Kitchen Remodel Ideas Made Simple

Kitchen Remodel Ideas Made Simple

Are your kitchen cabinets out dated? Does the color of your tile counters need changed? Maybe you have a porcelain kitchen sink that is stained.

If it's not in the budget to remodel, than refinish the stained sink and paint the tile counter tops a new color. There are special paints for porcelain and tile that makes it possible.

If you want to up date your cabinets, continue reading for a kitchen remodel tip.

Kitchens in old houses can be charming with breakfast rooms and little nooks tucked here and there, but kitchens in older homes are generally too small.

If expanding space is out of the question, be creative when up-dating to add more storage space.

The up-dated look for the kitchen cabinets pictured is an affordable look to achieve, and you won't need a carpenter.

Even if your skills are like "Tim the Tool Man", this update for your kitchen cabinets is attainable.

The old kitchen cabinets were an ugly formica that probably dated back to the 70's with orange shag carpet and olive green appliances. The door and drawer pulls were an ugly metal handle in the center of the cabinet doors and drawers.

Formica had been glued to the existing wood cabinets. The formica was removed and the glue was scraped off. The door pulls were replaced with wood knobs.

Time and labor verses dollars. It's not a hard job, but it will take some time. We removed the doors from the upper cabinets for an open shelf look, and kept the doors on the bottom cabinets. Removing the upper cabinet doors and revealing the shelves helped open up the small space, doors made it feel too closed in.

The look was achieved by using wainscoting. For the inside of the cabinets strips of knotty pine were cut and nailed to the back of the cabinet walls.

Sheets of bead board wainscoting were glued and nailed to the cabinet doors. We did the measuring for the bead board, Home Depot did the cutting for no extra cost.

When removing the formica on the kitchen sink doors, Greg found a cool looking metal grate vent above the doors. It is now exposed and adds a little bit of old charm to the kitchen.

If you have formica cabinets that have particle board underneath, the look can still be achieved by using the wainscoting materials over top of the formica. Wainscoting adds character no matter if it's applied to the ceiling, walls or cabinets. It's a versatile cheep home decorating idea that can hide many flaws.

Okay this is what we did; cabinets and cabinet doors inside and out were (1)sanded, (2)one coat water base primer, (3)Two coats of latex paint, (4)sanded the top of the upper shelves with light sandpaper (5) Three coats of clear polyurethane on the upper shelves only, lightly sanding between each coat, (6)lightly sanded trim and outside upper cabinets, (7)finished the trim and outside upper cabinets with tinted polyurethane.

**Note, it is recommended to use oil base paint for the shelves because your dishes will stick to the water base paint and cause the paint to peel. If latex paint is used, coating them with polyurethane will protect them, however, clear polyurethane will yellow.

I read some where, Minwax Water Based Polycrylic Protective finish in Clear Gloss does not yellow. I don't know if it works, but I will try it the next time.

**Note, if this procedure is done over old formica cabinets, sand the cabinets so materials will adhere to formica.

For a little extra touch, we made a kitchen pot rack for our breakfast room that provides convenience and organization. Place an easy to make cabinet for extra storage under the pot rack.

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