It’s important to put thought into your choice of kitchen cabinets. Of course, their layout and storage functionality will have a huge effect on how well you can work in your kitchen. But their appearance also matters, because your cabinets will set the tone and help define the overall feel of your kitchen. Fresh and new, distinguished and traditional, sleek and contemporary; these are just some of the looks you can decide on, and your cabinets are the main way to achieve the mood you want.
Staying on top of current trends can be helpful whether or not you already have an idea of how you want your kitchen to look. Knowing what’s popular can help you make a choice that will add value to your home, and many trends became trends in the first place because they look or feel good to everyone. In 2025 we’re seeing some beautiful and practical kitchen cabinet trends that are worth your consideration.
Why Your Kitchen Cabinets Matter So Much
The cabinets are often the first thing that catches your eye when you enter a kitchen. They take up a lot of space both above and below your eye level, and often wrap around the room. So they have a commanding presence that can either help or hinder you in your attempts to get your kitchen to have the “feel” you desire.
Picking the right cabinets has a huge impact you might not even expect. It’s not always as straightforward as simply choosing a color you like — that color or finish can make a smaller kitchen appear more open and expansive, or a larger space feel more like a cozy part of a home. If there’s something about your kitchen you don’t like, your cabinets may be able to counteract it, by making the room seem bigger or airier or reflecting more light.
That’s not to say that every kitchen “needs” specific cabinets to best serve it, though, and you don’t need to feel restricted to specific designs. You just need to be aware that your cabinets are a powerful design element that you shouldn’t overlook.
Trending Cabinet Colors in 2025 Kitchens
The right color palette can instantly change a dull, uninspired room into a vibrant space, or tone down a chaotic area into something more serene and relaxing. In 2025 so far, we’ve seen some color trends forming along both of those lines. Peaceful earth tones and other natural colors are popular, but there are also some more dramatic (or even quirky) choices for those who want something a bit punchier for their kitchen’s personality.
Comforting Earth Tones and Warm Neutrals
All-white kitchens will always have their place, but many homeowners and interior designers have shifted toward more natural-feeling colors.
Earth tones include a wide spectrum of browns and greens. Sage is a soft, muted green that works well alongside a variety of other colors, including pink granite countertops and natural wood finishes. Browns run the gamut from soft, greyish taupe, to the much brighter almost-orange terracotta. The trend toward earth tones emerged because people sought to bring some of the feelings of nature into their homes, and these colors are all similar to what you’d find in untouched nature, whether it’s a deep pine forest or a bright desert canyon.
There’s a lot of variety to be found in earth tones, so whether you prefer softer, more neutral colors or bolder, more saturated ones, you can find something you like if this type of palette interests you.
Warm neutrals are similar enough to white that they have most of its benefits — good light reflection and ease of seeing spills for cleanup, for example — but with a bit more character for those who feel white is too cold or stark. Creamy off-white, eggshell, and similar colors are popular among this crowd. Light greys can lean to the warm side too, if you like the idea but dislike tints in the beige family.
Deep, Sophisticated Hues
For those looking for a more dramatic color, deep, intense hues are an even stronger rebellion against the “conventional” white kitchen. There’s a bit of overlap with earth tones, including darker greens often called “forest” or “hunter” green. Rich navy blue and inky charcoal greys have their own following as well.
These colors make a powerful statement and often appear very high-end. They work well with lighter accents like white granite countertops, but also look great with stainless steel. Fixtures in a copper finish offer good contrast. The general idea is to prevent the kitchen from looking too dark, because if you’re not careful, these colors can be overwhelming.
Dark, strong colors like these are also sometimes considered to make a kitchen feel more masculine. That can be true, but you can also offset it with other design choices, so don’t be discouraged if you love a particular deep color but don’t want your kitchen to feel like a “man-cave.” For example, pale blue or sage walls can be a counterpoint to navy blue cabinets, and you also have the backsplash, fixtures, and other decor to consider, so any kitchen can be gender-neutral or even feminine regardless of the presence of a “masculine” color.
Navy blue, forest green, and other deep or bold colors are also popular for “themed” kitchens colored to represent a sports team or even a branch of the military. You don’t find this style of kitchen as often, but it’s an option!
The Growing Trend of Two-Tone Cabinetry
Two-tone cabinetry is not that new of a concept, but it’s experiencing a surge of popularity in 2025. As younger generations become designers or homeowners, more old-fashioned ideas are fading away, including fears that two-tone cabinets would look mismatched or undignified. In fact, a pair of well-chosen colors will look just the opposite: sophisticated and thoughtful.
This trend typically involves using a darker or bolder color for base cabinets, or for a kitchen island, and a lighter or more neutral color for the wall cabinets. You can achieve almost any mood with a setup like this — deep navy blue base cabinets plus creamy off-white wall cabinets immediately brings a nautical theme to mind, while dark green base cabinets contrasting with wall cabinets in a natural wood finish would give your kitchen an organic, forest-like atmosphere.
You don’t need to have a lot of contrast between base and wall cabinets, as two-tone pairings can work well without it, but this is a good way to include a darker color in your kitchen without risking it becoming too overwhelming. If dark wall cabinets would make the space feel too heavy or claustrophobic, you can still use your favorite dark color for the base cabinets. So, if you’ve been eyeing a deep, dark hue for your kitchen but you can’t quite commit to it, this might be your solution.
As an example of two-tone cabinetry that doesn’t use a lot of contrast, consider a light, sandy brown and a pale blue to evoke the beach. Pale combinations like this are also great if you want to use darker accents. Cool, grey base cabinets and light sage wall cabinets would look incredible with a black countertop, for instance. Contrary to the old-fashioned worries of two-tone cabinetry looking mismatched, it can actually look the most carefully designed of all!
