White Cabinet Doors Styles

Unica.com Formica Doors

What are some of the problems people encounter with white cabinet doors? What’s the most popular style kitchen cabinet door that’s available in this color? What are the price differences in the varying styles of cupboard designs? Which one of the three designs is the most durable?

MDF Door Style

In my twenty eight years of cabinet making, white kitchen cabinet doors have stood the test of time. In the South Florida area, Formica has remained steadfast as one of the major materials that cupboard doors are fabricated out of.

Prior to the development of Thermofoil kitchen cabinet doors, plastic laminate and painted wood raised panel doors were the only options that customers had.

Color Problems
The biggest problem that people have is color selection when they are designing a set of cupboards in this color. There are thousands of different shades to choose from, hundreds of floor designs, oodles of appliances selections and endless wall-paint options. Here’s what happens, people drive themselves bonkers trying to match all of the different shades with the various items that are incorporated in a kitchen’s design.

Just remember to notice how the shadows are working in the area where you are designing with white. A ray of light and a dark shadow can make everything look as if nothing matches, even when it actually does.

Price Comparisons of Door Styles

Formica
Plastic laminate kitchen cabinet doors are the least expensive option of the three most popular styles. This is generally because a set of doors can be manufactured with a table saw, a router, some contact glue, lacquer thinner and a file. The cost of the equipment reduces the amount of overhead tremendously in comparison to the other kitchen cabinet door designs. Generally, there’s no middle man that marks up the cost of the doors because they are manufactured by the cabinet shop that is supply the white cupboards.

MDF
Thermofoil kitchen cabinet doors are manufactured using high-tech equipment that costs upwards of one to three hundred thousand dollars. That’s a hefty price to work off in the cost of a cabinet door manufactures overhead. A large amount of building space is required for producing the product. Another factor that contributes to the cost of them is there’s usually shipping costs associated with having them delivered to the cupboard manufacturer’s location. With the cost of the manufacturing equipment being high, the overhead of the large building being included in the price, a middle mans mark-up figured in and with shipping costs added on, the cost of these white doors is significantly higher than Formica laminate. Most cabinet companies purchase them from wholesale cabinet doors suppliers.

Hard Wood

Painted White Cabinet Doors

Real wood kitchen cabinet doors top the scale as being the highest priced of the three options. Like the Thermofoil doors, manufactures of wood raised panel styles must have large amounts of space and expensive equipment in order to produce a quality product. The materials that the doors are made of can get expensive as well. They also carry with them an extensive investment in labor that gets expensive during the manufacturing process. When these cupboard doors are being produced, the parts are handled a lot. They have to be cut, sanded, re-cut, glued, assembled, planned, routed, sanded again and then finished with many coats of white paint.

Which one is the most popular?

I would have to say that because of the beauty in design and the mid-range price, the raised panel MDF doors are the most popular ones on the market today. This may come as somewhat of a surprise because they are the ones that have the shortest lifespan.

Which white cabinet door style is the most durable?

Of these three, I would have to say that the Formica doors tend to stand the test of time better than the other two. Although the MDF doors are beautiful and fall in the mid price range of these three styles, they are the least durable of the bunch. White wood cabinet doors can be repainted when they start to yellow or the paint cracks. The plastic laminate styles do not yellow and when they are manufactured properly and cared for correctly they will last a lifetime.

Many designers suggest that white cupboards lay a great foundation to build upon. There are several reasons for this. One of the main ones is that neutral colors are great for high priced items that are permanently “fixed” to the walls. When it comes to resale value, a neutral color will sell faster than an exotic or flashy colored set of cabinet doors in the kitchen.

White Kitchen Cabinet Doors