Kitchen cabinets per se were invented in the 20th century. A precursor, not built-in, was the Hoosier cabinet of the 1910s, a single piece of furniture incorporating storage and work surfaces, of which over 2 million were sold by 1920.

When did built-in kitchen cabinets start?

There was a booming trade in freestanding kitchen cabinets, which provided both storage and workspace. Even in the 1920s, when builders started adding built-in cabinets to kitchens, countertop heights were far from standardized, and you'd often see multiple heights in the same kitchen.

Where did cabinet making originated?

cabinet, in furniture design, originally a small room for displaying precious objects and later a piece of furniture composed of a network of small drawers commonly enclosed by a pair of doors. Cabinets were first used in Italy during the late Renaissance.