Kitchen Cabinet Details That Wow

Period Style

A brand-new kitchen references long-ago eras with cabinets painted in handsome green and detailed in white porcelain knobs, with beadboard accents. Leaded-glass doors on the upper cabinets further the vintage style and provide breezy counterpoints to solid base cabinets.

Pretty and Practical

Metal screen inserts that mirror the gray tones of stainless steel pro-style appliances and marble countertops brighten dark-finished base cabinet doors. An idea borrowed from antique pie safes, the mesh panels let air circulate through the cabinets to keep produce fresher and musky odors at bay.

Mixed Materials

Stainless steel cabinet drawers add an unexpected contemporary touch to a primarily traditional kitchen. The drawers duplicate the range and hood's shimmer, stand out from the gray cabinet frames, and sleekly contrast with the upper cabinets trimmed in molding.

Finishing Touches

Carved legs give this island a furniture-like profile, while also supporting the island's overhanging marble top. Simple drawer pulls and a stained finish that lets the wood grain show through further distinguish the island from the more formally finished perimeter cabinets.

Fresh Ideas

Exposed strap hinges in a high-impact shape paired with softly curved, modern chrome pulls beautifully update the white cabinets in a cottage-style kitchen. Note the recessed dual-paneled design that brings a handcrafted look and eye-catching depth to this pair of cabinet doors.

Picking the Right White

White is a popular cabinet color, but how do you pick the right shade? Watch some of our no-fail picks.

Modern Motifs

Upper cabinet doors equipped with glass panels handily balance the lower cabinets' solid forms, but can be a little too transparent for some tastes. These textured glass panes blur the cabinet contents, while introducing a subtle undulating pattern to the streamlined kitchen.

Beautiful Finish

Layers of glazes, paints, and stains create cabinet finishes seemingly worn by time and touched by generations of cooks. Here, black and blue finishes stack up beneath a crackled top coat, which creates a glazed finish that allows each color to be seen and appreciated. Bin-style pulls underscore the cabinets' vintage essence.

• Get more ideas for blue kitchen cabinets.

European Air

Appearing to have been pieced together over time, this new kitchen combines different cabinet profiles in various weathered finishes. Skirting and leg elements, distressed finishes, and furniture pulls give base cabinets the look of freestanding chests of drawers. Antiquing glaze ages small cabinet doors enclosing the lower section of a corner niche and brings a wall-mounted cabinet into the old-world scheme.

Artistic Accents

Sophisticated shapes and trim treatments boost interest in a mostly monochromatic kitchen. Crisscrossed muntins elegantly embellish glass-paned upper cabinet doors framing a handsomely paneled range hood. The hood's crown molding details continue across the top of the neighboring cabinets to create a cohesive look. Lattice-style doors beneath the island's farmhouse sink introduce yet another shapely pattern to the mix.

Grand Treatment

Substantial moldings, a shapely pediment, and strategically positioned carved medallions formalize a run of distressed cabinets. A pair of cabinetry-paneled doors and a paneled lower drawer keep the contemporary refrigerator accessible but under wraps. Dresser-style drawer pulls stand in for conventional handles and knobs to further the finely furnished illusion.

Fine Details

The center island takes on a freestanding furniture feel, thanks to carved legs supporting the countertop and a gray finish that differs from the white perimeter cabinets. Furnished-room profiles pop up as curving wood details on upper glass-faced cabinets and as the base cabinets knobs that advance from prettily profiled back plates.

Country Panache

Chicken-wire cabinet panels bring French influences into a modern kitchen in farmhouse style. Cabinets with clear glass doors showcase country crockery. Handsome handles and pulls dress-up simply paneled doors and drawers.

Sensational Flair

A fabulous semitransparent finish lets the wood beneath be seen, formalizes this kitchen's overall feel, but the dark stain lends an air of drama. This sense of refinement is further refined by the addition of corbel details on the island cabinets, crown molding cabinet caps, and glass doors with crosshatched details that draw the eye around the room's perimeter.

Grand Gestures

Thinking outside the box, these homeowners crafted a singularly chic kitchen that combines classic fittings with very cool appointments. Curving poured concrete forms with the look of salvaged relics turn a good-looking island into a focal point. Bronze nailheads create a dimensional pattern across tall cabinet doors covered in batting and durable faux-leather fabric.