Kitchen Styles: Shaker, Traditional & Handleless

At The Handmade Kitchen Company, we have been crafting outstanding kitchens for more than 25 years. We have created and perfected hundreds of designs over these years, to suit a wide range of personalities, spaces and budgets.

All of our creations are unique. However, every one of our kitchens is centred around the Shaker Design philosophy.

Whilst delivering the finest finish possible means that no two kitchens have ever been the same, initially, we’ll show you our principal styles of Shaker kitchens. Choosing the style you favour empowers us with an initial design-led brief, set jointly with you, that will lay the foundations for your kitchen’s unique design aesthetic. Additionally, some of our clients like to blend different aspects of our styles across their designs – your kitchen furniture will be truly bespoke – the design details should be unique to you!

You will notice we have split our kitchen collection, below, into the Classic Shaker, Traditional Shaker and Handleless. Each style has subtle differences, not necessarily evident to the untrained eye, however, each will give you a sense of the kitchen being truly yours.

What features define our Classic Shaker Style?

The simplistic door design is the most noted feature of our Classic Shaker style. Typically, the doors are manufactured without beading, although we have added differing beaded details for many of our clients as they preferred that aesthetic.

The Classic style will be complimented by your choice of our three plinth options. The Prominent External plinth, which adds presence and grandeur with its substantial proportions. The Inline plinth, which is integrated into the cabinet itself, presenting with a clean, upright linear interplay with your chosen floor surface, or the Recessed plinth, which presents with a more understated finish, enabling the cabinets and doors an enhanced position of prominence with your chosen design.

Your Classic Shaker Style is a kitchen designed and traditionally crafted specifically for your requirements; all of the completed designs are hand painted in a durable paint colour of your choice with absolutely everything being hand manufactured to order. This is a highly customisable kitchen style with many options at your disposal to suit your lifestyle. Our Classic Shaker style kitchens elegantly blend form and function, resulting furniture of exceptional quality.

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What features are unique to our Traditional Shaker Style?

The standout feature of our Traditional Style Kitchen does exactly that. The doors feature a raised centre moulding, archetypally substantial, traditional, presenting with what some might consider a somewhat Farmhouse aesthetic, especially when paired with our Recessed or External Plinth options.

However, our Traditional style can be complimented by your choice of any of three plinth options. The Prominent External plinth, which adds presence and grandeur with its substantial proportions. The Inline plinth, which is integrated into the cabinet itself, presenting with a clean, upright linear interplay with your chosen floor surface, or the Recessed plinth, which presents with a more understated finish, enabling the cabinets and doors an enhanced position of prominence with your chosen design.

View Traditional Shaker Style Kitchens

What features define our Handleless Style?

This is a linear handleless kitchen design, which incorporates clean lines. A contemporary take on the traditional panelled design, with its pronounced mouldings.

The functionality of the kitchen is not less than a kitchen with handles, since there is a hidden handle you can use which has been moulded into the design of the door or drawer, either via a ‘j-pull’ handle or ‘chamfer’.

Other design options available are a ‘push-to-open/self-closing mechanism’, which allows you to keep the linear design in areas that might be harder to reach.

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View Our Latest Kitchens

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Handleless Traditional Mapesbury Kitchen 111 & Boot Room, Media Lounge, Bathroom & Bedrooms – Great Eversden, Cambridgeshire

in frame shaker plain front beaded much hadham handmade kitchen company 5 scaled

Classic In-Frame Plain Front Beaded Shaker Kitchen 115 – Much Hadham, Hertfordshire

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Handleless Traditional Mapesbury Kitchen 103 & Other Rooms – Essex

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Classic In-Frame Shaker Kitchen 109, Utility & Bedroom – Little Hadham, Herts

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Handleless Traditional Soft Mapesbury Kitchen 114 – Woodford Green, Essex

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Classic In-Frame Plain Front Frame Shaker 101 – Chalfont St Giles

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Classic In-Frame Double Flat Bead Shaker Kitchen 118 & Utility – Felsted, Essex

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Traditional Moulded In-Frame Beaded Shaker Kitchen 117 & Walk-in Pantry, Utility, Boot Room and Media Wall – Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire

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Handleless Traditional Mapesbury Shaker 94 & Other Rooms – Orsett, Essex

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Classic In-Frame Inset Bead Shaker Kitchen 106 & Utility and Media Wall – Welwyn Garden City, Herts

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Kitchen Styles: Frequently Asked Questions

What kitchen styles do you offer?

We hand-build three core styles of kitchen, all rooted in the Shaker design philosophy: Classic Shaker (in-frame, hand-painted, with cock-bead detailing), Traditional Shaker (the fullest country-house treatment with deeper mouldings, dresser units and plate racks) and Handleless (a contemporary, cleaner look using finger-pulls, J-pulls or push-to-open mechanisms). Most projects blend elements across these styles, because every kitchen we build is bespoke.

What is the difference between Shaker and Handleless?

Shaker kitchens (Classic or Traditional) use a five-piece, in-frame door with a visible knob, cup handle or pull. Handleless kitchens use the same cabinet construction but replace the handle with an integrated finger-pull, J-pull or push-to-open mechanism, giving a quieter, cleaner cabinetry line. Many of our clients combine the two, with handleless cabinetry on the lower runs and a Shaker door on the wall units and island.

What is the difference between Classic and Traditional Shaker?

Classic Shaker uses a simpler, less ornate door, paired with cock-bead detailing and softer mouldings. Traditional Shaker features deeper, more substantial mouldings (often a raised centre panel) and a fuller country-house aesthetic, with dresser units, plate racks and decorative pilasters. Classic feels measured and contemporary-ready, Traditional feels rural, historic and quietly grand.

Which kitchen style will suit my home?

It depends on the architecture and how you want the kitchen to feel. Period cottages and listed properties usually suit Classic or Traditional Shaker. Edwardian and Victorian houses can take either Shaker or Handleless beautifully. Architect-led extensions and contemporary new builds tend to favour Handleless or a Classic Shaker with a simpler colour palette. We will help you decide during the initial showroom consultation.

What plinth options are available?

Each of our three styles can be specified with one of three plinths: the Prominent External plinth (substantial, adds presence), the Inline plinth (integrated into the cabinet for a clean linear interplay with the floor) or the Recessed plinth (understated, letting the cabinets and doors take prominence). The choice subtly changes the proportions and weight of the finished kitchen.

How long does a bespoke kitchen take from design to installation?

Most projects take twelve to sixteen weeks from final design sign-off, with installation typically two to three weeks on site. Listed buildings, complex barn conversions or larger projects can take longer, and we will plan around your wider building programme.

Where do you install bespoke kitchens?

Our Bridgers Barn showroom is in Great Hallingbury near Bishop’s Stortford. We design and install bespoke kitchens across Essex, Hertfordshire and north London, with occasional projects further afield in Cambridge and the wider Home Counties.