Kitchen: Cabinet Resurface – Pennies per Door
March 7, 2012 by Aimee • 56 Comments
DIY Kitchen Makeover: Cabinet Resurface for Pennies per Door
When we first walked through this house, I quickly noticed the tall cabinets and that totally impressed me. Very uncommon for this age home. So many homes in this neighbor have a fur down instead, which is totally useless space! I’m all about a GREAT update without totally breaking the bank! Especially since we don’t have a SUPER HUGE bank to break!
I tend to be drawn to modern country decor, but the basic lines of mission style cabinetry always intrigues me. Here’s a little inspiration!
{Ikea}
{Ikea}
My kitchen cabinets although as boring and drab as they come are very solid and gutting them seemed like a waste! This was one of the selling features for us. Kitchen remodels can be crazy expensive and the thought of reaching awesome for not too much intrigued me! We decided to keep them and give them some LOVE, aka, dimension! We bought “under layment” intended for under hardwood floors. This board is about an 1/8 of an inch thick and is found near the plywood. It runs around $20 for a large sheet. We totally lucked out and the guy working when we went in didn’t know the rules {neither did we}! Thankfully the machine did all the work and it never seemed one bit of dangerous. He cut a huge board down into two inch strips for us! And he was TOTALLY happy to help! Don’t you love it when you come across someone thrilled about working! Totally energizes me! One board cut took a good 20 minutes, but it was plenty for our entire kitchen and WAY cheaper than refacing the cabinets with new doors.
The doors had holes from the hardware and hinges, but it was not big deal….no need to add wood filler and sand and such…the holes were covered! Oh, and out of curiosity, I had Stud “rip” another board into strips and it was painless. We set up another board to guide our under layment through the table saw evenly. Setting up the guide took the longest part…cutting was a breeze!
With the long strips cut, we first, measured the length of each cabinet and using a brad gun we secured the strips with two brads at the top, two brads at the bottom, and one in the middle. After ALL the vertical trim pieces were secure, we measured between the vertical strips to determine the length needed for the horizontal trim pieces. Once those were measured and cut, we secured them with more brads.
We used paintable silicone sealant to fill any gap along the inside perimeter of the trim. And followed with paint {tutorial coming soon}.
Above Stud’s working on filling the huge rectangle hole from the old style previous stove top! Yes…we did a little sanding to get that baby flush!!! Don’t you totally feel for those poor brand new hardwood floors!!!?!
Progress…Can you see it?!?! Oh, and yes…I know I’m a tacky mommy with a totally chaotic refrigerator! My new trick {beginning today} is I’m going to use the other side and try to leave this side bare! I totally want to put a board there to make the fridge more built in, but that’s going to take a crazy amount of imagination and skill because there isn’t enough space! Where’s your favorite clutter space!?! What do you do with random pictures that friends give you!?!? Tips!?!? Suggestions!?!?
More Rancher Kitchen Updates.
Oh wow it looks amazing!! What a difference adding the detailing to the cabinet doors made! (and of course the paint- that stuff is a life-saver.) Your kitchen is so gorgeous!
When friends give me family pictures (like on a Christmas card or something) I snap a picture of it with my cell phone so that I have their cute pic, and then I instantly throw the card in the trash. I feel a little guilty but if I saved the hard copy of every friend’s photo I wouldn’t be able to see my refrigerator. So by snapping a pic of it I save it in a spot that takes up considerably less room.
Embarrassed to admit it, but I do that with some of my sweet b’s artwork! Duh! I’m going that route with important pics and cards, too! Thanks Brooke! XO, Aimee
Genius! I can’t wait to see it all painted!
Maybe you could make the inside of a large cabinet door, a cute place to put pictures and misc stuff you want to save?
I love seeing the progress of your home posts! And I love that your fridge looks as “tacky” as mine!
You are doing some serious updating with very little money here! This is going to look super fantastic painted!
Can’t wait to see it!
That was genius! My cabinets are needing a little beefing up, love your idea. As far as the fridge goes, when my kids were little my fridge was covered with stuff lol. I just tried to organize it so it looked neat HA! My youngest is a junior in college and I still put her As on the fridge lol.
