Shaker Kitchen Cabinets

Shaker is the door style most kitchens end up choosing, and for good reason. A clean square frame around a flat recessed center panel gives you simple straight lines with no ornament to date the room. That simplicity is exactly what makes shaker so easy to coordinate, because the finish color and the hardware do the styling while the door itself stays quietly out of the way.

Shaker Kitchen Cabinets at a Glance

A shaker door is a five-piece door, which simply means it is built from five separate parts: four frame pieces around the outside and one flat panel set into the middle. The panel is recessed rather than raised, and the frame is square rather than shaped. There is no molded profile and no decorative detail to speak of.

Because the profile is so plain, the same door can look contemporary or traditional depending entirely on how it is finished. A crisp white shaker with slim black bar pulls reads modern. The same door in a soft beige with cup pulls and a wood floor reads like a farmhouse kitchen. Shaker fits modern, transitional, farmhouse, coastal and classic rooms without any adjustment to the door itself.

That flexibility is also why shaker is a standard choice for rental and investment properties. The look appeals broadly, coordinates with almost any countertop, and does not commit a future owner to a particular taste.

Door Styles Available

Shaker on our site is not one product, it is a profile that appears across several cabinet lines, each with its own construction and finish range.

• Fabuwood Allure Galaxy, Fusion and Nexus carry the recessed panel look across the widest color range we stock, from whites and grays through blues, greens, black and wood tones. Galaxy is the classic 2 1/2 inch frame, Fusion adds a molded inner profile on a 3 inch frame, and Nexus is the widest at 3 1/4 inches. Echo and Luna, the slim Fabuwood frames, sit on the slim shaker page.
• Fabuwood Illume Tuscany and Ovela Tuscany put a five-piece shaker door on a frameless box, so the door covers the whole opening. Illume is engineered furniture board with Blum metal drawers; Ovela is all-plywood with dovetail drawers.
• Fabuwood Quest Discovery offers Frost, Fabuwood Quest Metro offers Frost, Mist and Java, and Fabuwood Value Premium offers Hallmark Frost, all on traditional overlay doors at the value end of the Fabuwood range.
• Jarlin Cabinetry supplies a shaker door in finishes including Dove White, Cream White, Sterling Gray, Smoky Gray, Soda, Ebony, Aria Blue, Sage Green, Sandy Mirage, Toffee, Weston and an Unfinished option, with several available assembled or as RTA.
• Kitchen Cabinet Distributors (KCD) carries shaker on three lines: Brooklyn, a transitional profile in six finishes; Shaker, in Kodiak, Moss, Sand and Designer White; and Essential, the Builder Series partial overlay door in White and Gray. Every KCD cabinet is offered assembled or ready to assemble.
• CNC Cabinetry carries shaker on Luxor and Luxor 5-Piece (White, Smoky Grey, Misty Grey, Harvest, Espresso), on six Concord doors (Elegant, Fashion, Newport, Park Avenue, Richmond and Sydney) and on the frameless Classic Highland and Versailles doors.
• Eurocraft offers both a standard Shaker and a Slim Shaker in Gauntlet Gray, Haze Gray, Midnight Blue, Mist Beige and Stratus.

The difference between the two Eurocraft profiles is worth understanding before you choose. A standard shaker has a wider frame around the center panel. A slim shaker uses a narrower frame, which pushes the look more contemporary. Both share the same recessed-panel construction, so it is purely a question of how much frame you want to see.

The Build, Feature by Feature

Since shaker spans several lines, the construction varies, and the differences are practical rather than cosmetic.

• Fabuwood Allure and Quest boxes are plywood with a solid wood face frame, solid wood dovetail drawer boxes and Blum soft-close hinges and full-extension runners. Painted doors use HDF rails and stiles, which move less than solid wood as humidity changes.
• Fabuwood Tuscany is frameless. Illume Tuscany uses 3/4 inch engineered furniture board with Blum MERIVOBOX metal drawers; Ovela Tuscany uses an all-plywood box with 5/8 inch solid wood dovetail drawers.
• KCD Premier Series boxes (Brooklyn, Shaker) are 1/2 inch seven-ply plywood with full overlay doors and 5/8 inch dovetail drawers. The Builder Series (Essential) uses engineered wood sides with a plywood back, the same solid wood face frame and dovetail drawers, and partial overlay doors.
• CNC boxes are all-plywood on Luxor and Concord, with soft-close hardware throughout. Concord adds full 1/2 inch back panels, five-piece drawer fronts and full-extension undermount glides. Classic is the frameless CNC box.
• Jarlin boxes are built from half-inch plywood with a hardwood face frame. A face frame is a solid wood frame across the front of the cabinet box that the doors mount to, and it is what gives a framed cabinet its traditional front.
• Assembled or RTA. Every Jarlin and KCD cabinet comes both ways. RTA stands for ready to assemble, which means the cabinet ships flat and is put together on site. The cabinet itself is the same either way, and where both are offered you choose which on the cabinet's own product page rather than shopping a separate RTA collection.
• Eurocraft doors are engineered wood or MDF rather than solid wood, which gives a very stable, even surface for the 3DL laminate the shaker and slim shaker fronts are finished in. Eurocraft wall cabinets are 12 inches deep, the same as the common wall cabinet depth.
• Soft-close operation is standard across the lines we carry, so doors and drawers pull themselves closed quietly rather than slamming.

