The wonderful thing about choosing glass as the material for your new kitchen doors is that you are still not limiting yourself to a single style or look. Glass is such an amazingly diverse and versatile material that your glass kitchen doors can be completely unique no matter what color you choose or what surrounding material you decide on.

You will have the option of displaying the contents of your cabinets or lighting them from within to provide a feature through the cabinet doors or, if you prefer you might choose an opaque appearance. Such is the versatility that a set of patterned kitchen doors provides.

There are many different options of patterned kitchen doors available, in fact, the options are virtually only bounded by your own imagination. Take a plain glass door and remove the panels and you are left with a blank canvas that will allow you to create any design or look that you fancy. The door to the right is an example of what can be achieved if using a ribbed glass style.

If you find a glass manufacturer that will help you with your vision the end result will not only be visually stunning but can also provide you with a one-of-a-kind unique facade to feature in the kitchen.

Of course, there are ready made options available that also use various different types of patterned glass to give you a more standard effect. While this may not set your kitchen apart from others, it is a more cost effective way to go.

Here are some of the patterned glass options that are available to you that will help create all kinds of amazing looking glass doors.

Frosted glass – this is glass that has been blown with fine sand to give it an opaque look.
Bubbled glass – the glass takes on a bubbled appearance through the introduction of air bubbles in the manufacturing process
Etched glass – another opaque type of appearance through the use of hydrofluoric acid although the etching can be used to create patterns and other designs in the glass
Colored glass – the glass can be tinted to whatever preferred color you require. You might have the option of featuring the colored glass on its own or use a section of colored glass as part of a larger effect.
Stained glass – the use of stained glass inserts is an old-style technique that has never gone out of fashion
Ribbed glass – this gives the glass a lined appearance and the lines may run horizontally, vertically or diagonally

Apart from the effects that can be added to the glass itself, there are a number of different ways in which the glass can be displayed to create a wonderfully patterned appearance on the door. Bevelled glass, which contains ground edges to give it a rather sophisticated look.

Mullion glass is a particularly popular way of using glass in the doors of a wooden cabinet unit. The wood strips section off the glass nicely for an attractive, homely feel. This style of glass door can be seen to the left.

A consistent mix of a few of the different glass styles and effects may also provide you with an interesting and effective result. Mixing tinted glass with frosted glass in a mullioned pattern is something that can exercise your creative flair.

There is always the option of using plain glass in the doors of your kitchen cabinets but a more patterned appearance is more likely to be pleasing and challenging to the eye.

It seems that there is a simple way in which to turn your kitchen doors from a look that is plain and simple into a more interesting one. The look is opaque glass and changing your kitchen doors from the existing style to opaque glass is a very easy process even if you want to do it yourself, although the simplest way to get a frosted glass look is to pay to have someone do it for you.

It doesn’t matter if you already have glass kitchen doors or solid wood kitchen doors, the process of updating them to the new look is relatively cheap and simple. There are many kitchen door refacing professionals who will be able to take your doors and give them a new look based on your specifications. If you are going to alter wooden kitchen doors that already have plain glass the process will be even easier with a template already prepared that will make cutting the new opaque glass to size a simple task.

Converting solid wooden doors to be inset with opaque glass will be a job that will be slightly more difficult but relatively speaking is still not a difficult thing to do. This is a door refacing job that is carried out very regularly and there are many companies who will be able to carry out the task with a minimum of fuss.

There is an added benefit to getting a professional door refacing specialist to do the job for you in that they will also carry out any other improvements required to ensure that the doors look brand new again. Any chips or nicks that marred the surface of the doors can be repaired as part of the update process.

The fundamental advantage of using clear glass in your kitchen doors is that it breaks up any other detail work that is put in around it. Flashy back splashes or tiling are the sort or features that you want to stand out and if you install equally as flashy kitchen doors they would compete and neither would win. The result would be an outcome in which neither feature would win.

Clear Glass As A Highlight

Glass kitchen doors will highlight the parts of the kitchen that you want to highlight, whether that be inside the cabinet in which it is fronting or sitting next to a design showpiece.

You can even add extra highlights to the interior of a kitchen cabinet by putting lighting behind the glass. Rather than sitting quietly and unnoticed the glass cabinet doors can become a shadow box that shows off your favorite china.

Clear Glass As A Complement

By using the same materials to frame the glass, the kitchen doors would blend in nicely with the rest of the kitchen. However a very modern design feature that works really well is to put in frameless glass doors. These clean lines using clear, frosted or colored glass are very innovative and can be very effective in creating an impressive room even more outstanding.

Plain clear glass is a neutral material that won’t compete with other surfaces and has the effect of complementing whatever it is placed next to. As long as it is kept clean of smudges and fingerprints it will do its job as showing off the rest of the kitchen.

Clear Glass Can Be Cheaper

Because of the perception that clear glass is on the boring side you might find that these types of doors will be cheaper than etched, frosted or colored glass. As an offset piece the clear glass will be invaluable, it’s a bonus that it will come cheap.

Because there is a lot more work that has to go into creating the design features of opaque class or colored glass, it makes sense that it will cost a bit more. These types of glass doors would be required as the showpiece features of your kitchen. If you’re not looking for the doors to stand out, clear glass will serve that role very well.

Glass kitchen doors are an ultra-modern way to take your kitchen to the next level. I’ll admit they may not be for everyone. But for those on the frontiers of style and fashion, these are probably the single best way to go.

Of course, not all glass kitchen cabinet doors will give such a sharp, futuristic look. Some are designed in a more muted fashion, and will serve in the more functional way of merely letting you see what’s in your cabinets without actually having to open them. (This is a benefit that could not be overstated!) So this industry definitely caters to a wide variety of persuasions and tastes.

If you want to do the job yourself then you will first have to buy some frames for your kitchen doors. Choose whatever style you like, and that you think will go well with your panes. Then you will have to decide on whether to get a tempered glass or a regular type. If you have kids running around, then it may make more sense to go with tempered because if it were to shatter, it would break into “safe” pieces. You will have to pay more in order for this option, though.

Another thing to think about is if you want to frost it. This is purely a design consideration, so you may want to look at pictures and examples that you can even find online in order to decide on this aspect. The opaqueness of these types of glass kitchen doors, particularly the kind of doors that are made without any visible frames, undoubtedly gives them a very sleek and sophisticated look.

If you go with frosted glass, it will be hard to clean. This is due to the fact that it is actually just sand-blasted. Another point about plain glass kitchen doors that you need to remember is that they do break easily. This may be a better fit for outside your kitchen, such as a china cabinet in the dining room.

Another terrific looking feature that can be incorporated into a glass kitchen door to give it some added appeal is etching. An etched glass kitchen door will be treated with hydrofluoric acid to carve a design into the surface of the glass. This will give you the look of a very modern glass kitchen door as a result.

Naturally you also have the option of going for a stained glass door, with stained glass inserts creating the design on the glass. Stained glass is sometimes considered to be a bit old school so you might find yourself challenged to keep the design more modern and contemporary and presenting something bold and new rather than something that immediately has a dated look.

In all of these things, you’re really going to have to think about a lot of factors: who is in your family, how old are they, do you entertain a lot, how fancy or not fancy do you want the room to look, etc. The questions go on and on, but this article should be a good primer on the basic aspects that you need to consider. Beyond that, you’ll of course have to consult your own budget, and the only point I have to make about this is that if you make a good choice every dollar spent will return a lot in terms of people’s impression of your redesigned kitchen doors.

Find out more about different types of kitchen doors such as:

MDF Kitchen Doors