Cabinets occupy more space and do more to set the tone for your decor than any other element in the kitchen. But, years of cooking residue and everyday wear and tear can leave them looking tired and worn out, and the door and hardware styles used when the house was built may not fit with your current sense of style.
That's how Tamara Robinson of North Little Rock feels. She doesn't know where she wants to begin to update the cabinets in her 1989 ranch-style house. "It's bewildering to me," she says. Her kitchen has Tuscan yellow walls, brown oak cabinets and brown Mission-style dining furniture. "I want to say I like the yellow walls, but, it's so hard to get over that contrast. It just makes the kitchen look dated," she adds.
Fortunately, Robinson has many options to update her cabinets without having to start from scratch.
Clean and tune up
Jennifer Carman of Little Rock is an art and personal property appraiser who started helping a friend remodel early to mid-20th century houses a few years ago. Carman says, "[People] will buy a house that has the original 1920s solid wood kitchen cabinetry that's still in perfect working order, but it will just be dirty or feel old. And, the family will be so ready to just rip it all out, send it to a landfill and replace it with some engineered, cork-board, pressed-together, chemical-emitting new thing." But that doesn't have to happen.
A good cleaning and some wood renewal can take old cabinets from dull to divine. To cut through the oily grime that may have worked its way into the wood, use an oil-based soap such as Murphy Oil Soap or make a light-grit cleaning paste using 1 part mineral oil and 2 parts baking soda. For tougher jobs, call in a specialist such as Susan Johnson, owner of Kitchen Tune-Up in Maumelle.
Johnson uses a process that removes built-up dirt, grease, smoke and dust from the original finish. Then she touches up areas where the color may have faded, fixes flaws and applies a penetrating oil to restore dried-out wood.
"We tune up the finish to try to take it as close to the way it looked originally. That's not going to change the color, but it's certainly going to give the cabinets a new, fresh look," Johnson says. And, the cost of Johnson's service -- starting at $500 -- is 8 percent to 10 percent of the cost of installing new cabinets.
Paint or stain
Painting or staining wood cabinets allows you to completely change the color scheme. Johnson recommends using stain on woods such as oak, maple, alder and others with nicely defined grains, and paint on maple, poplar and lower quality woods. "Part of the beauty of staining is seeing the grain of the wood," she says.
Carman says surface preparation -- filling in nicks and holes, sanding and priming -- are key for creating a smooth finish when painting cabinets. "Also, I cannot overestimate the value you can get out of a carefully selected, high quality oil paint," Carman says, "Oil paint is more durable and withstands the rigors of cleaning and usage. You can give it a really good scrub many, many times and the finish will stay the same."
Painting allows you to add special techniques, such as:
• Glazing -- a glaze is a semi-transparent wash of color that adds dimension and depth. Glazes highlight details such as molding because they appear darker in crevices. They also can give strong colors a softer look.
• Distressing -- add a shabby chic or antique patina by using fine sandpaper or steel wool on selected areas to remove some of the paint.
• Accenting -- use a second color of paint to highlight details, stencil a pattern or add other decorative touches.
Reface and replace
Refacing involves applying a thin veneer of wood or plastic laminate to the exposed cabinet frame and installing matching replacement doors and drawers. Much of the appeal of this approach is that you can dramatically change the appearance of the room by choosing a new door style -- anything from sleek, minimalist slab doors to styles with raised/recessed panels and detailed moldings.
Johnson says the cost of new doors and refacing the boxes starts at $4,500, which is 60 percent to 75 percent less than the cost of replacing all cabinets. Options include wood finishes or opaque colors. Another option is to choose a standard-color door and paint the boxes a matching color, eliminating the cost of refacing the boxes.
Other ideas to consider:
• Choose a door style that fits your lifestyle as well as your decor. If you want minimal maintenance, remember that details such as panels and moldings require more dusting/cleaning time than sleek, slab doors.
• Replace small doors that expose much of the cabinet frame with larger ones that look more like custom cabinetry.
• White cabinets are classic, but can look sterile. Doors with panels and moldings will create highlights and shadows, which can break up the "wall of white" effect.
• If you like to redecorate often, invest in neutral styles and colors that will easily let you change accessories and wall colors.
Weighing the options
"Because we have so many wonderful tools with Pinterest, Facebook, Houzz, HGTV, etc., we're bombarded with options, and I think sometimes homeowners can get overwhelmed. ... If you ask five people, you're going to get five opinions on what's 'best,'" Johnson says.
Budget, time and skill level likely will have the biggest impact on the choices you make. If you're an avid do-it-yourself person, you can save money and have the satisfaction of completing another project. Or you may be more comfortable leaving it in the hands of professionals.
The other major consideration is the condition of the existing cabinets. Robinson thinks her options are limited because of her cabinets' construction.
"They have that particle board inside," Robinson says. "It's ugly, and I don't think it would ever work to take the doors off the upper cabinets and go for the open look -- although I love the idea of that."
Johnson says that's a common problem with site-built cabinets. Many of them don't have a back wall, so you see the sheet rock or other wall material. The solution? Paint the interior, including any structural pieces such as braces, to camouflage the details. When the shelves are filled, the details will fade into the background.
In addition to deciding on style and color, spend some time analyzing how you want the cabinets to function. Johnson says most homeowners want to add accessories that improve access to their items. "We're seeing more requests for drawer boxes rather than just a cabinet with two doors. People want drawers so they can easily get to their cookware, their dishes, etc. Or if they have cabinets that have doors, they want roll outs and accessory items that helps them better organize their space and access what they have," she says.
Whether you need to freshen up your classic cabinets or change the personality of your kitchen, these products and technologies offer a world of possibilities.
HomeStyle on 05/23/2015