Finishes That Define 2025
Once you’ve settled on the perfect color for your kitchen cabinets, your next important choice is the finish. It’s more complicated than just deciding how shiny or matte your cabinet surfaces appear — it’s also about the texture and how light interacts with the surface. Finish affects both look and feel, and can alter the character of your kitchen design. The right finish will add visual depth and elevate your colors.
The Understated Elegance of Matte Finishes
Matte finishes have a strong following and are more popular than ever, with several compelling (and practical) reasons behind it. Matte finishes offer a beautifully smooth, non-reflective surface that looks cleaner, more contemporary, and more sophisticated than high gloss.
A glossy finish can be a problem if it’s too reflective. It can cause glare, or reflect too much, and can make small dings or imperfections easier to see. But for a lot of homeowners, the worst part is fingerprints. It’s very frustrating to clean your cabinets and have stubborn smudges or fingerprints that won’t go away, and even if your cabinets are completely clean and sanitized, they can still look dirty unless you manage to get rid of every single smudge.
Matte cabinets simply don’t have this issue. They are very forgiving when it comes to everyday use and even minor wear and tear, hiding smudges, marks, and even small imperfections much more efficiently than high-gloss surfaces. The subtle, velvety shine of a matte finish looks more effortless and sophisticated to today’s homeowners, while a high gloss says “high maintenance.”
Matte finishes also absorb ambient light in a unique way that makes their underlying colors appear richer, which is another reason they’re preferred by those who want to showcase their color choices.
The Versatility of Satin and Semi-Gloss Finishes
Even though matte finishes are trending for all the above reasons, that doesn’t mean everyone has given up on gloss, although they’ve taken more of a middle ground. Satin and semi-gloss are both balanced choices between non-reflective matte and shiny gloss finishes.
Satin finishes offer a soft, subtle sheen that reflects just enough ambient light to gently brighten a room without being too glossy. They share the same durability and ease of care as matte finishes.
Semi-gloss finishes are a bit more reflective than satin, and are popular with those who want a more polished look (without the endless polishing of high gloss). They tend to make colors look more vibrant, and are also quite durable. Semi-gloss finishes were the most popular type for many years.
The Timeless Beauty of Natural Wood Grains
Painted cabinets continue to be a popular and versatile choice, but natural wood grains are making a comeback. Their organic texture has an inherent beauty, and natural wood also has a feeling of authenticity.
Natural wood brings a sense of warmth and comfort to a kitchen, and while solid maple is the preferred choice for the actual construction, the finish can resemble a wide variety of natural wood colors. Maple itself is light enough to brighten a space, while walnut is more dramatic and rustic. Cherry adds warmth to a room. All wood grains can be paired with painted colors for additional contrast without losing any of their character.
Stylish Cabinet Designs for 2025
Cabinet door styles have evolved much more over the decades than colors and finishes have, and the appearance of a door style is going to be the most likely part to fall behind current trends. Look at some of the elaborate scrollwork carved into older cabinet doors, and you’ll see a good example of something that was once considered fashionable, and now looks hopelessly dated — not to mention annoying to clean.
There isn’t much you can do to update a cabinet if the door style is out of fashion, since a fresh coat of paint will only go so far. At least you can often just replace the doors if the rest of the cabinet structure is still good. Choosing a trending door style will make your home more appealing immediately if you’re interested in selling soon, especially if you pay attention to the recurring trend toward smooth, simple styles.
Smooth or Entirely Seamless Cabinets
Smooth, flat cabinet doors fit the trends among people who feel this style offers a more professional or clean look. Some take it a step further and prefer frameless cabinets, in which the doors cover the entire cabinet front, producing a seamless appearance when all the doors are closed. Both are popular, but usually among different crowds.
In the debate of frameless versus framed kitchen cabinets, it really comes down to personal taste. Some homeowners feel a smooth, seamless wall of cabinets makes a kitchen look fresh and up-to-date, while others feel it looks sterile, too commercial, or even cheap.
The Ever-Popular Shaker Style
Shaker style cabinets have consistently proven to be timeless and adaptable to almost any other decor. They are also quite smooth, with the exception of a shallow recessed panel on each door and drawer front. Some Shaker-inspired designs go a little further and combine multiple recessed and raised panels, but never anything too fancy — the end result is always a sophisticated design with no shapes more complex than a rectangle.
The Shaker style only falls out of fashion when trends start leaning toward elaborate or ostentatious carvings (which almost never happens). Current trends indicate that Shaker or Shaker-inspired designs are popular among homeowners who prefer a balance between the ultramodern and traditional: a clean, smooth look but not overly sterile or synthetic-looking, with the appeal of durable craftsmanship and solid wood construction. Since they are both tough and timeless, Shaker cabinets are always a safe bet for the future, making them an investment in your home.
Which Trends Match Your Vision for Your Kitchen?
Knowing about current trends is important because it gives you a baseline for what people appreciate the most about kitchen design, and it can provide you with some knowledge about what looks good and works well — and how long it might last. Trends are also a gateway to learning about what styles have true staying power and will build equity in a home. But ultimately, the decision lies with you.
You still have other decisions to make. How much of a kitchen remodel do you really want to do? A quick refresh or a total replacement of everything? Should you get pre-assembled or RTA cabinets? RTA Kitchen Cabinets Online is ready to help answer your questions with expert guidance. Check out our Kitchen Design Help page to find some starting resources, and we also welcome you to contact us for further assistance.