Each product page carries its own specifications, sizes and assembly options, so that is the place to confirm the exact details of the cabinet you are ordering. If you want independent background on how cabinets are tested for everyday durability, the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association publishes the industry performance standards.

Picking a Finish

Shaker is offered in a wider color range than any other profile we stock, which is both the good news and the reason it takes a little thought.

Whites and off-whites such as Cloud White, Frost, Dove White and Cream White stay bright and let the door frame cast a soft shadow line that gives the kitchen quiet definition.

Grays and neutrals including Dove, Sterling, Smoky Gray, Haze Gray, Gauntlet Gray, Cobblestone and Macadamia Beige suit a room where you want calm rather than contrast.

Blues and greens such as Denim Blue, Izel Blue, Indigo, Midnight Blue, Sage Green, Forest Green, Hunter Green, Mint Green and Pistachio Green give a shaker door real personality. See the navy and blue range for how the deeper blues behave in a finished room.

Blacks and deep colors including Graphite Black, Pitch Black, Ebony and Cabernet Red are striking on a simple door, where the profile keeps a bold color looking disciplined.

Wood tones such as Timber, Truffle, Desert Oak, Toffee and Sandy Mirage bring warmth and grain to the recessed panel look.

Availability varies by brand and cabinet line, so check the product page for the exact finish before you order.

Designing With This Collection

Hardware does the heavy lifting. On a shaker kitchen the handles set the tone more than anything else. Slim bar pulls read modern, cup pulls and knobs read traditional, and either can be changed later without touching the cabinets.

Countertops. Shaker sits comfortably with almost anything, from plain quartz to heavily veined stone. If your countertop is dramatic, a quiet cabinet color keeps the balance. If your countertop is plain, the cabinet color can take the lead.

Two-tone layouts. Because the profile is identical across finishes, mixing colors on a shaker kitchen looks intentional rather than mismatched. A painted perimeter with a wood-tone island is a reliable combination.

Backsplash. Simple tile suits the door. The clean frame already gives the wall a rhythm, so a busy backsplash tends to compete with it.

Good to Know

Soft-close hardware is standard on doors and drawers throughout the lines we carry. Lazy Susan, Easy Reach and Wall Pie Cut cabinets are supplied without the mechanism, so factor that in when you plan a corner cabinet.

Consistent door spacing across a run is what gives a shaker kitchen its clean, orderly appearance, so it pays to have the doors adjusted carefully at the end of the install.

Fabuwood cabinets currently carry the Limited Lifetime Warranty. Jarlin, KCD, CNC and Eurocraft each carry their own manufacturer warranty, listed with the product.

If you prefer more dimension in the door face, raised panel may be a better fit. If you want a flat front with no frame at all, slab offers a different look from the same finish families.

Buying Shaker Cabinets Online

You can buy shaker cabinets online here in every finish shown above, at dealer pricing, with no trade account and no minimum order. A single vanity is as welcome as a full kitchen.

What the price covers. The price on each product page is the cabinet. Shipping is separate and depends on the brand, because these lines do not ship the same way.

Shipping, by brand. Fabuwood ships at a $199 flat rate, free on orders of $1,499 or more. Jarlin, KCD and Eurocraft ship by freight carrier starting at $350, priced by destination. Freight is a starting rate rather than a final number, so a rural address or a limited access delivery can run higher. We confirm the exact amount with you in writing before we process the order, and you can cancel at no cost if the number does not work.

Assembled or flat packed. Most cabinets are available both ways. Flat packed costs less and ships in a smaller box, which matters if access is tight. Assembled saves you the build time. The choice sits on the product page next to the size, or tell us which you want when you send a layout and we will quote it either way.

Samples before you commit. Every finish above is available as a door sample. Sample shipping is one flat rate for any quantity, shown on each door sample page. A sample costs a fraction of what it costs to change your mind after a kitchen has shipped.

Free 3D design. Send measurements, a sketch or a rough layout and we will build the cabinet list, lay the kitchen out in 3D and give you an itemized quote before you order. No cost and no obligation.

Ordering Your Kitchen

The order of operations that works best for most customers looks like this.

• Choose the profile first, standard shaker or slim shaker, since that decision drives the overall feel.
• Order a door sample and compare the finish against your counters, floor and lighting.
• Send your measurements, a sketch or a rough layout, and we will help you build an accurate cabinet list.
• Request a free 3D design and review the layout and itemized quote before ordering, at no cost and with no obligation.

Tell us whether you want assembled or RTA when you send your layout and we will quote accordingly, or price both if you are still weighing them up. If you are ordering yourself, the choice sits on the product page next to the size.