You can have a door panel made and apply it to the side that faces the living room.

In my case, I'm making a framed blackboard to hang on my cabinet end for my grandchildren to write on.

Some cabinet companies will build the end panel treatment right into the cabinet or you have to order the panel which is basically a cabinet door applied to the whole frame. The end has to be flush finished or a skin applied to bring it flush with the stile.

It adds the cost of the door to the cabinet. It is also something that can be added later if you hate the plain look.

Here is a pic of my finished end treatment. I ordered it done by the cabinet company. I think it added $150 to the cabinet price but gives it a finished furniture look. I also added the furniture base molding too.

Agree with previous posters. Panels that look like your cabinet doors look gorgeous! I also like the chalkboard idea.

I'd buy the extra door panels. Another option might be beaded board with a walnut stain.

I think you are right that it might not look ideal if it's just a flat panel. I have two exposed cabinet ends in a galley kitchen. Here's how mine were done by the cabinetmaker.

{{!gwi}}

Thanks for all the ideas so far. The false door is a good idea - I can see for some styles (such as yours, cleo 2007) the false door works -exceeding- well! Gibby3000- Your full height cabinet ends photo describes *Exactly* our problem - we have an exposed a full height cabinet run end.

I need to think about it your solutions works with my scenario. Here is an example of the style of cabinets we are using (brochure photos from the manufacturer)

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

well in your case, it looks like you have slab doors on your cabinets, I think I plain flat panel would be the way to go. I mean, what else could you do that would tie in with the rest of your cabinets? Or just adding that strip of stainless (is that what that is?) at the top to make it look like a cabinet door. Do your upper cabs have that strip of stainless? Is that an integrated pull?

Hi rmlanza,

Your guess is right - that strip of stainless is an integrated pull.

The upper cabs are like the picture I have below. There is a small pull on it (you can see the pull in the upper cab farthest from the photo)..

{{!gwi}}

another idea is to buy moulding to match your cabinets and apply it in a simple square pattern on the exposed ends.

we wanted to match our cabinet door to the exposed side of the box that's enclosing our fridge, but it would've cost way too much, so we're just buying moulding and 'creating' a cabinet door look for far less money.

We did a similar thing tho we don't have that L facing directly into the family room. Instead we have this peninsula that fronts in both rooms and has exposed sides between them.

I did not choose end panels for a couple reasons. I think they're overkill (a personal aesthetic) particularly where we had the broad space of two banks of cabinets back to back and all that richly finished wood to look at. Besides, we have different door styles on the kitchen and family room sides. They share the same wood and stain but look, otherwise, quite different so coming up with something compatible would have been an issue.

As for blind doors, in the pic the doors on the right side of that console on the family door side are the dummies. The real door is in the blank that is in the pass through where it's more accessible to the kitchen and breakfast area. It has a piece of green painters' tape on it because the pop latch hadn't been installed yet.

I think with your style of cabinets, the plain end is the only option. It would look silly to have a dressed up end with that style cabinets. The beauty is in the simplicity. They are really beautiful, can't wait to see it finished.

Cleo, I like the looks of your kitchen. Is it in the FKB? I didn't see it. Thanks!

Hi jhwu,
I do not know what's cooking with your living/dining area but, how about a flat panel tv? The electricitiy can be installed inside the cabinet, or not.
We are considering a flat panel tv on the end run of our cabinets. We are not tv watchers but there have been times I'd have liked to watch or even listen to tv news.
Love your kitchen. Love minimalist. It's awesome. Please, share the name of cab maker. Thanks. Bev

Hi all, thanks for your input. I really appreciate it.

Westsider40 - the cabinet maker is Henrybuilt.

They are based in Seattle with two showrooms, one in Seattle and one in NYC.

We considered the usual passel of European brands like Scavolini, Pedini, Siematic, Bulthaup, Poggenpohl, etc. but finally decided on Henrybuilt because:

1) Henrybuilt is American. :-) Its a good feeling to buy American.
2) All those Euro brands seemed a little too severe in aesthetic, whereas Henrybuilt's natural woods and PLAM colors seemed a bit more accessible & honest.
3) We considered Venicia by Kraftsmaid but decided that the look was a bit too flashy for us.
4) Again, the weak US dollar made buying American an attractive choice
5) Henrybuilt production techniques are quite green - off gassing limits are orders of magnitude below federally acceptable levels, etc - but honestly, the green reasoning wasn't too high on our list.

Here is a link that might be useful: HenryBuilt Kitchens

Thanks for advice re HenryBuilt Kitchens. Bev

Hi,

The installation of our Henrybuilt kitchen (all walnut) is almost done. You can see pics at the below link - the refrigerator has not yet been paneled, but you can see that there is a walnut box around it, and the exposed end looks great (the veneer that Henrybuilt uses is gorgeous). I'll have more photos up on the blog tonight, so check back again tomorrow for a few updated images. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our House With Henrybuilt Kitchen

jhwu - do you have pics of your finished kitchen? Are they on FKB? We're thinking of doing Henrybuilt also, but wanted to see some 'real' kitchens, not their website ones.

lina 2006 - I'd love to show the kitchen to you ---- except we're not done yet. Not even close. Talk about remodelling taking a long time.... (we're tearing a house down to its studs and starting over)

We started in Sept 2006. Now its May 2008 .... and we haven't even started any construction! We're still in permitting stage. We spent a year battling various city planning commissions, holding neighborhood notifications, battling nosy neighbors, etc. We've put our $$ down to reserve a spot in the HB reservation system though.

I promise to show it when its done though! (Maybe 2009)...