Kitchen Cabinet Makeover You Can Do Yourself

Are you ready for a kitchen cabinet makeover? Life is too short to not create a space you love. So pick up the power tools and let’s do this thing! I recently took on a kitchen renovation (see the final reveal here). It was a lot of work but also SO worth it. I still catch myself staring at it all the time. If you’re ready to give your kitchen a makeover, switching up the cabinets is a great place to start. Here are a few tips to help you along the way. And guess what? You don’t even have to rip everything out. Bonus!

Removing Kitchen Cabinet Molding & Building Boxes

I’m all about creating a space YOU love. In my old kitchen, my cabinet molding was making my heart sad. So I decided to rip it off and have the cabinets extend all the way to the ceiling. If you like the molding on your cabinets, it’s totally fine to keep it. But here are a few things I did to create a more modern look in my kitchen. First, I got rid of the molding. To start, I jumped up on the counter (totally safe right?) and grabbed my hammer. A crowbar would be even easier to use if you have one around. I then used the hammer to loosen the molding by hitting in an upward motion. It didn’t take long for the molding to loosen up enough for me to pull it the rest of the way off by hand. This part of the process was so satisfying for me.

For the next part, I built boxes to extend my cabinets to the ceiling. To do this, I first grabbed the measurements I needed and picked up some straight wood boards. I wasn’t able to use my table saw to make the long cuts for this. So instead, I used two 2×4 boards to prop up the board I was cutting and clamped it all together. Then I put another straight board on top about an inch over from where I wanted to cut and clamped that down. Last, I grabbed my saw and made the cut. After I had all sides cut for each box, I made pocket holes and attached everything together. There! That’s what I call getting a designer look without the designer budget. You can see more on this process here.

Painting The Outside Of Cabinet Boxes

Before I jump into painting, here is a tip that will make your kitchen cabinet project so much easier. Don’t rip out the cabinet boxes, just replace the doors. Genius right? Then all you have to do is match the door color to the color you’re painting the rest of the cabinets with. For my cabinets, I painted the outside of the boxes in the color Rock Bottom by Sherwin Williams. If you know me, you won’t be surprised I went with a green color. But, you might be surprised by how many green options there are to choose from. I think I sampled at least fifteen other colors! A tip when painting, always leave a wet edge. Meaning, don’t go back and paint over areas that are already starting to dry. This will give your cabinets a much nicer finish.

Attaching Cabinet Door Fronts From Nieu

Now, what was the real secret to my cabinet renovation? Refacing! What’s refacing you ask? It’s when you replace all of your cabinet door and drawer faces with new ones in a fresh style and color. For this project, I partnered with Nieu to design a line of beautiful cabinet fronts in a variety of colors. I used the color Dream Dusk in my own kitchen and Winter White in my kid’s loft playroom. Refacing is another great way to get that designer look without spending a ton of money. Plus, you can even custom order doors and trim pieces that will fit your kitchen perfectly. Then all you have to do is attach the doors and hardware. To see what I did for the hardware in my kitchen, head to this post. Have more questions about Nieu or refacing, I have some answers for you here.