Trend Watch: Floor-to-Ceiling Cabinets Help Drive Demand for Wood

Floor to Ceiling Cabinets by Tamar Barnoon via Remodelista

There’s a new kitchen trend helping to drive demand for wood in home renovations: elegant, practical floor-to-ceiling cabinetry. Not only is this style picking up momentum among interior design enthusiasts all over the world, the new Global Cabinets Market 2018 – 2022 report notes that demand will likely continue to rise, and that’s good news for cabinet manufacturers, independent woodworkers and lumber in general. The majority of these cabinets are made of softwoods like pine.

Condo renovation by Mark Gerwing in Boulder, Colorado via Houzz
Condo renovation by Mark Gerwing in Boulder, Colorado via Houzz
French chateau-style country kitchen by Jack Rosen via Houzz
French chateau-style country kitchen by Jack Rosen via Houzz

Floor-to-ceiling cabinets dramatically expand storage capacity while keeping clutter to a minimum, and the result is a clean, sleek look that visually expands the room to make the ceilings seem higher than they are. Some might have a simple modern look free of hardware, making use of wide expanses of knotty plywood, while others are more traditional.

Floor to ceiling cabinets by Plain English
Floor to ceiling cabinets by Plain English

A beautiful kitchen by UK design firm Plain English shows off how they can be adapted for the understated elegance of a farmhouse, for example, including the addition of a library ladder.

Floor to Ceiling Cabinets by Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin via Remodelista
Floor to Ceiling Cabinets by Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin via Remodelista

In Los Angeles, architects Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin made a blank wall far more functional with the installation of pale pink cabinetry accented with rose gold hardware.

Traditional entry in Chicago by Randall Architects via Houzz
Traditional entry in Chicago by Randall Architects via Houzz

Over at Houzz, floor-to-ceiling cabinetry shows up everywhere from glossy modern apartments in Knightsbridge, London to lakeside homes in Vermont, and demonstrates how they can be used outside the kitchen, too. Check out this dramatic entryway in Chicago by Randall Architects, painted a deep spruce green.

Handy enough to give it a go yourself? Check out a guide to DIY floor-to-ceiling built-in cabinets at Woodshop Diaries.

Design with Pine: Kitchen Cabinet Inspiration Gallery

Minacciolo Modern Knotty Pine Kitchen

Need a little visual inspiration to add some spark to your kitchen remodel daydreams? Check out this collection of gorgeous pine kitchen cabinets in a variety of styles, from modern and industrial to rustic lake houses to beach cottages in Miami. Whether it’s just sealed with protective coat, stained dark or painted, pine remains a classic choice for kitchen cabinets, floors, islands and so many other applications.

Modern Knotty Pine Kitchen by Minacciolo

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The ‘Natural Skin’ kitchen by Minacciolo blends warm, textural knotty pine with sleek stainless steel to spectacular effect. The heat-treated wood is protected with an impregnating varnish that allows the raw wood to shine through.

Heart Pine at Briar Creek Farm by Robert McCain

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This country kitchen in Charleston, South Carolina by Robert McCain has a high-end yet folksy and approachable mood thanks to cabinetry and a free-standing hutch made of heart pine.

Privathaus 8 by AREA

Privathaus 8

The simple cabinets in the modern ‘Privathaus 8’ by AREA are pleasantly knotty, blending into a melange of other wood species.

Eastern White Pine Kitchen in Toronto by Kelly Baron

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Eastern White Pine Kitchen Toronto 2

A rustic lake house in Toronto designed by L.A.-based Kelly Baron feels both cozy and contemporary with pine cabinetry finished off by modern hardware.

Pine ‘Music Barn’ Kitchen by Birdseye Design

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‘Music Barn’ by Vermont’s Birdseye Design is a rustic retreat for musicians set within a beautifully remodeled original barn structure from the 1890s. The designers used salvaged pine from the barn and re-milled it into the cabinetry, trim, doors and architectural woodworking.

Modern Knotty Pine Kitchen by Coblonal Arquitectura

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Coblonal Arquitectura created this beautiful pale pine home in the tiny European nation of Andorra, using the material for cabinetry, ceilings, wall planks, the dining table and more.