That’s SUPER CUTE Karen!!! You, my friends make me feel tons better about my sentimental clutter!!!
XO, Aimee
REALLY NICE JOB ON THE CABINETS!! KUDOS ON THE COST EFFECTIVE WAY YOU DID IT!!
Great job on the kitchen!!
I also have a stainless fridge that I cant hang anything on, so I took one of these
http://www.amazon.com/RhinoGear-11430-Galvanized-Drip-Tray/dp/B000F5XQMO
Cleaned it up, spray painted it to match my kitchen and attached it with super strong Velcro (used velcro so I wouldnt have holes in my wall) to my wall…and I now I can hang all kinda of stuff! Its such a great idea, and I credit Pinterest!
That’s AWESOME!!! Love it!!! Gotta LOVE Pinterest!!! XO, Aimee
That is so awesome! It’s amazing.
Gwen…Thanks SO SO SO Much!! XO, Aimee
Love your kitchen! I, myself have the 70′s kitchen in a 1930 something house, it drives me crazy & I’m ready to redo it also. I have really dark cabinetry & would love to go lighter & brighter & change the hardware. I’m a “tacky” Mom myself. The bad thing is if I take anything down, pics, drawings, etc, my son notices it & lets me know. Plus, I have the front & the one side covered, lol.
Mine are the same way!! It never seems tacky to me until I photograph and share it…but since I’m amongst friends maybe I just shouldn’t worry about it!!! XO, Aimee
Very clever idea. Something I would like to do too.
Wow! I never would guess that this is the same kitchen! It is gorgeous! I love your “new” cabinets, and the floor is beautiful! Enjoy:)
Wow…bloggers like you are such inspiration…..
thanks
Nancy
wildoakdesigns.blogspot.com
I can’t wait to see the finished reveal. I tape pix on the INSIDE of my cabinet doors! So I can see all their lovely faces when I open the doors BUT it looks nice & neat when the doors are shut.
I don’t think it’s tacky to have things hanging all over your fridge! I love funny magnets and cute pictures kids have drawn. It’s one of the few spaces in a house where you can just do whatever and it’s not a big deal. You can tell a lot about someone’s personality by the things people put on their fridges. When I see somebody who has a totally naked fridge I think, “guess she’s an OCD control freak.”
What caught my eye was the wall mounted microwave! Great idea!!
OK, so you’re kinda brilliant. This is going to look so great!!!
This is going to be a beautiful transformation! I can’t wait to see the final results.
Hugs, Sherry
What a smartie you for thinking of adding the dimension using that thin wood that’s used for something else!! Innovation like that is so fun to see!!! I’m excited to see how you painted them…that after picture is amazing!!!
I am new to your site and have the exact same cabinets and have wondering what to do with them. I’m dying to see your finished product.
It’s been really easy Patrica…just a little time consuming, of course!!! LOL! I’m going to finish my kitchen updates over the next couple days…I hope you’ll stop back by again and see the final results!!!! So glad to “meet” you!!! XO, Aimee
That makes a huge difference. You are very patient.
What an amazing job you are doing. I can’t wait to see more progress. ~Kelly
So super clever Aimee!!! It really is so amazing seeing how your kitchen unfolded into the beautiful space it is now and I love all of these great tips and tricks. Thanks so much for sharing them with us at Inspiration Friday!
Vanessa
Your kids won’t remember how clean the house was. They will remember how fabulous their Mom is/was because she hung up their artwork. My mom NEVER hung up personal pictures in our home. Those were only put on hallway walls. I never understood how the desire for a well decorated home trumped family photos. I have pictures of my kids hanging everywhere!!! And their artwork on the side of my cabinets above my sink I love it and it brings me joy
It looks incredible! Love the inspiration kitchen…if only my cabinets were so messy…and most of my dishes weren’t plastic kids plates, lol, I would love to have those cabinet doors! I would love for you to stop by and link to my Sew Crafty Saturday Party!
That is so genius, Aimee! Love this idea and I cannot wait to see the final product!
