What Am I Looking At? Understanding Cabinet Door Designs
With so many quality cabinet doors & drawer fronts out there it’s important to know what you’re looking at. Here we will cover the most common types of cabinet doors and edge profiles. With a better understanding of these design options, it will be easier to locate and choose the perfect custom doors for your new kitchen, bathroom, office, and storage.
Common Cabinet Door Types
the Slab Door
One of the most straightforward and durable options, Slab Doors are a great way to emphasize the finish you have chosen for your custom cabinets.
- Pictured here is our Fusion Slab door in Plain Sliced Black Walnut Veneer finish.
the Raised Panel Door
The more classic cabinet doors you see with intricate, textured designs tend to be Raised Panel Doors. To allow for this detail the center panel tends to be as thick, or thicker than, the door frame.
- Pictured here is our Wellington Raised Panel door in Navy SuperMatte laminate finish.
the Shaker Door
The immensely popular Shaker Door uses straight lines and 90° joints, angles, and edges to frame the flat center panel of the door. Here we have quite a few variations on the Shaker: the Shaker Slim, the Shaker Wide, the Shaker Shallow, the Shaker Ogee, the Shaker Inset, the Shaker Louvre, the Shaker Elite, and our standard Shaker.
the Flat Panel Door
Flat Panel Doors start with the Shaker Door design and add new angles and variations on inner and outer edge profiles.
- Pictured here is our Lancaster Elite Flat Panel door in Candlelight 3DL laminate finish.
What is a Beaded Cabinet Door?
A bead is a decorative woodworking design element. On some doors a raised and rounded bead will frame the inner and/or outer edge to create an elegantly classic, intricate door design. A Beaded Door design usually refers to vertical, inverted beads in the center panel, or the entire door face as with our Beaded Slab (shown here in Sage SuperMatte), that have a bit of a tongue & groove look.
Cabinet Door Edge Profiles
the Square Edge
The Square Edge is as minimalist as you can get, with purpose. Square Edge doors maintain straight lines that work with all surrounding design elements.
- Pictured here is our TM 502 door in Weathered Grey Oak laminate finishand the TM 502 Edge Diagram.
the Bevel Edge
The Bevel Edge is sleek and versatile with angles that provide surprising flexibility.
- Pictured here is our Novara door in Coffee Bean 3DL laminate finish and the Novara Edge Diagram.
the Pillow Edge
The Pillow Edge profile starts with a bevel and uses a pillowed transition to either a square or radius edge finish.
- Pictured here is our Italia II door in a tragically discontinued laminate finish and the Italia II Edge Diagram.
the Ogee Edge
Often referred to as a classic edge profile, a cove to radius (convex to concave) cut is used to create the Ogee Edge.
- Pictured here is our Aspen door in our Mist SuperMatte laminate finish and the Aspen Edge Diagram.
the Radius Edge
A rounded edge design to match other design elements of the door, the Radius Edge will usually be 1/16”, 1/8”, 1/4”, or 3/8”.
- Pictured here is our Turino door in our Swiss Elm Matte 3DL laminate finish and the Turino Edge Diagram.
Written by Todd Zimmerman
Producer of the John Webbccast
