Kitchen cabinet styles are a top motivator for renovating your old kitchen according to the recent U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study. At the top of the list among renovating homeowners surveyed, 42 percent upgrade their kitchen for this reason.

Replacing all the cabinets during a kitchen renovation is the most popular choice among homeowners followed by a partial upgrade by refinishing the exteriors, adding some cabinets, replacing some cabinets or doors only, in descending order.

If you’re in the market for sourcing cabinetmakers, pros are still in high demand beginning with general contractors (50%), cabinetmakers (32%), kitchen designers (22%), interior designers 15%), architects (11%) and kitchen remodelers (11%). Almost all homeowners hire a pro at a rate of 84% for 2023, (with one in five homeowners hiring one or more pro directly, without relying on a project manager).

Cabinet Door Style

Your upgraded cabinet style will most likely fall into the number one style choice for renovated kitchens in 2023, transitional, which continues a ranking of 23 percent, followed by modern (14%), contemporary (12%), farmhouse and traditional at 11 percent.

Cabinet door styles choices are changing. Shaker-style doors are still the most popular choice (although choosing them is 3 points lower this year). Flat-panel doors are on the upswing with 20 percent of renovators opting for them. Raised-panel doors topping off the top three.

Custom kitchen cabinets remain the primary types of new cabinets with semicustom cabinets a close second.

Cabinet Finishes

As for cabinet finishes; white continues to be the dominant color of the main cabinets in renovated kitchens, with 40 percent of homeowners choosing it, wood tones have gained popularity at 24 percent (returning to 2021’s level). Gray cabinet finishes have maintained their level of popularity at 10 percent over the last three years with multi-colored (down three percent) and blue cabinet finishes at five percent. Paint is the most common finish for new cabinets at 57 percent, followed by stain at 14 percent and wood veneer at 7 percent.

Island Cabinet Color

Island cabinet color that contrasts the color of the main cabinet color remained the same as the previous year at 46 percent. The most popular contrasting color is blue (chosen by nearly a quarter of homeowners), followed by gray (15%) and black (12%). Medium to dark wood tones for contrasting island cabinets are in close competition.

New Cabinets Materials

As for primary materials of new cabinets, solid wood is the dominant choice of kitchen renovations at 77 percent, followed by plywood at 20 percent with medium-density fiberboard at 16 percent.

Have fun planning your new kitchen renovation!