5 Kitchen Cabinet Trends You’ll See in 2026

Every summer, MasterBrand, a leading cabinet manufacturer, releases its annual cabinetry design and trend report, and it’s something we look forward to every year here at Real Simple, because we love talking kitchen design! It’s always fascinating to see the choices consumers are making and where design is headed next. 

This year’s report is based on the company’s annual survey of designers from over 7,000 dealers. So we chatted with Stephanie Pierce, director of design and trends at MasterBrand, who walked us through the top findings—here are the kitchen cabinet trends you can expect to see next year.

Blended Styles Are Dominating—but Farmhouse Is Still Popular

MasterBrand’s survey revealed that the three most popular design styles for kitchen cabinets are soft modern, transitional, and modern traditional, though it’s important to note that of those three, transitional is starting to decline precipitously. The aesthetic, known for its simpler, more neutral style, emerged during the late aughts, and up until very recently, was dominating design. 

But Pierce says this year only 38% of survey respondents vouched for the style, compared to roughly 70% in previous years. Her theory for this sudden decline is that “transitional” was never meant to be a design aesthetic. “I think it was a description coming out of the recession,” Pierce explains. “Everyone was worried about their property values, and so everybody went really conservative, and that really was what kicked off this decade-and-a-half of white shaker era that we’ve been living in.”

Pierce also pointed out that the top three most popular styles are actually blends of multiple design aesthetics—a decade ago, modern and traditional were opposite ends of the spectrum, but nowadays, modern traditional is an “absolutely valid design style.” This shift prompted the brand to ask survey respondents what the most blended styles are—and despite all the opinion pieces denouncing it, farmhouse style came out on top. Today, designers are playing around with the farmhouse aesthetic, so it’s not quite Joanna Gaines-esque. 

“Really, farmhouse is just kind of a more casual, livable feel—it doesn’t have to be shiplap anymore,” Pierce explains. “It does generally still have some element of white, but even farmhouse is broadening and evolving, and as you blend it with these other style terminologies, you really do create brand new aesthetics.”

White Cabinets Are Really Out

We’ve been saying this for years: White cabinets are slowly being phased out of kitchens, and MasterBrand came through with hard numbers to prove this. “For the first time in the nine years we’ve been doing this survey, white is not the number one preferred finish,” Pierce says. ”It’s not only not number one anymore, but it fell to number three.” In the design world, that’s kind of groundbreaking, because it’s dominated kitchens for well over a decade!  

“Light stains” are now the number one preferred finish for kitchen cabinets, followed by off-white. Wood tones have been coming back, and while light stains are the top choice, mid-tone stains aren’t too far behind. “We’re already hearing a lot of conversation about keeping it bright and light and airy in the home,” Pierce says. “You can certainly do that with a light stain, but as soon as you do a light stain on cabinetry and a light stain on floor, you need contrast, and so that’s where we’re already hearing designers talk about the floor going mid-tone or the cabinetry going mid-tone.”

Pierce predicts that we’ll likely get one more year of light stains in cabinetry, but by 2027, mid-tone stains will be the preferred color choice. 

Multiple Colors—All Over—Are In 

So yes, the survey confirmed that wood tones are hot right now—and white is very not hot. But it also revealed that homeowners are hungry for color, and they’re incredibly confident about the application, too. Pierce notes that over the last two years, there’s been a 15% increase in color on the “perimeter” of a kitchen—not just the island—where it’s historically been the star. 

She also notes that the brand is still seeing a lot of white and off-white utilized, but it’s no longer the primary color. “We’re seeing it being utilized as a secondary or even tertiary color,” Pierce explains. “Most kitchens have at least two finishes now. In fact, many kitchens are starting to have three, four, and in some cases, even five finishes!” 

White Oak Is Still the Preferred Wood Type

We mentioned stains earlier, and while they’re being applied to all types of wood like hickory, pecan, and even cherry, consumers are still going strong for white oak, which is a beautiful but very premium species—and it’s not sustainable, as it ages very slowly. Pierce admits that white oak lends itself nicely to light stains, but according to her, you can actually get a similar effect with red oak, which is more readily available. 

“There are workarounds,” Pierce says. “We’ve created a lot of those light stains with the intent to make them work well on a red oak. It gives you all the same grain characteristics.” Though she noted that we’ll naturally see the preference for white oak diminish, reiterating her prediction that over the next two years, mid-tones stains and woods will become more popular.

More People Are Making Space for Custom Pantries 

Pantries, especially the kind with tricked-out cabinets, have truly exploded in size over the last few years. MasterBrand confirmed that there has been a gradual uptick in requests for walk-in pantries. In new construction, they see requests for this feature almost 100% of the time. Pierce points out it gets tricky in a remodel, though: What do you give up in order to get that pantry, and is it more valuable than what you’re giving up? 

It turns out, the dining space is the first thing to go to make room for a spacious pantry. “One of my favorite stories is this formal dining room that got switched, and they used that square footage to create a mudroom, a walk-in laundry room, and a walk-in pantry,” Pierce recounts. “It was so much more valuable to that homeowner’s lifestyle, because those are three key organizational areas that meant more to them than having a formal dining area that got used twice a year.” Fair enough!