White shaker cabinets in Wilmington

Why it keeps winning

A shaker door is a square frame around a flat panel. There is nowhere for a bad mitre or a soft paint line to hide, which is exactly why it reads as well-made when it is well-made. It also refuses to date — the style is two centuries old and has outlasted every kitchen trend since.

White is not one color

Pure white goes cold under north light and blue next to a grey quartz. Most of the kitchens we finish in white are actually a warm off-white or a soft alabaster, chosen against the worktop and the floor in the room they are going into, not off a chip in the showroom. We will bring samples to the house.

What it is built from

We specify white shaker in painted finishes with a catalysed conversion varnish rather than a brushed-on paint, which is what stops the edges yellowing and chipping at the handle.

The coastal part nobody mentions

Wilmington kitchens live in humidity for five months a year, and a beach house sits empty with the air off. Painted five-piece doors move. We hang doors with that in mind and we will tell you where a slab or a stained door is the smarter call — a sunroom wet bar at Wrightsville is not the same job as an interior kitchen at Landfall.

Works with: honed black granite, warm white quartz, unlacquered brass, oak floors.