i really like full overlay. whether they look modern or not, i think it can go either way, really. my island and baking center are full overlay and the peninsula (white) cabinets/drawers/doors are inset.

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Which area is your baking center.? What purpose is the stained wall cabinet? Can you post a couple more pics. Beautiful. Thanks.

True full overlay cabinets will look the same whether they are frame or frameless. There is very little gap between the doors and drawer fronts, so you can't see the frame. The only way to tell which they are is to open the door or drawer and see how they were constructed. Whether or not they are contemporary in appearance depends on the style you choose for the doors and drawer fronts. Both frame and frameless can look contemporary or old-fashioned. If you can find a cabinet maker that makes frameless, and you want full overlay, I would choose the frameless for the interior space benefit.

My cabinets are full overlay. I think contemporary is a term that is defined more by door style than construction type.

This came up in the fall and I'll link the thread below. Go about 2/3 the way down and you'll see cjc123's kitchen with both.

I am doing frameless full overlay for my lower cabs and inset for my upper. For my cabinet maker (amish) it was 10% less to do frameless and 10% more to do inset so I came out ahead (I have many more lower than upper cabinets). I wanted frameless on the lower cabinets anyway to eek out a little more space in my pullouts. By the way, my upper cabinets are 13" deep, which will offset the space lost by the inset doors.

Here is a link that might be useful: Overlay or inset cabinets?