Cabinetry is the leading lady of the kitchen, the star of the show and often where most of the kitchen remodeling budget is spent. Cabinet style often dictates the look of the rest of the design, and whether your look is ultra-contemporary or more quietly traditional, there is a cabinet style, color, finish and combination of all three, to suit your taste. Some current trends in cabinet design include:

Clean lines – Taking a cue from the hottest European trends, cabinets are going sleeker, more modern and frameless. Among the ways the aesthetic translates is in fewer wall cabinets — usually replaced by open shelving — and less ornamentation, including on cabinet doors, which are now often a simple slab. To add texture and a bit of femininity to this masculine look, try adding some natural elements like a heavily grained and interesting marble backsplash or counter top.

Grays and greens – Cherry stain finishes will never completely disappear from the world of cabinetry and kitchen design, but their subtler and stylish cousins – include gray and greenish tones – a step toward color from an all-white kitchen, but a more sedate approach to dark stain or paint. A hint of gray is finding its way into browns and black, softening the deep tones and adding depth.

Furniture style cabinets – Similar to combining colors and shapes, creating a furniture-like piece or pieces in a kitchen, adds warmth and charm and can break up the monotony of banks of similar door styles. Carving out a section on a transition wall – the wall closest to the great room or hallway – and mimicking the look of a treasured glass-front hutch or curio, brings a touch of old-world elegance and traditional styling. Often this piece is painted a different color than the other cabinetry, can have shallower top cabinets and feature a different material for its countertop.

Floor to ceiling cabinets – This style is not necessarily new, but has been making resurgence lately. To take advantage of taller ceilings while adding height to the kitchen, many designers are opting to banish the soffit and add taller cabinets or even an additional row, just below the ceiling. Top cabinets can be used for Thanksgiving and holiday platters or can feature glass inserts and interior lighting, again, to bring the eye upward and create a taller focal point in the room.

Not so matchy-matchy – Mixed cabinet colors, styles and materials make for a more interesting and less uniform look. This trend is one that has been around for the past several years, but continues to become almost the norm when creating a large new kitchen. Giving a kitchen island color, not found at the room’s perimeter adds depth, warmth, and approachability … it also creates a look that could have been there for years!