Are you looking for a new look for your kitchen or bathroom cabinets…without the cost of replacing your entire kitchen or bathroom cabinets?

You can have a completely new look for your cabinets without the cost of redoing your complete kitchen or bathroom.

All you need to do is order new cabinet doors and drawer fronts at your local hardware store.

Depending on your selection, the sides and front frames of your cabinets will be resurfaced with wood veneer to match your doors and drawers, or simply painted to match the door fronts.

You can see that your savings will be huge – you don’t have to buy new cabinet frames or drawer boxes. You also don’t have to live through AND PAY FOR the major destruction and reconstruction part of kitchen and bath renovations.

There are many other advantages to this process. Many of your current kitchen or bath appliances, such as your sink, faucet and countertop, do not need to be replaced. Replacing these items becomes optional.

Sounds great, doesn’t it! But, before you jump in, please verify a few things. If your cabinets don’t make the cut, you should wait until you can afford a complete kitchen or bath renovation/remodel.

Your cabinets must be in good condition – not necessarily the doors and drawer fronts, as these will be replaced. The frames should be solid and in good shape. The drawers should have good slides and the boxes should be a good quality and of course, in good condition.

You should be happy with the layout of the kitchen or bathroom as it is. This transformation may not be worth the expense if you are really unhappy with your current kitchen layout. Perhaps it is a very outdated layout, which just doesn’t work.

Now that your kitchen or bath cabinetry has passed the test, you will need to measure all of your cabinet doors and drawer fronts. If you are using the same design and hinges of your current kitchen or bath cabinets, then the cabinet and drawer fronts will be exactly the same sizes. This is the easiest solution and is most likely applicable to a newer kitchen or bathroom where everything is still in great shape.

If you are planning on changing or updating the hinges or drawer slides, the process is slightly more complicated. You will have to verify with someone at your hardware store to ensure you get the correct size of door and drawer. You will also have to verify if you have the correct framing to support the new hinges and slides.

I transformed the bathroom cabinet in one of my previous bathrooms. I added new drawer slides and new hinges for the doors. This took a bit more measuring and figuring but it all worked out. For the side of the cabinet, I purchased a birch veneer piece and glued it on with contact cement. The front framing pieces were done in the same way. A long front piece was replaced with a piece of solid birch. The total cost was less than $150.00 – a lot less than a solid birch bathroom cabinet would have cost.

The only thing I would have done differently today is to varnish the wood with a water based product as opposed to an oil based varnish. I thought, at the time, that I needed to use an oil based product because it was a bathroom. I have since learned that The oil based varnish was clear but made the wood look more yellow than I would have liked.

Your kitchen or bath may not be all new but, it will certainly feel like a NEW kitchen or bath. 

Enjoy your NEWER kitchen or bath remodel…and save your money for something else!