Farmhouse · USA · 2025
A 3,048mm kitchen under beams
Tall runs set to the beam line, plus three bathrooms in quartz.
Home / Projects / Guam kitchen, deep green recessed panels
KITCHEN, GUAM - DELIVERED 2026
A deep-green kitchen with recessed panel doors.
A wraparound kitchen in a deep green lacquer, built on recessed-panel doors with pale timber open shelving, a quartz island and a dark timber ceiling grid - one room, detailed rather than repeated.
Residential · Guam · 2026 · Built for the US
The brief
One room, and every decision inside it.
Some projects are worth publishing for the opposite reason to a whole house: not because of how many rooms they cover, but because one room was detailed to death. This kitchen is wrapped on three sides with a free-standing island in the middle, which means the run has to turn two corners without a visible break, and the doors - recessed panels in a deep green - have to read as one colour across every face and every angle of light.
What made it hard
A recessed panel is the hardest door to spray evenly.
A flat slab takes paint like a wall. A recessed panel does not: the groove has a shadow line, a radius and an inside corner, and each of those holds a different film thickness. Spray it thin and the groove shows the primer; spray it heavy and the groove fills and the shadow line disappears. Deep colours make it worse, because any variation in film build reads as a patch of lighter green. The panels here were sprayed and inspected individually before assembly, not after.
Green carcasses, timber shelves, without a colour seam.
The open shelving is pale timber against a green carcass, and the joint between them is where this kind of kitchen normally fails: the timber moves with humidity, the painted panel does not, and a hard seam will open. The shelves sit in a rebate with a shadow gap rather than butting tight, so the two materials can move independently and the line stays straight a year later.
- Door recessed panel, deep green lacquer, matt
- Carcass 18mm E0 board, edged on every cut edge
- Shelving pale timber open units with a shadow gap at the carcass
- Top quartz, island and perimeter, matching upstand
- Hardware Blum soft-close, 50,000 cycles
- Layout wraparound run with a free-standing island
The build
The room from five angles.
3SIDES OF RUN
RECESSEDPANEL DOOR
QUARTZISLAND TOP
2026DELIVERED
Spec
What was built.
| Location | Guam |
| Year | 2026 |
| Sector | Residential - kitchen |
| Layout | Wraparound run plus a free-standing island |
| Door | recessed panel, deep green lacquer, matt |
| Carcass | 18mm E0 board, melamine faced |
| Top | quartz, island and perimeter |
| Hardware | Blum soft-close hinges and runners |
Guam sits inside the US customs area, so the specification follows US cabinet conventions - 32mm system, full-extension runners and a quartz top rather than a laminated worktop.
Factory to site
How the project ran.
Week 0 - Plan and elevation
Room measured, the two corners checked for square, and the island position set from the work triangle.
Week 1 - Door and colour sample
A recessed panel sprayed in the specified green and held against the room light before sign-off.
Weeks 1-2 - Production
Carcasses cut and edged, panels sprayed individually, hardware fitted.
Weeks 2-3 - Trial assembly
Run assembled flat to confirm the corner joints and the door gaps before crating.
Weeks 3-6 - Shipping
Crated flat-pack, shipped and installed by the local fitter from the numbered kit.
Production & export
Sprayed before it is assembled, not after.
Doors were finished as loose panels and only then hung. Spraying an assembled run means the overspray lands on the carcass, the gaps close up with film, and the shadow lines lose their depth. The island was built as its own carcass so it could be levelled separately on the floor - a free-standing island never sits on the same plane as a wall run.
More projects
More built spaces.
Whole house · Australia · 2025
An Australian house under a vaulted ceiling
Flat lacquer fronts carried up to a raking ceiling with two skylights.
Villa · Thailand · 2025
Two units, 3.45m ceilings
Nine rooms in the second unit, every tall run to a 3,450mm ceiling.
FAQ
This project, in plain answers.
Why is a recessed panel harder to spray than a flat door?
Because the groove has an inside corner and a radius, and each holds a different film thickness. Too thin and the primer shows through in the shadow line; too heavy and the groove fills and the profile disappears.
Which colours show spraying defects most?
Deep, saturated colours - greens, navy, black - because a variation in film build reads as a lighter patch rather than a subtle sheen change. That is why the panels here were inspected individually as loose parts.
How is timber shelving joined to a painted carcass?
In a rebate with a shadow gap, not butted tight. Timber moves with humidity and the painted panel does not, so a hard joint opens; a gap gives both materials room to move and keeps the line straight.
Does Guam follow US cabinet conventions?
Yes. Guam is inside the US customs area, so the build uses the 32mm system, full-extension runners and a quartz top rather than the laminated worktops common in other export markets.
Can an island be levelled separately from a wall run?
It has to be. A free-standing island sits on its own feet on a floor that is never perfectly flat, so it is built as a separate carcass and levelled on its own datum before the top is templated.
Is a wrap-around run harder to make than a straight one?
Two corners mean two joints, and each joint has to hold the door line and the top line at the same time. That is why the run is trial-assembled flat in the factory before it is crated.
Build something like this.
Send your plan and scope - we’ll draw the solution and price it per spec.