Cabinet Door Styles

Each door style is available in a variety of stain and paint colors, and as a partial overlay, full overlay or full inset door.

The four door styles

Shaker (flat panel) is the one most people picture and the most commonly chosen. A plain recessed center panel inside a square frame, with no profile or ornament. It suits almost any kitchen, old or new, and it is the easiest style to keep clean because there are no grooves to catch dust. If you are not sure what you want, this is usually the safe choice.

Square raised panel keeps the straight lines of a shaker but lifts the center panel proud of the frame, so the door catches light and shadow instead of reading flat. More traditional than shaker, less ornate than an arch.

Arch raised panel curves the top rail of the door, sometimes called a cathedral arch. This is the most traditional look on the page and it suits a formal kitchen or a period home. Worth seeing in person: the arch reads quite differently across a full run of wall cabinets than it does on a single sample.

Crown raised panel adds a stepped profile around the panel for more depth and detail again. The most decorative of the four.

We also build slab doors, a single flat surface with no frame at all, for modern kitchens. The white slab sample below is an example.

Overlay or inset: the choice that changes the whole kitchen

This matters more than most people expect, and it is separate from the door style itself.

Partial overlay leaves a visible gap of frame between doors. It is the traditional American kitchen look and the most forgiving of the three.

Full overlay means the doors sit close together and cover almost all of the frame, giving a cleaner, more continuous run with only a narrow line between doors. This is what most modern kitchens use.

Full inset sets each door flush inside the frame, like a piece of furniture. It is the most demanding to build, because every door has to fit its opening precisely with an even gap all the way round, and it is the most striking when it is done properly. It is where hand-built cabinetry shows its advantage over factory boxes.

Choosing

Door style and wood together decide how the kitchen reads. A shaker door in painted maple looks modern; the same shaker in hickory looks rustic. An arch raised panel in cherry looks formal. Look at the samples on our wood types and finishes page alongside these doors rather than choosing them separately.

Every door here is solid hardwood with mortise and tenon joinery, built to the dimensions of your kitchen. Bring us a photo of a kitchen you like and we will tell you which door and overlay would get you there.