4 Creative Ways to Give Your Cabinets New Life
You don’t need new cabinets! Try one of these clever ideas from HGTV Magazine.
Take Some Doors Off
Room design: Urbanology Designs
Score the charm of open shelving, instantly! Just remove the doors — truly as simple as unscrewing the hinges — patch hardware holes, and touch up the paint. Then paint the insides of the cabinets the same color as the exterior (this is Foxhall Green by Sherwin-Williams), or break out with a contrasting hue. For even more of a custom feel, replace existing shelves with ones that are thicker.
Do a Mirror Overlay
Michael Alan Kaskel
Room design: Jasmin Reese Interiors
Go for mirrored doors in one section of cabinets and — boom! — you boost glam just like that. Antiqued mirrors add warmth but you can go with regular mirrors for a more current look. Either have the mirrors cut to size and tack onto your existing doors with construction adhesive, or get new doors made.
Try Open Shelves
Ryan Garvin
Room design: Brooke Wagner Design
For an airier kitchen, tear out a cabinet box or two and hang shelves. You’ll have to patch and paint the wall and fill in backsplash tiles, but (reality check) it beats buying all new cabinets, often the priciest part of a reno. These oak shelves match the hood trim and the ceiling beams. If you want to make your shelves fancier, you can always add brackets.
Install New Knobs and Pulls
Larry Arnal
Room design: Michelle Berwick Design
It’s one of the least invasive ways to update cabinets. The most foolproof switcheroo is to replace knobs with knobs and pulls with pulls (these are all from CB2). Consider alternate shapes, like the hexagon knobs here, and a new finish — brass and matte black are hot right now.
