#Unfinished Kitchen Cabinets: Pictures, Options, Tips & Ideas

In terms of material, unfinished kitchen cabinets are almost exclusively made from wood, left in its natural state, without any stain, varnish or paint treatments. This means you or a contractor will be free to choose the treatment that works best for your kitchen.

You'll have almost unlimited options when it comes to completing the look of unfinished kitchen cabinets. The first and by far the easiest choice is to leave them in their stark, natural, unfinished state. Unfinished cabinets tend to give a kitchen a welcoming, rustic, casual feel, and certain types of wood like cherry, mahogany and ivory offer a high-quality unfinished appearance.

Your next option is to stain the cabinets, or add a veneer. Staining is more labor intensive, but it has a more natural look than a veneer, and the range of stain colors is much more diverse than the range of veneer colors.

Finally, you may choose to paint your unfinished kitchen cabinets. Again, you'll have every color in the rainbow and unlimited combinations thereof to choose from. If you do choose to paint, just be certain beforehand that you're willing to mask the wood's natural grain and appearance or some version of it in combination with a stain in favor of a particular paint color.