Okay, this is actually a pretty big deal in the design world: white kitchen cabinets are no longer No. 1.
According to the latest Houzz Kitchen Trends Study, wood cabinets jumped 6 percentage points this year and are now the most popular choice among renovating homeowners—29% chose wood versus 28% choosing white. It's only a one-point victory, but considering how long white has dominated kitchens, that one point feels much bigger.
Ok, how long are we talking? Houzz was already reporting white as the leading cabinet choice back in 2015, when 38% of renovating homeowners selected it. A decade later, in 2025, white was still No. 1. We've gone through farmhouse kitchens, gray-everything, modern minimalism, brass hardware, black hardware, open shelving—and somehow the white kitchen just kept winning. Until now...
And this isn't the return of the orange-oak kitchen from 1993. The wood we're seeing now is warmer, quieter and more natural: visible grain, white oak, walnut and especially those medium wood tones. In fact, medium-toned wood is the biggest piece of the category at 15%, followed by light wood at 11%.
It also fits into a much bigger design shift I've been watching: we're warming houses back up. After years of white, gray and cool minimalism, interiors are becoming more layered, textured and natural. Houzz's latest design research actually calls warmth less of a trend now and more of a baseline for home design.
So here's the short version of this trend: the assumption that every kitchen renovation should begin with white cabinetry has finally ended.
White isn't dead. Not even close. Honestly, I still love a white kitchen (my kitchen is white). And some of the best kitchens right now are mixing white cabinetry with wood islands, hutches or accent cabinets. But wood officially has a seat back at the head of the table. And after at least a decade of white being No. 1…I'd call that a pretty significant changing of the guard.
