Want Cabinetry with Style?

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah—in fact, several people—and there's room for all. That's because today's modern kitchen has room for strumming the old banjo and an entire rhythm section to boot.

"Most kitchens I'm doing now, we're tearing down walls, making it more open," agrees Lucile Glessner of Lucile Glessner Design, an interior design firm based in Sunnyvale. And when it comes to the cabinetry, she says, "They're one of the most important things, right at the top of the list."

If you're considering a kitchen remodel in a mid-century modern home and looking for inspiration, you'll find both variety and inspiration with the dozen top cabinetry lines selected for 'Kitchen Cabinetry Showcase,' the new story by home-improvement editor Tanja Kern in the Winter '15 issue of CA-Modern magazine.

"Mid-century modern is a very simple line design, particularly with the Eichlers," says Glessner, a native of France who has lived in an Eichler since 1993. "I always recommend just plain slabs rather than something ornate...You want simple, but not something plain. You want something with style.

"It can be fun. Mid-century moderns have a lot of color actually, so that kind of thing can offset the plain...You can really play with the materials. Overall, you want something that is—how do I say it?—quiet."

All 12 cabinet lines profiled in 'Kitchen Cabinetry Showcase' have style to spare, but they also have the clean, simple lines called for in modernist kitchens. The story explains how cabinets can be custom, semi-custom, and stock, offering looks at each.

Among the brands offering custom cabinets are Goldreif and Crystal. The Goldreif line is from the same company that makes Poggenpol luxury-style cabinetry, but is a more affordable option whose Pure and Profile styles both feature the desired sleek lines. Crystal is a large, Minnesota-based company whose best products for mid-century modern kitchens are a dozen different semi-custom, slab styles that come in any Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams color.

"A semi-custom line is sometimes easier to deal with," notes Glessner. Designing fully custom cabinets, she explains, "some people have trouble imagining the possibilities."

Another choice for semi-custom is DeWils, whose cabinets feature pneumatically fastened wood joints, fully adjustable shelving and hinges, and the option of...