour. Dark wood perhaps. Often we make the island a different colour and those uppers around the stove to match. Or use a stainless steel hood fan and make sure that the uppers don't come right to the edge of the hood fan.

Farmhouse Kitchen · More Info

We have white painted cabinets. I love how light everything is and it is age appropriate for our precivil war/ renovated in 1898 house. We painted and installed them 5 years ago. I wipe spots as needed like I would with any color. I do plan on touching up our dw panel and a chip on a drawer my MIL nicked this summer. Love them.

As for dark cabinets, I had a black vanity with black granite in our downstairs bathroom. I hated it. The color was gorgeous, but upkeep was horrible! White towel lint showed everyday I swear, not to mention the water spots on the vanity. It was so bad, I even had the kids trained to wipe it down after washing! Just could never get the DH to do it :^(

Hope that helps.

Stained cabinets are tougher than painted but white cabinets are so pretty.

I chose both for our new build. All the lowers (that take more of a beating) will be stained a medium walnut stain, also above cooktop, and all uppers and oven cabinet will be white.

(Bronze Walnut SW 3219 cut by 50% and SW 7004 Snowbound)

Currently being stained:

I want to warn you that one of the biggest complaints we have ever had is that white hood fans or upper cabinets over/ near a gas stove seem to change colour over time (usually they yellow) We don't know what causes this but it has happened in several painted white kitchens that we have done with gas stoves.

Then get induction. Cleaner and more precise even than gas. Plus it heats a pot of water in 90 seconds.

I love white kitchens. I currently have two!

I guess people live differently. Do you plan to stir fry daily with lots of grease?

Splash your tomato sauce all over?

Plan to not clean your cabinets ever?

if you answered yes to any of those above than don’t get a white kitchen.

Maybe a wood kitchen will hide things better, but it won’t be cleaner.

I hope you get my humor.

For fun google homes for sale. Multimillion dollar homes for sale. You will see that white kitchens are still by far the most popular.

Folks here have shared yellow cabinets, blue cabinets and green. And they are all stunning. And of course wood cabinets can be too, like Darbuka’s.

If you love the look off a white kitchen, you will not be happy with anything else.

This kitchen is now ten years old

Ditto everything @eld6161 said!

I don’t know where people get the idea that wood cabinets hide dirt, and therefor don’t get cleaned. I’ve seen that time and time again on this forum, dating back as long as I’ve been visiting this site...at least 20 years, waaay before Houzz took over, even before it was GardenWeb. For the old guard still around, I‘m talking about when Spike was running the show.

Believe me when I tell you, I see every speck of dirt, and splatters on my wood cabs, that my DH has accumulated via his much appreciated cooking. Why is it that so many men don’t see dirt? Once a day, I venture to the kitchen to inspect and clean the cabinets.

I don’t care what the surface of your cabinets is, dirt is going to be noticeable. It’s just a matter if you care enough to see it, and tend to it.

Darbuka, I think it’s because it doesn’t jump out at you as much is what we mean. For example a tea or coffee stain drip would blend in more on darker cabinets.

I wonder what paint process A. Fritzler's cabinet shop uses. My cabinet maker had no qualms about the painted (conversion varnish actually) finish he was making for me holding up or peeling. After installation late 2013, my cabinets still have no issues.

I do clean them regularly - just part of the weekly full kitchen cleaning, which also includes wiping the inside/outside of the hood, washing the floor, wiping the backsplash, windowsills and top of the fridge. I just use a mildly soapy sponge (dish detergent) and wiping the cabinets takes only a few minutes. I did the same when I had stained cabinets.

I do not think the decision has to do with how you clean or which shows more dirt, it has to do with the LOOK that you prefer. We have two homes, thus 2 kitchens. One has white cabinetry and the other has oak. The oak kitchen is in our custom built house and the white is in a previously owned condo. Cleaning and caring is the same for both,

. Splatters and spills get wiped up quickly and the cabinet surfaces get wiped frequently, BUT, I much prefer the oak kitchen because I prefer a warmer look and warmer colors. That is the sole determining factor for me.

I think white kitchens work best in homes that are mostly cool colors.

I’ve had wood cabinetry in a couple of different tones and the provincial walnut-ish stained oak cabinets (I don’t know if that was the exact color, but it was like that) that I had DID hide drips a little too well and by the time I would notice they were getting pretty icky they were a bear to clean and it was a huge job. I’ve also had white cabinets and my current island has a dark grey painted base. I really like the white because it’s so easy to see stuff and it gets cleaned almost right away most of the time... it’s never a huge job to clean them. Even my grey ones are a little more difficult for me to scrub down because I don’t notice everything right away all of the time.

I like how easy it is to repair scratches in stained wood. A little stain marker or rag of it goes a long way and hides problem areas. It gets tricky with painted surfaces and never looks like it originally did unless you refinish the entire area.

I have 2 big dogs, little kids (3 & 6), and a teen.