Create a big chalkboard, just a bit smaller than the fridge. If you like chalkboards, that is. Framed and everything, I think it would look great right on the fridge. Are there heavy duty magnets, that would hold it? I don’t know, just some thoughts.
Oh wow…this was a great idea…love it…can’t wait to see the finished project…and funny…we just painted our cabinets right before Thanksgiving (come over and check it out if you haven’t)…buy anyway, I repainted a big pin board with a beautiful frame to hang on the side of my fridge on the cabinet wall we have, but haven’t been able to do it…I love the way it looks with nothing, but I’m sure at some point I will cave and hang it…i like how it looks with nothing on the pin board, but you know how it will look as soon as I put a million papers on there…haha…enjoy your new project!!…Mariaelena
I can’t wait to show my husband this! We are doing our kitchen this summer and had no idea what we were going to do with the cabinets…now we do! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday
Spectacular, congratulations.
Oh I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!! It is going to be fab!!!!
Now that is so smart! They look amazing!
Trish
Looks great Aimee and I think we may have the same fridge! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!
Oh very clever! Love this! I’m following.
Great job! I like that you didn’t take them out and reused them. They look great!
Holly
The makeover looks amazing! And I love the artwork on the side of the fridge!! It’s not tacky….it’s home! Thanks for linking up to our “Strut Your Stuff Saturday.” We hope you’ll be back soon! -The Sisters
What a great idea for adding the molding to the doors! I love it and can’t wait to see the finished project. If you think your fridge is bad—don’t come look at mine! Ha!
Fabulous, it is so pretty and I love the trim, looks custom!!!
Thanks for linking, it will be featured on Tuesday
XO
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My cabinets look just like your “Before.” It looks like you had the old hammered metal hinges on the outside of the door. If so, Are you going to show how you fixed this. We haven’t found a solution for ours. Yours looks great!
Great job! I have been trying it myself, but am struggling with the edges. My cabinet doors area bit rounded so there is slight gap between the cabinet edge and trim piece. Did you have to fill that, or did yours line up flush? Any advice would be appreciated!
My question is the same as Sandy’s above. My mid-century ranch has painted flat doors with rounded edges. And I am trying to figure out how to apply molding to the edge without a weird line around the edge. Can you put up some close-up corner and edge shots of your doors?
Definitely! I’ll try to get to that really soon! XO, Aimee
Love the look and it’s even more beautiful because it was done on the cheap. Did you do the drawer fronts too or just the doors?
We opted to just do the cabinet fronts although the drawer fronts would have worked as well! Is this project on your list for 2013!?! XO, Aimee
We have started this process with our cabinets after seeing your post, since we bought a 50′s rancher in January. The interior is finished, but our doors are currently stacked in the garage. My husband wants to build a “frame” for the corners, so they’re all even and 90 degrees. How did you keep your corners straight? Thanks!
I wish I could say their was a science to it…we cut two pieces for the width and two pieces for the length and then attached one by one using our nail gun! They all look VERY even and strategically planned thankfully! XO, Aimee
Aimee!
This week was Spring Break and my Hubs and I were able to knock out so much work on the kitchen cabinets. Your advice really helped. We are following almost all of the steps you outlined in your makeover.
The underlayment was genius!!! The nice guy at HD cut 1/2 of the sheet into 2-inch strips for us, and we cut the rest of it with a couple of borrowed saws, and hubby’s miter box & saw.
We are using our existing hinges, knobs and drawer pulls, and so far we’ve spent less than $100.00. (We have to wait until the weather up here in North Idaho warms up, but we’ll be purchasing it on sale next week.)
I’ll be posting some progress photos on my blog, so hop on over for a sneek-peek!
~ Juju
I also would really like to see a close up of your doors from the side so that I can see how they look. My doors are similiar to your doors with a rounded edge. Thank you!
I was going to try this in my kitchen also. we have flat boring doors but they are routed on the edges. I am worried about adding the underlayment strips and having to fill in all the outside edges. Were your outside edges routed (beveled out) or were the doors squared. I couldn’t quite tell in your first door image.
thanks!