Contemporary Cabinets

Contemporary cabinets at ADORNO bring together wood, metal, stone and resin in forms that favor clean lines, visible joinery and material honesty over ornament. The studios behind them work across cabinetmaking, metalwork, CNC milling and hand finishing, producing pieces as open editions, limited editions or unique pieces. What ties the group together is less a single look than a shared attention to proportion, surface and how a cabinet sits in a room.

What sets the contemporary style apart

A cabinet in this style reads as considered rather than decorated. Fronts tend toward flat planes or simple curves, hardware disappears into push-catches or recessed pulls, and color comes from the material itself: the gray of raw aluminum, the warmth of oak, the depth of a lacquered black or off-white front. Where pattern appears, it is more likely to come from grain, carving or a painted gesture than from anything applied on top.

Materials and methods behind contemporary cabinets

Oak and other woods remain the most common base, worked through cabinetmaking and, on select fronts, marquetry or wood carving for texture. Metal cabinets, often in aluminum or brass, come from welding, metalwork and powder coating, which gives a durable, even color that resists chipping better than paint. Stoneware and carved stone bodies appear less often but carry weight and a cold-to-touch mass that plywood or resin pieces do not. Hand-painted fronts and resin inlays bring multicolor or gold accents against otherwise quiet silver, black or dark brown bodies.

• Wood, oak, plywood and metal for structure and fronts
• Brass, aluminum and stoneware for hardware, legs and accent panels
• Hand painting, stone carving and marquetry for surface and pattern
• Open editions, limited editions and unique pieces, depending on the maker's process

Choosing scale, height and placement

Start with the wall or floor space a cabinet will occupy, then check its depth against the room's traffic: a sideboard that reads as slim in a showroom can crowd a narrow dining room. Heights run from low consoles near coffee-table level to tall storage that meets eye level, so match the piece to what it needs to hold and to the furniture beside it. Finish matters as much as size: a pale oak or off-white front lightens a small room, while a black or dark brown body gives a large wall a fixed point.

Where contemporary cabinets work

Living rooms take them as media storage or display, dining rooms as sideboards for linens and glassware, entryways as a first landing point for keys and coats. A home bar cabinet suits a dining room or a living room corner built for serving, while an entryway cabinet favors a narrower, taller body suited to a hallway.

Living with wood, metal and stone

Oak and other solid woods darken slightly with light exposure and benefit from an oil or wax finish reapplied every year or two. Powder-coated metal wipes clean with a damp cloth and resists fingerprints better than gloss lacquer. Stone and stoneware fronts should be sealed against staining and kept away from direct, prolonged sun, which can dull painted or resin surfaces over time.

For a wider view of the style, the full range of contemporary design on ADORNO extends beyond storage, while the broader cabinet category spans more styles and periods. Those drawn to a single material can narrow further through wooden cabinets or metal cabinets, and anyone after a one-off can look at unique cabinets made as single pieces rather than runs, a natural next stop after contemporary cabinets built in open or limited editions.