I Wish My Kitchen Cabinets Had This Extremely Practical 300-Year-Old Feature

My kitchen is a pretty good size by New York City standards; it’s an approximately 9-foot-by-9-foot square. But it’s the type of small kitchen where you have to turn the vent on the second you start cooking on the stovetop — otherwise the smoke alarm will go off. 

When the oven’s on, the entire temperature of the room increases by about 10 degrees. Needless to say, my kitchen doesn’t get the best ventilation. And the super-tall cabinets can sometimes get really greasy — especially right above the range. Even the shelves inside the cabinets can get grimy, and with the doors closed they don’t have great breathability (that’s why I try to store my travel mugs, food containers, and Dutch oven with the lids off). 

I try to wipe down my cabinet doors on the outside regularly to keep them from looking greasy. In other words, I do the best I can with the cabinets I have. I’m a renter, so many reno options are out of the question, but I wish my cabinets had this extremely practical feature I’ve been seeing popping up in more and more kitchen makeovers lately: cabinet cut-outs.

Circular cutouts in kitchen cabinets are nothing new — in fact, vented cabinets have been around for 300 years. But with the popularity of deVOL-inspired, English cottage-looking kitchens, I’m seeing this cute (and practical) cabinet trend more than ever — and it’s a little more charming than, say, a louver cabinet that serves the same purpose. 

“They’re more than just pretty flourishes and features — they actually evolved from the need for ventilation at least as early as the Georgian period in England (and perhaps even before that elsewhere),” Apartment Therapy’s Executive Home Director, Danielle Blundell, writes in her explanation of the cabinet cut-out trend. 

The beauty of this trend is that you can add cut-outs to existing cabinets — if you own them, that is — with a hole saw or a router fairly easily if you remove your cabinet doors and mark where you want the holes to go. 

You could drill dots in a row, or do four in a diamond arrangement, or create a circle of small holes, or any other design that suits your style. Options abound! I also love a larger circular cutout that acts as a vent and a cabinet handle.

In her kitchen makeover, DIYer Chelsea Harris added a tall cabinet to her kitchen, and she chose to add the vintage detail to match her vintage-inspired aesthetic. “In our case, they’re perfect for our 1920s home, and they let steam escape from the coffee maker,” Chelsea previously wrote for AT.

“I’m planning to make all new custom cabinet doors down the line and add matching cutouts to them, too, because the historically inspired, actually useful detail makes me happy every time I catch a glance.”

If you’re a renter like me, you probably won’t be able to add this design detail directly to your kitchen cabinets. But if you love the look, you can try it out on a freestanding piece of furniture like a cupboard or closed bookcase. (I think the IKEA IVAR would be perfect for this project!)