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Shaker Kitchen Cabinets: A Great Cabinet For Many Kitchen Styles
If you want one of the most popular cabinet styles, shaker kitchen cabinets may be the perfect choice for your new kitchen design. Nowadays most homeowners don't want their kitchen to look too contemporary or too traditional.
As a compromise between the two, many folks that are remodeling their kitchen select shaker kitchen cabinets.
This classic cabinet can work well with many
kitchen styles.
If you want your cabinets to be simple but still very attractive, this cabinet will deliver. Even though shaker kitchen cabinets are sought after for their use in transitional and
contemporary kitchen design,
they do have their place in traditional kitchens as well.
The Shakers
The Shakers, a religious group that arrived in the United States in the late 1700's, were responsible for this well known design. They believed that the simpler things in life had great meaning.
The high quality cabinets and furniture that they built followed their thinking to keep things simple. Not only did they want simplicity, they also wanted a clutter free home where everything was functional and in its place.
They took it upon themselves to build what they needed for their homes. The things that they built served their purpose and had no frills or ornamentation.
The Simplicity of Shaker Kitchen Cabinets
This cabinet door style is one that you will not see raised panels or routed, detailed edges. The design of the doors and drawers has straight lines with square corners. The doors have recessed flat panel with a flat frame on top of the panel.
Sometimes cabinetmakers vary the width of the frame that overlays the door panel. It just depends on what they offer in that line. If you do find a difference in the width of the frame, you will need to choose which frame size appeals to your eye.
Usually drawers are not large enough to include the frame on top of the panel. Because of this, the drawers are often built with a flat face and no frame.
Various Shaker Designs
A few variations with this cabinet design give you the flexibility you want. You can get shaker kitchen cabinets by choosing a standard overlay or a full overlay door. Both of these cabinet types have the doors and drawers resting against a frame or cabinet box.
On the other hand, the most authentic looks for shaker kitchen cabinets is to have an inset door style. With an inset
kitchen cabinet design
the face of the cabinet doors and drawers are recessed back into the frame making everything flush on the face of the cabinets.
What you see then is a small gap around all doors and drawers. This type of inset cabinet is built to high quality standards since the gap you see will show any out of alignment of the cabinets.
Bead Board
As mentioned, shaker kitchen cabinets have flat simple panels for their design. To change the design a bit you might want to consider this style of cabinet with bead board. Some cabinetmakers have this option available.
Bead board is a series of groves cut vertically every couple of inches up the flat panel of the cabinet. This type of detail can works perfectly for a
country kitchen design
for instance. Be careful however, because the groves will add a lot of detail to the cabinets and can look overdone if used on all cabinets.
If you like the look of bead board but don't want to over do it, consider using it only on some of the cabinets. Another option, if you don't want bead board on the cabinets, is to use it on the backside of an island for example.
Bead board can also be used on the end panels of your wall and base cabinets. Consider changing the stain color on the bead board or use a hand-glazed finish to slightly play up the charm of this surface.
See Shaker kitchen cabinets in this video.
Other Things to Think About
Adding glass cabinet doors
is also a popular way to enhance the look in your room. If you want to add glass panels, the options for glass types are almost endless. You can get frosted, waved, rain, bubble, and reeded to name a few.
This popular cabinet comes in many types and finishes giving you a wide selection. The most popular wood species for these cabinets is maple and cherry but other species such as poplar, oak, birch, and walnut are also available.
Because of the demand for this cabinet style, different wood species are being added and you can get stain colors that run the spectrum.
When using shaker kitchen cabinets, the use of simple hardware on the cabinets works best with this style. You will often see simple knobs and many times the knobs are made of wood to stay true to the authentic style.
On the other hand, in contemporary designs, the use of metal cabinet hardware
is commonly seen. However, as you know, there are not set guidelines on how you want to dress up your cabinets.
In the past, clear finishes and light stain colors were often used. But today, painted shaker cabinets may be what look best in your
new kitchen design.
Using painted cabinets or even having painted accents can look great with many kitchen styles.
If you are looking to create a design that functions well, where the cabinets are not the main focus, then shaker kitchen cabinets is an attractive choice. This style of cabinet will draw attention to other aspects of your
interior design
but they do hold their own being classic in style.
Overall, if you want a clean and simple look that gives you an understated elegance in both contemporary and transitional design, this style of cabinet can be perfect for the design and style you want!
When using shaker kitchen cabinets, the use of simple hardware on the cabinets works best with this style. You will often see simple knobs and many times the knobs are made of wood to stay true to the authentic style. 