How to Build in Contrast to Your Kitchen Cabinetry

The advantage of hiring cabinet makers for your kitchen renovation is that you can personalise the cupboards in any way you wish. You don't have to settle for drab uniformity. One way to inject interest into the design is to mix and match cabinet-door materials and colours. For some ideas, read on.

Mix and Match Materials

Who says you need to use the same material across all the cabinets? You don't. You can mix things up for a custom look. For example, you could install melamine doors across most of the cabinetry and intersperse them with several stained timber doors in the upper cupboards. Make sure you do this in a balanced way, though. For example, you could fit white laminate double-doors, then a double door of raw timber, creating an alternating pattern.

If you repeat the accent texture elsewhere in the room, you'll maintain a sense of unity. For example, your kitchen may have timber floorboards that echo the wooden cupboards so that they don't look unrelated to anything else and thus out of place.

Use Glass

Another way to add contrast to your kitchen cabinetry is to install some upper cupboard doors with glass panels. For example, on a wall of white cupboards, you could fit glass ones to add visual interest. Or else, design cabinetry that reaches the ceiling, which features glass panels along the very-top section only.

Frosted glass will obscure the view into the cupboards so that you don't have to worry too much about clutter. You can also install clear glass-door cabinets filled with treasured items to form a display case. Glass will open up the kitchen and create a lighter feel, as you can see through the transparent panels to the back of the cupboard. In the case of frosted glass, you still have a sense of more space. Another option is lead-lighted glass which incorporates gorgeous colours and patterns into the cabinetry.

Contrast Colours

You can also use colour contrast to add visual interest even if you stick with one material. For example, you could install all laminate doors but make the upper doors pale grey and the lower ones deep charcoal. Alternatively, change the colours entirely and install navy on the bottom cabinets and white on the top ones. Another way to harness colour contrast in your new kitchen is to establish a different colour on kitchen-island doors — chartreuse, for example — and turn them into a real statement piece.

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