how to update kitchen cabinets

When we first moved into our home our cabinets looked like this....

Dark, shiny, dated wood cabinets with the scalloped valence over the sink.  All original! Our house was built over 40 years ago, so these bad boys had some wear and tear on em!  What did we do? Take a DEEP breath and start tearing things apart!!

We first removed all the hinges and handles, easy enough with a screw driver.  Be sure though, if your are doing this your self to keep track of which door goes where.  I used a pencil and lightly marked the location on the inside next to a hinge, to help keep it hidden.  My husband and I also took this opportunity to remove the valance, the scallop was easy but the trim over top ran the length of the cabinets.  With patience, it did come off in one piece and did not damage the cabinet box itself.

If you are feeling especially motivated, you can paint the inside of the cabinet box's.  We however did not feel this way.  I have to say, in my opinion 3 years later, I do not notice a difference.

Next we set up some saw horses in the garage, to make some make shift tables to lay the doors on.  Then we used small electric hand-held sanders to sand away the outside layer of grime and the finish on the cabinet doors.  This was the most labor intensive part of our journey!  Be patient! This part is worth it!  This is how you are going to get like-new cabinets with out paying the price for new ones!!

Once sanded, then we got our hardware ready, we had to move the handles from horizontal to vertical. so new holes had to be made and old one had to be patched with a wood filler and sanded again.

Now its time to paint!  We used to paint we had left over from painting the outside of our house, I'm not sure if that's the greatest idea, but again 3 years later, it still looks amazing.  It was an outdoor paint with an eggshell finish. We painted the outside of the cabinet box's and the door's.

It's time to attach the doors, we bought new hinges to match our new handles.  And lastly, we attached our crown molding with liquid nails.

I believe our update turned out really well!  We saved so much money by not buying new.  I hope this helps anyone that is looking to tackle this project.

*note: my husband and I are not and will never be a licensed contractor, we did this our selves and share our story for information only!  Please share your thoughts!!!

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