Cabinets Rich in Color and Sleek in Style Allow Homeowners to Express Their IndividualityMixing it Up

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Home buyers are recognizing the utility of drawers, and are asking for more of them. In fact, says Troxell, some builders and remodelers are hanging fewer wall cabinets and installing more undercounter drawers.

One of the most popular recent design innovations is invisible: easy-does-it drawer runners and cabinet hinges that slow the door down before it slams shut so it doesn't make any noise when it catches. Pioneered by Blum, other manufacturers have added the silent runners to their cabinets during the last year.

Such innovations are coming at a time when the cabinet industry has hit a slump.

For more than a decade, cabinet sales have grown right along with the booming housing demand and the healthy kitchen remodeling market. But, like home sales, they took a bleak turn in 2006, according to Research and Markets, which reports on market trends.

Still, Cleveland-based industry research firm The Freedonia Group predicts that U.S. demand for cabinets will expand 3.1 percent a year until the end of the decade despite sinking home sales because homeowners are demanding more cabinets in the kitchen and other areas like laundry and media rooms.

A recent Merillat survey of new home buyers backs up that contention: It reveals that cabinets are their highest-priority kitchen item—more than twice as important as appliances. -- BUILDING PRODUCTS

The New White

White cabinets aren't completely out of style; they're just a bit more muted than the stark white that has been so popular for so long.

Glazes that give a worn, antique look to a white cabinet are in favor, as are muted off-whites with soft gray tones.

"White is one of those classics that never goes away," says John Troxell, director of design for Wood-Mode. "It may trend down or up. Right now, we've noticed a little bit of an uptrend in it."

The Hot Zone

"The kitchen," says Bellevue, Wash., designer Richard Landon,"doesn't begin in the kitchen. It begins in the garage."

That's where the homeowner unloads the groceries that will wind up in the kitchen.

First, she must make her way—with groceries, purse, car keys, and maybe muddy shoes—through the garage and the laundry or mud room—before she can drop her bags on the kitchen countertop.

Along the way, says Landon, she's got no place for her keys or purse to land. A few well-placed cabinets would make the trip easier.