How to Upgrade Your Kitchen Cabinets

Upgrading your kitchen cabinets can give your kitchen a fresh, new look without the expense of a complete kitchen makeover. There are several ways to upgrade your kitchen cabinets without breaking the bank.

Upgrade Your Kitchen Cabinets with a New Coat of Paint

The least expensive upgrade for your kitchen cabinets is a new paint job. When repainting your kitchen cabinets to upgrade them, think expansively and explore your options before choosing a paint color.

Traditional white kitchen cabinets offer a clean look, but you might achieve a bolder, more daring effect if you experiment with color. At home improvement stores, you can use computer programs and color paint chips to explore families of color that complement one another. If, after seeing paint chips and online color programs, you still aren’t confident of a particular color contrast for walls and cabinets, you can always buy a small quantity of paint in your tentative colors and paint one cabinet and an adjacent bit of the wall to get a realistic idea of how that color combination might upgrade your kitchen’s look. Paint is relatively inexpensive, compared to other cabinet upgrades, so don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Experiment until you find the cabinet upgrade that suits your cabinetry, kitchen space and taste.

Upgrade Your Kitchen Cabinets with Refacing

A more costly but often more satisfying kitchen cabinet upgrade, especially for those who prefer a natural wood cabinet, is to reface the cabinet including replacing the doors. This allows you to upgrade not only the color of your kitchen cabinets but the style and composition

Refacing is a lot of work but can be accomplished in a weekend as long as you have preordered and received new doors and purchased any new hardware you will be using.

The refacing upgrade involves removing the old kitchen doors, sanding down the surface, applying stain and sealant, then attaching the new kitchen doors and hardware.

Upgrade Your Kitchen Cabinet with New Knobs and Hinges

New cabinet and drawer door knobs and hinges can entirely change the look of your existing cabinets. This is an inexpensive upgrade that can dramatically improve your kitchen’s appearance.

If you are buying new hardware for your cabinet doors and drawers, bring a sample of the old hardware with you to the store. By finding a new set of hardware with matching mount holes, you can save yourself drilling and patching work that may mar the finished appearance of your kitchen cabinet upgrade.

If you are uncertain how prospective new hardware will look on your cabinetry, but a single set to bring home and try before committing to a kitchen upgrade that may not satisfy you.

Upgrade Your Kitchen Cabinet Accessories

If your desire for a kitchen cabinetry upgrade stems in part from a desire for more working space or greater efficiency, consider upgrading your kitchen cabinet accessories. Wishing your cabinet contained a Lazy Susan or interior door shelving? Eyeing storage slots for knives in your cabinet drawer or perhaps a drop in silverware tray? Need a tiered spice drawer?

These cabinet accessories that manufacturers offer with new cabinet purchases can be purchased a la carte and added to existing kitchen cabinets and drawers as part of your kitchen upgrade.

Each of these options allows you to upgrade your kitchen without committing to the purchase of brand new cabinetry.

Sources:

http://www.dannylipford.com/home-improvement-video/kitchen-cabinet-upgrade/; http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/DAC-ART/kitchen-cabinet-refacing.htm; http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/upgrades-put-kitchen-cabinets-to-work/index.html; http://www.doityourself.com/scat/cabinetrefacing.