Beadboard cabinets: informal, cozy decor

Add visual interest to your kitchen or bathroom cabinets or your mud room with classic beadboard, which is typically used to achieve a vintage country or cottage look. Design options include buying beadboard cabinets or, for the DIY enthusiast, adding beadboard to existing cabinets. In open cabinet configurations or those with glass fronts, you can apply beadboard as the backboard for a more subtle design effect.

Beadboard runs vertically, which is the most common orientation, or horizontally. You can find individual tongue-and-groove planks or panels manufactured to look like separate boards, which can be cut to size. This versatile material is available in a variety of types of wood or even in PVC that mimics the look of wood. One manufacturer offered 16 different types of wood beadboard from ash to yellow pine, in standard board widths, lengths and thicknesses as well as custom sizing to match existing beadboard.