What are Farmhouse Cabinets?
Farmhouse kitchen cabinets are often described as “cabinets that look like cabinets”. Because the whole idea of a farmhouse kitchen revolves around simplicity and natural materials, you’ll find that farmhouse kitchen cabinets are always made to look natural and simple.
This usually means that they’re made from wood which is either left its natural color, painted a muted color in a flat finish, or specifically glazed to give it an artificially “aged look”. Sometimes painted cabinets will also be sanded after painting to reveal the wood underneath, giving the cabinets a “rustic look” via another method.
Basically, they’re not meant to look brand new.
Two-tone cabinets are quite common in farmhouse kitchen design, though this can vary depending on the design of the kitchen overall. When you look at farmhouse cabinets, they’ll usually have simple fittings and handles made from dull metals such as wrought iron or oil-rubbed bronze.
Design-wise, you’ll usually find that farmhouse cabinets have carvings and recessed panels in their wooden cabinet doors. These usually evoke traditional cabinet door styles, such as the Shaker design, and if the cabinet doors are glazed for a vintage effect, these carvings will be darkly highlighted to produce a weathered antique look.
It’s a really cool effect.
Basically, it’s all about making the farmhouse cabinets look old, aged, distressed, and worn-in. This can be achieved through the choice of materials, the color scheme, sanding down the paint, or using a special glaze (brown glaze over white paint) that makes the cabinet doors look ravaged by the hands of time. If you’re into this style then you also might be into glazed kitchen cabinets or more traditional cabinets.