Dramatic Knotty Pine Kitchen Cabinets by Bates Masi Architects

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Knotty Pine adds some serious punch to the Noyack Creek House by Bates Masi Architects, a restful retreat on a tidal estuary in New York.

Matching Pine Flooring & Cabinets by Hull Forest Products

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This bright, beachy home in Miami, Florida brings in a touch of nature with rustic modern cabinets that match the wide-plank Eastern White Pine flooring from Hull Forest Products.

Hot Kitchens: 4 Modern White Pine Plywood Cabinet Designs

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Who knew that ultra-affordable kitchens could look so good? Conventional cabinetry is undeniably beautiful, and Eastern White Pine is an ideal material to work with, not only because of its malleability and natural beauty, but because it costs less than many other varieties of wood. But you can go even more budget-friendly with pine plywood, without losing any style points. In fact, raw plywood plays a big role in minimalist modern interior design, favored for its Scandinavian-style simplicity.

Flinders Lane Apartment by Clare Cousins

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flinders lane kitchen

We love the way the pine floors of this London apartment seem to extend right up the faces of the cabinets thanks to their pine plywood faces. Clare Cousins Architects left all of the wood in this home in its natural state to emphasize its textural patterns and encourage visual cohesion.

Maison Renovation by M-Architecture

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M-Architecture renovated this old apartment in Brussels, opening up its facade with generous installations of glass, flooding the interiors with natural light. The smooth pine plywood cabinets in the tranquilly simple kitchen add to the brightening effect.

Compact Budapest Apartment

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The use of a wall-sized pine pegboard in this ultra-tiny apartment in Budapest is a clever choice, providing modular, customizable storage and display options in a space where every inch counts.

Pale Pine Beauty by Made Architecture

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Simple notches in the trim make it easy to open these pale pine cabinet doors by Made Architecture while keeping the faces entirely hardware-free for a minimalist effect.

White Pine Custom Closets: Inspirational Organization

Eastern White Pine Custom Closets 1

Just as it’s ideal for any other kind of cabinetry, Eastern White Pine makes a great choice as a main material for custom closets, whether you’re building your walk-in dream closet or adding new doors to an existing closet.  It’s less expensive than most other solid woods, yet stronger and more aesthetically appealing than synthetic materials and composites.

Carpenters love working with Eastern White Pine because it’s so easy to cut and carve, plus you can paint or stain it virtually any color for effects ranging from the subtle and natural to the dramatic. It’s lightweight and strong, holding up under heavy loads of clothes and shoes.

Eastern White Pine Custom Closets 2

Many custom closet manufacturers offer white pine as an option when designing the perfect closet based on customer specifications. The black-painted modern closet seen above was crafted from Eastern White Pine by Jaffa Group. The top photo, showing a rustic custom closet by Artistic Design for Living, offers up inspiration for contrasting finishes.

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Delnero Custom Furniture Company of New York builds beautiful hand-crafted built-in closet cabinets that can be inserted into existing closet space, or stand alone in rooms without closets.

Sanctuary: Cozy Vermont Home is an Eastern White Pine Showcase

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The character of Eastern White Pine shines through in every wooden surface of Sanctuary, a beautiful Shaker-style home in Burlington, Vermont. This 1,850-square-foot, three-bedroom home by Cushman Design Group is a sustainable getaway with rustic charm and contemporary comfort, featuring large plate-glass windows that look out onto the tranquil meadow setting.

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The owners, Demaris Wehr and David Hart, wanted a design that would connect thematically and emotionally with the woodland Vermont setting. They showed the architects an image of a fairy house in Wales as inspiration, and the result is an inviting modernized interpretation. Cushman Design Group, of Vermont, often features Eastern White Pine in their creations, ranging from modern homes and historic-style barns to commercial interiors.
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Locally harvested Eastern White Pine is the star of the show here, from the exterior siding to the kitchen cabinets. All natural wood surfaces in the home are treated with polymerized tung oil rather than oil-based urethanes for a greener finish that highlights the beauty of the wood.

EWP Sanctuary 3

All of these surfaces, including the shiplap ceiling and the wide-plank floors, were custom-built. The countertops are heart pine, procured from standing dead trees. The Eastern White Pine surfaces even extend to the furniture, with built-in dressers, shelving and bathroom vanities.

Photographs by Susan Teare, used with permission