I can't show you yet as my kitchen isn't complete, but I too have shaker style doors on frameless boxes and am repeating the shaker look on the end panels.

I usually specify flush furniture end panels for the ends, and if there is a long back maybe something more decorative. I generally don't like applied panels that look like doors on the sides...furniture pieces themselves have clear sides and fronts so I don't mind the same in cabinetry.

Thanks! @palimpsest, what does a flush furniture end panel look like versus an applied panel? I tried hunting Google images for an example but I'm not sure what I'm looking for... I think our cabinetmaker is used to kitchens with more decorative elements than I want ours to have, so I'm trying to equip myself with images that show the look I want.

On a conventional face frame cabinet the face frame sticks out slightly beyond the side. A "furniture end" is a side that is flush. This can be done by choosing this option with some cabinets so they come that way from the shop, or by applying a "skin" onsite that fits on the side behind the edge of the face frame and brings the end out flush.

On a frameless cabinet I think all you have to do is specify matching finish on the sides.

hi artemis78 - am not there yet but wanted to say thanks for the referral to kevin. he came by yesterday. waiting for his quote, will let you know what happens.... sounds like things are progressing well for you.

Hi babushka! Glad you guys connected--and excited to see how your kitchen progresses. :) And yes, we're finally moving along after hitting a few glitches in HVAC-land (you know it's bad when not one but TWO contractors start a sentence with "well, your home inspector really should have told you this, but...") But--signed our first actual contract with the cabinetmaker this afternoon, so I guess this thing is actually going to happen! Now if only I can figure these silly last details out...

Back on end panels, I found a photo of what I think palimpsest is talking about in one of our kitchen books, but am thinking this will look a little odd for the giant 108" high end panels on our broom closet and refrigerator...is it commonly done at that scale too?

Here are a few. Not all are shaker but maybe they
can help you plan your own space.
~boxerpups

Remodeling Center

NBN News

Hampton Designs

Party Designs

Ephesus Remodeling

Starmark

Strom Ktichens

Crown Point Shaker

IVC Cabinets

Jennifer Gilmer Designs Maryland

Shelley Gordon Viahou

Kitchen And Bath Ideas

Crown Point

Boxerpups--you post the best pictures. Thanks for being here.
I like the idea of the sides looking like doors. Mine is going to be skins with applied molding. No pictures yet because they are not in.

" I generally don't like applied panels that look like doors on the sides...furniture pieces themselves have clear sides and fronts so I don't mind the same in cabinetry."

My arts and crafts style antique furniture pieces all have sides that mimic the front.

Thanks boxerpups---especially for the photos that show the full height panels, which I'd had trouble finding!

So I guess I just need to figure out what these all are called...the Starmark and the IVC cabinet looks (where the panel seems to be an extra piece attached to the cabinet) are what I'm hoping to avoid; in contrast, I do like the look of the Crown Point and Shelley Gordon ones, which seem more integrated. The Party Designs/Hampton/Ephesus approach (panels inset in their own frames) was what my cabinetmaker initially recommended, but I think that looks a bit odd as an end panel. I might just pull up these pictures for him to look at!

"'I generally don't like applied panels that look like doors on the sides...furniture pieces themselves have clear sides and fronts so I don't mind the same in cabinetry.'

'My arts and crafts style antique furniture pieces all have sides that mimic the front.""

Sure, my antique furniture (and my new furniture for that matter) has sides that are stylistically consitent with the front. However, what it does *not* have are fake door or drawer panels attached sides and back. That is a common solution in kitchens but one I try to avoid when doing kitchens.

palimpsest,
if you don't do the fake door panels, then how do you have the end of the cabinet finished? Do you have them trimmed with wood pieces at the point where the cab reaches the wall? Do you have any pictures?

I bought a kitchen display and the panels that came with mine are huge floor to ceiling cover panels, with 3" fluting on the front. Due to my kitchen shape and size, I can't use the 3" filler and I only need to finish one end of the kitchen. It's an L shape where the shorter leg meets drywall. I've been struggling with how to finish the ends.

Thanks!

Ends left undecorated can visually relieve a room full of same-faced cabinets.

Cabinet man was very insistent that we include the dummy trimming but I held firm and am glad I did. It's illogical to me to have doors into the same space from two sides, unless they're truly functional. We have asked NOT to have any "shaker" panels on our ends. It gives us a flat plane on which something else might be mounted--a decorative piece, towel rack, bulletin board, telephone, etc. Also, I won't have the dilemma of whether or not to put a knob on a phony door.

Because our cabinets are wood finish, it also gives a full panel of the oak veneer instead of a cut-up one, so it's important that the cabinetmaker be aware that you'd expect a good-looking hunk of veneer instead of one with too much screwy grain. (I wish I had included that proviso in my directions regarding end panels. One is not a show-off hunk of oak, sigh.)

Our cabinet man was very concerned with how to work the crown molding on a cabinet that had an end panel facing new lobby. He convinced us to inset the cabinet the depth of the molding so that there was no molding sticking into the lobby space and no need to tamper with the end of the molding. This leaves us with about 1.5 inches of paint to apply alongside the upper cabinet.

I have done similar to what is shown in the Crown Point photos above. or simply ordered a flush skin or a flush panel to cover it.

The Crown Point option was not in the budget for a long exposed back in one kitchen so we tiled it like the backsplash in matching subway. Her kids sit there so it was also very durable.

In another project where exposed cabinet back was flanked by drywall on each side we took the flooring (that ran 90 to the cabinet back) and ran it vertically up the back of the cabinets. This was a modern space and it looked nice because it reduced the number of materials. The other option was to run the quartz on this surface but it was too expensive.

The skins or panels available are generally not too expensive and creating a flush side is not too much of an upgrade if they have that option, but creating the inset panel like the Crown Point, which is beautiful, was an expensive option for the company we were using.

I also do pretty small kitchens, and a couple of them had no exposed ends at all because the cabinets were wall to wall.