Whether you and your family are planning on selling or staying in your home, a kitchen remodel is tremendously beneficial. Few remodeling investments boost resale value and improve lifestyle better than a kitchen remodel, and particularly updating the cabinets, which immediately increases the beauty and convenience of the living space that has the greatest visibility and use.
There are a multitude of choices when it comes to selecting the color, style, and functionality for your new kitchen cabinets. Given the popularity of kitchen design and cabinet remodels, reviewing the year’s top trends can help you and your designer decide on the best approaches. So here are the top 7 kitchen cabinet design trends and materials of 2023 and 2024 to get you and your family closer to bringing your dream home to life!
Trend #1: Most Popular Kitchen Cabinet Styles
Homeowners throughout Southeast Oakland County and across Michigan are trending toward an increasingly personalized approach to interior design, especially when it comes to kitchen cabinets. With style choices ranging from transitional to soft modern to modern traditional, hybrid designs are often selected that capture a unique blend of custom elements.
Birmingham homeowners are striking a harmonious balance between style, functionality, and personality in their cabinet choices, resulting in kitchens that feel fresh, inviting, and inspire cooking, socializing, and spending quality time together. Most common are shaker style doors with varying degrees of panel and trim width, style and design. Painted finishes are still the most common for this door style; however, wood finishes are making a return in more unique wood species including walnut, ¼ sawn and rift cut white oak, being the most popular.
In terms of broader, full-kitchen cabinet designs, top trending choices include Modern Farmhouse featuring neutral colors and rustic detailing; Urban Industrial that mixes metals with warm tones for an edgier look; and Classic Contemporary that combines synthetic and natural materials for a bold experience. Partner with your designer to choose the style best for you!
Trend #2: Popular Cabinet Colors
Gleaming white and light gray bathrooms and kitchens have been the colors of choice during the early 21st century, thanks to a crisp, clean look that creates optimal lighting conditions. Lately, homeowners are favoring a warmer, more inviting mood to their living spaces, shifting color choices from stark white to off-whites, greige and taupe undertones.
Birmingham kitchen cabinets are trending in bright, cheerful colors, often in visually stunning combinations. According to Houzz, nearly half of homeowners mix colors in their kitchens, and are using strong contrasts to create a lively, more dramatic feel. For example, a brightly colored middle island is often surrounded by custom kitchen cabinets in warm, earthy tones.
Cabinets are most of the surface area in your kitchen, and have turned into canvasses of artistic expression. Dark reds, bright yellows, emerald greens, and navy blues abound, while terracottas and soft pinks add a gentle touch. More neutral colors used for countertops and backsplashes provide those increasingly popular contrasts, mixing modern and contemporary.
Trend #3: Mixing Materials
A trend-within-a-trend across Metro Detroit counties is mixing and contrasting kitchen cabinet materials. Options abound here, as well, stretching the gamut from darkened oak wood to Fenix laminates to white and neutral glass finishes. Blending glass or mesh inserts with natural or metal accents are alluring and creative, going beyond standard solid color choices.
Sustainability is an enormous trend across all consumer goods, and kitchen cabinets are no exception. Reclaimed woods, recycled materials, and low volatile organic compounds are enticing options for eco-friendly cabinet finishes that reduce environmental harm while creating a fresh outdoor experience within the convenience and comfort of your own dream kitchen.
Cabinetry hardware and other metals throughout the kitchen are no exception when it comes to mixing materials. Finishes in soft brass, matte black, high polished nickel and other metals are enticing stylistic options to contrast the highlighted wood grains, natural stains, and eggshell and pearl paint finishes. Partnering with an experienced designer helps you coordinate cabinet style, color, and texture for an amazing kitchen remodel.
Trend #4: Trending Textures
Another evolution away from the stark white kitchens of the past is the embedding of visual and tactile texture to kitchen cabinets. Texture can take many forms as we’ve seen through design, color, and material choices, each providing wonderful contrast and added dimensionality to an otherwise static look and feel. Partner with your designer to bring out the very best elements.
The right texture for your cabinets depends on the type of kitchen experience you prefer, so start by imagining the ideal mood you’d like to create. For example, ribbed and reeded cabinet doors offer an updated look. If you’re going for a warm and moody feel, mixing dark blues and greens with gorgeous brushed brass accents. For bold contrasts, try a textured tile backsplash giving you a vivid, contemporary flavor.
While texture choices are boundless, be sure to keep the surrounding details clean and simple. As in any well designed space your eye should not wander looking for a theme. The details should be subtle allowing the dominant feature to lead the charge. Whether this is cabinetry in bold, beautiful colors or a gorgeous quartzite countertop on soft painted cabinets, the style and design should not create confusion to the eye.
Trend #5: Smart Storage Solutions
As we’ve seen, the look and feel of kitchen cabinets is trending toward softer whites and subdued dark finishes on the one hand, and natural textures on the other. Convenience is also key, with more functional placement and components. Yet another trending factor is how well cabinet selections are able to maximize storage space, and make their contents as easily accessible as possible.
To ensure accessible and optimal storage, make sure to share your cooking and gather style with your designer. Kitchen tasks revolve around food preparation, cooking, and cleaning, and require the storage of specific items for each. Your cabinetry should be laid out in such a manner that offers drawers, roll out trays, and accessories that work best for your family.
Cabinets with specialized drawer inserts for dish storage, cutlery and dividers designed to your specification are the norm today. Also consider custom corner cabinets, under-sink storage, spice drawers and so important today, charging stations. Options abound for maximizing the utility of gorgeous new kitchen cabinets that look great and also get the most value out of every cubic inch of your kitchen.
Trend #6: Integrated Appliances
The first step for successful integration is identifying your respective food prep, cooking, and cleaning zones, and the appliances associated with each. Custom cabinets that contain and conceal these appliances within easy reach result in a clutter-free, streamlined, and easily maintained kitchen that looks terrific. Providing additional counter and clutter free floor space is the bonus.
While appliances are typically one of the largest expenses in your new kitchen, it is important to make the right choice for your needs. Refrigeration and cooking units continue to dominate in space and size within your new kitchen. Integrating refrigerator and freezer units, whether you choose large tower units or drawers within an island or base cabinet, can easily be done with the right product and expert design. Ranges and cooktops are now being vented with beautiful hoods in a variety of finishes, shapes and sizes. Clean, streamlined styling is the key in today’s design themes.
Specific examples of kitchen cabinets with integrated functionality include embedded waste bins, entire refrigerators hidden behind cleverly constructed and gorgeous cabinetry, dedicated small appliance cupboards, and concealed pantries. Charging cables and outlets contribute to kitchen clutter, but vanish with stations within cabinets seamlessly integrated into benchtops.
Trend #7: Partner with Birmingham’s Most Popular Design-Build Contractor
The most popular trends in kitchen cabinets emphasize a personalized approach to style, colors, materials, textures, and storage. Taken together, these trends are transforming today’s kitchens from more minimalistic, purely functional living spaces to living, breathing, warmly enticing experiences for the whole family to cook, socialize, and entertain. The MainStreet design team of Architects and Interior Designers can help you strike the perfect balance between form and function, beauty and convenience.
MainStreet Design Build is a full service, design-build remodeling firm dedicated to creating a luxurious end-to-end experience through personal care, accountability, timeless design, and exacting attention to detail. Voted the #1 remodeler in Detroit and #2 general contractor in all of Michigan, since 1991 their in-house design team, staff of carpenters, and deep bench of skilled tradespeople have made the renovation process comfortable, enjoyable, and safe.
