Ellen Thomas searched high and low for new kitchen cabinets to replace her whitewashed oak ones. But there were a couple of requirements.

"My husband said, 'I don't care what you get, as long as it doesn't fall apart,'" says Thomas, a stay-at-home mother from Fresno, Calif. As for her, "I wanted the cabinets to look like beautiful furniture."

So when she started her kitchen remodeling project a year ago, she hunted for cabinets that were both elegant and functional. What they looked like was important since they would set the tone of the room, she says.

After searching throughout Fresno, she finally found cabinets she liked. They were solid cherry with an amber finish. The cabinet style was modern, with a simple, clean look. But the look wasn't as stark or cold as contemporary can be. Instead, the look is soft, with warm colors and slight detailing.

Thomas' tastes fit right in with the trend several local experts say they're noticing in kitchen cabinets. As spring begins, several interior designers and cabinet business owners highlight what they expect to see more of in the coming months.

Style and finish

While dark colors and the Old World look are still being requested, they're becoming less popular, says Leonore Van Dalen-Seng, an interior designer who worked with Thomas on remodeling her kitchen. Instead, she's seen a rise in contemporary, especially soft contemporary.

"Contemporary was always a specialized niche market for Fresno," says Van Dalen-Seng, who owns Van Dalen-Seng Interior Design.

"It was like 5 to 10 percent (of the business); now it's like 30. ... They're looking for something easy to take care of and with a wood look."

Cabinet finishes are going lighter, say Van Dalen-Seng and Elvia Smith, a sales specialist in the kitchen cabinet design center at Lowe's.

"They want to lighten everything up," Smith says. "It makes the kitchen lighten up and appear bigger."

Experts also say they're seeing more examples of two finishes or styles used in the same kitchen. For example, the wall cabinets may have a light finish, and the cabinets around the island may have a darker finish.

In addition, glazing has become a common way to accent design details on doors. This is a technique that leaves corners and curves with darker shadowing.

"Glazing really gives it a matte finish," says interior designer Chris Hays of Chris Hays Interiors in Fresno.