May 3, 2010
The Least Expensive Means to Refurbish Kitchen Cabinet Doors
When it is time to remodel your kitchen, one of the largest chores is deciding what to do about your cupboards. Replacing them all will be a big cost, so you might need to consider other options that can save you cash and still give your kitchen the new, modern look you need. In general, the least expensive option is to color or refinish your cupboard boxes and then do something about the look of the doors. Kitchen cabinet doors take plenty of abuse over time and are typically the part of cabinets that look tacky first. By replacing the doors, resurfacing the doors, or by purchasing paint-grade maple doors and painting them yourself, you can make a big difference in the feel and look of your kitchen.
Refinishing old cabinet doors is a massive job, but it can be done provided the doors are in adequate condition. If they're scratched and dented, and the dog gnawed the corners off many of them, then it probably will not be possible to refinish them and make them look new. Since the cupboard boxes receive much less wear and tear, you can mostly salvage them by refinishing or painting them. To refinish the doors, remove all hardware, and take them outside to sand with a palm sander. You will need to sand the boxes, too, if you opt to refinish them, and sanding produces plenty of dust, so be certain to cover everything with plastic prior to sanding. Once you get all the old finish sanded off, you'll be able to wipe them down with a tack material and stain them the color you have decided on. You can use chemical finish removers, but those are just as much work and considerably more caustic to handle.
You may want to pay a company to come in and resurface your kitchen cabinet doors. Corporations exist that specialize in refacing old cupboards with new veneers. What they do is fundamentally overlay your existing cupboards with some kind of wood or laminate product which will make them look fresh and new in addition to being simpler to just wipe clean. This method of updating your kitchen cabinet doors is a lot less costly than replacing all the cupboards, and the results can look just as nice.
A third choice for revitalizing your old kitchen cabinet doors is to buy unfinished, ready-made doors and do the finishing yourself. Although this is going to cost more than just refinishing your existing doors, it is also going to dispose of the step of removing the old finish which is extremely time-consuming. The new doors can be stained or painted to match your cabinet boxes. Bear in mind, however, that if the types of wood in the boxes and new doors aren't the same, there's going to be a difference in the way the 2 surfaces take the stain. Ways to get round this problem include trying tiny swatches first to discover how close the match is, painting both pieces, or creating a design in which the boxes are one color and the doors are completely different. That way it will not look like you were trying to match and missed.
As you can see, revamping your kitchen cabinet doors can be the cheapest method of giving your kitchen an up-dated look. Since there are one or two options open to you, you need to spend a while visualizing what you need the finished look to be before you choose a selected method.
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