Whether you’ve just moved into a new place or been in your home for years, no doubt you’ve looked at your kitchen and dreamed of the day you’d be able to remodel it: new cabinets, countertops and appliances to make it a whole new room. Well, today might not be that day but maybe you can give it a whole new look for a fraction of the time and cost. Refinishing kitchen cabinets is one of the easiest ways to breathe new life into the room. From a simple coat of paint to stripping, staining and brand new hardware, the possibilities are virtually endless. And so are the budgets that go along with those possibilities. Whether you can only afford a few cans of paint or have the ability to spend a little more, there are still so many options available. Best of all, here at Fuchsia, we love undertaking projects like these because it give both you and us the chance to be super creative!
So what are your options? Well, obviously there’s the simple and straightforward, paint. But what color of paint? I think the most standard selection is white followed closely by off or antique white. The thing is, there are so many more options that are not only beautiful but unique. Consider painting the cabinets a lighter shade of the dominate color of the room. Or a lighter shade of the coordinating color. One of the current trends I’m seeing a lot lately is two colors on the cabinets, either uppers one color and lowers another or island cabinets one color and those up against the wall another color. It’s a really cool look and gives the opportunity to inject some color into the cabinet. For example, if your kitchen has backsplash tile that is medium sage green, the island cabinets could be painted a dark sage green and the cabinets up against the wall white. This two-toned option works very well if you are on an extremely tight budget by allowing you to only paint a portion of the cabinets and still have a new look in the end.
Another option, though more time consuming and more expensive, is stripping down your painted cabinets to receive stain. This process can be even more complicated if you have something other than slab doors. This process also requires a lot of well ventilated space to strip the doors and allow them to dry after staining. However, don’t let me dissuaded you from undertaking this task. Your end product will be more than worth the time and money you put in.
If you’ve always wanted open cabinets, simply removing the doors or adding glass to your existing doors is another option. Whether you have a slab door or something with some depth to it, you can carefully cut the center of the door out, place any type of glass on the back of the door and hold it in place using an adhesive and some picture frame hardware. Keep in mind, when you cut out the center, it may require sanding down the cuts and apply paint to that area.
As I mentioned, the possibilities are nearly endless. Decoupage is a very cool option for slab doors. The key to doing decoupage, however, is making sure that there is a very good sealer used to complete. The key to any kitchen cabinet is making sure it is easily cleanable. And probably the most easy, though maybe not the most inexpensive, is changing out the door hardware. Be sure to measure the distance between the screws if you have pulls so you search for the correctly sized items.
Refinishing kitchen cabinets can take a little as a day or two and will leave you with a refreshed space you’ll be clamoring to spend time in. Spring is the time for that deep cleaning after the long winter, maybe “refinishing kitchen cabinets” should be added to your to-do list to make your home come to life. Not quite sure where to begin or what potential your kitchen has? Give Fuchsia a call and we can help you out!
