I prefer slab for the same reason. It's easier to clean. I was raised by a mom who was always modern/contemporary. She could immediately point to ANY piece of furniture and tell you how much time would be wasted on dusting/cleaning. Shaker would be as far as it goes and never, ever white in the kitchen lol. I lean toward modern/contemporary. I think that has a lot to do with preferring slab cabinets. However, as an artist and someone tuned into aesthetics with literally EVERYTHING, I think it also depends on the amount of cabinets and whether they will be in an open vs enclosed space. The more ornate, the bigger the space should be I would think. And for a super clean look not only slab fronts but drawers instead of cabinets for which I'm inclined also. Just be sure to have longer, more visible but varied hardware or suffer a sea of white or almond or wood. I'm seeing more kitchens with mostley drawers and am soooo happy. The convenience of pulling out a 4 ft deep drawer to see ALL of my pots and pans at once. Stand back and scan your home as you walk into or face your kitchen and picture what color, and what pattern. I know what I'd do with a big kitchen. I'd split the difference. I'd do a different color and slab front bottoms with lots of drawers and have shaker uppers. Or if I had a flush wall of cabinets that houses a fridge and ovens. If there are a lot of uppers, make sure some have patterned glass to break it up or just open shelves (dusting always).

Veneer is a much greener choice. It takes the desirable wood and allows say 100 people to enjoy that tree instead of just 2 that would consume it for solid wood cabinets. Veneering over plywood is very tricky and usually most top quality cabinet makers won't do it. THe problem is that you have to have a very very smooth substrate, and plywood just isn't smooth enough or contains knots. Those knots and grain patterns of the substrate plywood can telegraph through the veneer and show. That's NOT what you want in a job. It's a myth that plywood is somehow more "real wood" than is MDF. Both are composed of wood! Plywood is very very thin veneer layers laid cross grain to each other and glued and pressed together. Good quality plywood has no internal voids and all the layers are composed of the same quality wood material, such as baltic birch. Poor quality plywood is crap. It has skips and voids and big knotholes etc. MDF is small offcuts from the milling process separated into the basic fibers of the tree. When those fibers are combined with glues and pressed, the grains go every which way, which creates strength. It also creates an extremely smooth surface which is perfect for furniture construction. The terms partical board, and MDF are routinely interchanged without much thought as to the fact that they really aren't interchangeable. Partical board has visible wood fibers and can be compressed at a density of anywhere from around 14 pounds per square inch for the cheap round bed tables that fall apart when you put a drink on them to 60 pounds per square inch with better quality glues that can sit in water for an hour or two and show no ill effects. MDF is smaller and more invisible fibers and compressed under higher pressure. It's actually a lot more wood per square inch than any plywood is if you want to get technical! Ask any cabinet installer. They don't prefer plywood for durabiliy. They prefer it because it's a lot lighter and makes their job easier when hanging. When cabnets are made from factory sourced desirable wood plywood, then the cherry or teak or whatever is the desirable grain is the final layer on the plywood and is done on quality no knots or voids plywoood at a cross grain to the previous layer with good quality glues. The desirable wood is generally thicker than shop applied veneer, so even if there is a problem with the substrate, the veneer won't telegraph the issue. It's pretty easy to take that good quality plywood and edge band it and create slab cabinet doors. I could do that, and I don't even own a panel saw, just a good table saw. However, it's pretty difficult to take any plywood, good quality or not, and apply a thin veneer to it in shop without it telegraphing the plywood substrate at some point. A good quality vacuum press will suck that thin veneer right to the substrate and mold it to it, and that includes any substrate graining patterns if they exist. That's why MDF is the traditional substance used for veneer work. Yes, you can find thicker veneers out there to go on plywood, but they are specialty items and pretty expensive and usually reserved for fine furniture rather than cabinetry. If you want your cabinets made like fine furniture, you can certainly have it done. Just be prepared to pay the labor and materials to have it done---and be prepared to take those cabinets with you when you move like they do in Europe. THe next owner may not appreciate the quality and paint over them or rip them out.

I love slab doors, and white slab doors are a very cool choice. White slab is clean lines. A lot of people need busy. They want each element to beautiful due to detailing. But elements can be beautiful because of their purity. A couple of things to keep in mind, what is the norm on GW is not necessarily the norm where you live or in your demographic. You should consider the style of your house when deciding on the style of your kitchen. Everyone looks at pictures during their kitchen remodel and second guesses their choices- be prepared. My kitchen is a combination of walnut slab perimeter and painted slab door island. I definitely got the advice to 'do something different' with the island doors. I heard 'they will be so plain' . They are not plain, they are simple. They have clean lines. Clean lines soothe me. My house is busy architecturally from the presence of exposed beams. It is busy in general because we have a lot going on. Here are some pictures from Houzz to help you. You may want to think about the tone of your kitchen, what will balance the white slab? Will you go cool, or will you add natural elements, texture, color for warmth and contrast? It can all work, just make deliberate choices to ensure that it does. [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Vancouver Architects & Designers mango design co [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Other Metro Interior Designers & Decorators Deborah Freedman Design [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Miami Architects & Designers Jorge Rosso Architecture/Interiors

Patricia,, The original Brasilia design was by Broyhill. They did it as a homage to the Capital city of Brasíilia, which was named in 1960. The architect there came out w/some very modern designs for the capital building. Broyhill decided to run w/that design and created the The Brasilia line (hence how their company got to patent the actual name of the city. The patent wasn't filed until 1963, prob because they saw all of the copy cats!) The Brasilia design was debuted in 1962 at the Worlds Fair. Kent Coffey came out w/the Perspecta in 1963. Doesn't matter who started making furniture first, the original design of those arches was done first by Broyhill.