Cabinet Door Styles

Frameless Door (Slab/Flat Panel)

The word slab is most often used to describe wood doors that look like they have been made out of a solid piece of wood, with no raised or recessed profile. Due to the nature of solid wood warping, these doors are actually made of several pieces of solid lumber joined with adhesive, then cut to size. The wood strips used to construct the panel may not all match in graining and color.

Typically, the door's strength comes from the manner in which the pieces of solid wood are glued together, providing cupping and warping resistance.

Recessed Flat Panel

A recessed flat panel cabinet door, starts as a flat piece of wood, then the frame is made around it. There is a visible difference between the recessed panel door and the raised panel door it is very noticeable, and can give a slightly more contemporary feel to a kitchen or room.

This style also allows for a center stile panel down the middle of the door, creating a look that is very hard to duplicate with raised panel doors. The panels can be smooth, grooved, or decorated.

Raised Panel Solid

Even though the panel is called solid, it is not usually made of a single piece of wood. Wood expands and contracts with changes in humidity, and this can cause the door to split, crack and warp.

To counterat this problem of natural movement in a solid wood panel; the panel is usually constructed using several pieces of solid lumber glued together. As in the case of the slab door, the door's strength comes from the manner in which the pieces of solid wood are reversed as they are glued.

Raised Panel - Veneer

Instead of solid wood strips, the core of the veneered panel is usually particleboard, or in some cases plywood, which gives the door much more stability than wood. The veneer slices are dege-glued into a face. This face is made to fit the size of the panel. The method of matching the veneer edges determines the final appearance of the door panel.

Specialty Doors

Cabinet doors do not have to be flat or have a solid center panel. Options include radius (curved doors), mullioned and glass doors

Radius Doors
A radius door is a curved door, and can be concave (curved inward) or convex (curved outward). Radius doors are much more costly than standard flat doors, but gives a very elegant look unmatched by any other door style.

Raised Solid Panel with Laminate Surface

In this type of door, a single slab of MDF is machined to give the appearance of a center panel, and frame. Flexible vinyl is laminated to this MDF, using industrial adhesives applied with heat and pressure. The trengh of MDF makes this door type especially resistant to cupping and warping.

These doors are an inexpensive option to the raised panel wood door, and offer a wide variety of color options to choose from.

Mullion Doors

A mullion is a thin strip of wood that is used to separate the panes of glass in a door or window. Mullion doors have glass inserts in place of the typical center panel and they look similar to windowpanes.

The glass can be individual pieces sandwiched between two mullions, or a full sheet of glass can be used. When choosing the type of glass to be used in your cabinet doors, only your imagination limits your choices