There are areas in your home that take more punishment over the years than others. This leads to premature aging and excessive wear and tear. If you spend a lot of time in your kitchen, your cabinets will take an exceptional load of wear over other areas.
As your cabinets age and wear out, it’s normal to want to replace them. Although, this can be a costly and invasive process that you might not want to get into right away. Instead of replacing them, you can update your kitchen cabinets by revamping them or adding features to them. Keep reading for seven ways you can update your kitchen cabinets.
Repaint
A fresh coat of paint on your kitchen cabinets can go a long way to making them look new again. However, it’s important to remember that it does take much more than simply painting over the paint or finish that your cabinets already have. You will likely need to scrape off as much of the top layer as possible, prime it, then paint. Although, the end product will look as though they’re brand new.
Update the Hardware
Even metal hardware on your cabinets will wear down over time. The constant and frequent touching of the handles can take off the finish, discolor the metal, and even warp the shape over time. You can buy new hardware to replace what you once had to give it a new appearance. Whether you want to make an exact switch with a newer version of what you had or change it up completely, shiny new hardware looks great and gives a hint of newness.
Reface
If you’ve had the same type of kitchen cabinets for years, you might be ready to get a fresh start with kitchen cabinet refacing. There are several common types of cabinet facing that include:
- Arched: a shape is cut into the face of the cabinet door with an arch at the top or both the top and bottom.
- Bead-board: the middle of the face has the appearance of boards backing an open face.
- Cathedral: similar in appearance to arched, but rather than an arch it has the shape of a cathedral ceiling.
- Shaker: a square or rectangle with four squared corners is cut into the cabinet door face.
- Glass: the face is filled with a piece of clear or frosted glass.
- Slab: there isn’t any shape associated with the facing, it’s simply a flat piece of wood used as the cabinet door.
Refacing your cabinets means that you either have the option to choose an entirely new cabinet face.
Install Pull-Out Shelves
Enhance the function of your cabinets by installing pull-out shelves. This makes it much easier to organize your kitchen items as well as reach the items that often get tucked away in the back. Keep in mind that a feature like this can get frustrating if items tend to fall off the back of the shelf as they can block you from sliding the shelf all the way back.
Install Lighting
Change up the lighting in your kitchen by installing lighting under your kitchen cabinets. These can be as involved and integrated into your cabinets as you like. There are certain varieties of lights that can be hardwired into your cabinets and walls so you can turn them on with the flick of a switch. Or you can install a local lighting kit that either plugin or is powered by a battery. The choice is yours how much of a project you want to have with your cabinet lighting.
Add a Plate Rack
As the amount of kitchen items you have grows, the need to grow your storage space will as well. If you don’t want to add too much more to your kitchen in the way of full cabinets, plate racks are always a viable option. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of plate racks, they’re essentially slats that are built into a shelf so they don’t take up any of your cabinet space. Installing plate racks makes for a unique way to display your plates while making them much easier to access. Keep in mind that if you prefer to have everything out of sight and out of mind, plate racks probably aren’t for you.
Add Crown Molding
Minor but significant addition to your kitchen cabinets can be the installation of crown molding. If your ceilings are tall enough, there can be a lot of empty space between the top of your cabinet door facings and where the cabinet itself meets the ceiling. You can cover up a portion of this blank space by installing crown molding. The molding will not only help your ceilings feel higher, but they’ll also fill in that area so it doesn’t look quite so bland.
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