The Least Costly Means to Refinish Kitchen Cabinet Doors

When it comes time to remodel your kitchen, one of the most important chores is deciding what to do about your cupboards. Replacing them all will be a massive cost, so you might want to consider other options that can save you money and still give your kitchen the new, modern look you need. In general, the least expensive option is to color or refinish your cabinet boxes and then do something about the look of the doors. Kitchen cabinet doors take a lot of abuse over the years and are usually 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 look and feel 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 some of them, then it possibly won't be possible to refinish them and make them look new. Since the cupboard boxes receive a lot less wear and tear, you can generally 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 a large amount of dust, so be sure to cover everything with plastic prior to sanding. Once you get all of 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 may use chemical finish removers, but those are just as much work and considerably more caustic to handle.

You might want to pay a company to come in and resurface your kitchen cabinet doors. Firms exist that specialize in refacing old cabinets with new veneers. What they do is essentially overlay your existing cupboards with some type of wood or laminate product which will make them look fresh and new in addition to being better to just wipe clean. This strategy of updating your kitchen cabinet doors is a lot less costly than replacing all of the cabinets, and the results can look just as nice.

A third choice for revitalizing your old kitchen cabinet doors is to buy half finished, ready-made doors and do the finishing yourself. Although this is going to cost more than just refinishing your existing doors, it's also going to dispose of the step of removing the old finish which is terribly time-consuming. The new doors can be stained or painted to match your cabinet boxes. Keep in mind, however, that if the kinds 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 avoid this problem include trying tiny swatches first to discover how close the match is, painting both pieces, or making a design in which the boxes are one color and the doors are different. That way it won't look like you were trying to match and missed.

As you can see, revamping your kitchen cabinet doors can be the most cost-effective method of giving your kitchen an up-dated look. Since there are one or two options open to you, you need to spend some time visualizing what you need the finished look to be before you select a specific strategy.
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