4 Creative Ways to Give Your Cabinets New Life

Take Some Doors Off

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

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

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

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.