Cheapest Way To Update Kitchen Cabinets – Do you want to give your outdated or factory-quality cabinets a designer look without the high price? Before spending a fortune to rip it out and replace it, try some of these tricks to create a unique, high-end look on a DIY budget. You can solve most of them yourself in a long weekend!
We’re in the process of building our Hacienda Hideaway kitchen, and over the past year I’ve been gathering dreamy inspiration to take my design to the next level. I thought it would be fun to share with you the best ideas I found – almost all of which I plan to incorporate into my future designs.
Cheapest Way To Update Kitchen Cabinets
No revelations here – a fresh coat of paint always means the biggest price. Most cabinet surfaces can be repainted with a high-quality primer and special paint. I’ve had great results with Benjamin Moore Advance and Sherwin Williams Urethane Enamel, both designed for cabinets and recommended by professionals/DIYs.
How To Paint Laminate Cabinets
If you don’t want to commit to a full color makeover, try painting just the upper, lower or island cabinets. Introducing another color adds visual interest and helps keep the space from being too one-dimensional. Even a few shades lighter or darker than the current cabinets will give your kitchen a more unique feel.
Check out my detailed guide to professional paint cabinets and paint roller test results. The power of paint cannot be emphasized enough!
A quick fix that can go a long way in updating the look of your cabinets. Appliances are the “jewel” of your kitchen, so you can add individuality!
Today, there is an endless selection available in every price range and for every style. This is an area where you don’t have to skimp to find something that looks top-of-the-line. Sites like Amazon, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and even Etsy offer a wide variety of inexpensive cabinet hardware (these are my most affordable picks).
Temporary Cabinet Covers And 8 Other Kitchen Ideas
Options 1 and 3 are the easiest, but they limit the compensation options. Option 2 requires additional work. You can also choose a solid bar handle like this one to cover old holes.
Pro tip: Drill perfect holes with a cabinet hardware drill and save time! We use for the following hardware installation:
This is the biggest investment (both in time and dollars) on this list, but you may find it necessary to get the most impact. If you’re happy with the overall look of your kitchen, but the doors are outdated or damaged, you should consider replacing your cabinets.
Many companies (both local and online) can make custom door and drawer fronts to fit existing cabinets. With a little extra modification, you can even extend the doors into drawers, which often means more efficient use of space.
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We are working with Nieu Cabinet Doors on our Hacienda kitchen remodel and the process has been very easy so far. Installation of the doors starts this week – you can follow my Instagram stories!
If a complete replacement of the doors/drawer fronts is not possible, consider upgrading them with injection molding. This is one of my favorite easy DIY tricks for doors of all sizes (see Easy DIY Door Upgrade Guide).
This process is ideal for standard slab or shaker style doors when you want to take them to the next level. We’ve updated the Shaker cabinet doors with thin moldings to give them an elevated, unique look. The magic is in the details!
You can also try other types of moldings, such as grooves, like we did with these Ikea cabinet doors below:
Custom Kitchen Cabinets, Eh?
Another idea to consider is adding moldings to the bottom of the cabinet drawers for a more polished look.
Cabinet ends are another (often overlooked) way to customize your kitchen. This can be a simple DIY with molding or thin cover sheets such as bead board.
Islands are the perfect place to add details and define the style of a room. In our Hacienda kitchen, we decided to cover the sides of the cabinets and the island with vertical shiplap:
At the back of the island, you can also make a statement with wallpaper or a tile pattern:
How To Update A Kitchen In 15 Simple Ways (without Remodeling)
This unique detail was at the top of our wish list for our Hacienda Hideaway kitchen. After gathering inspiration from Pinterest, we came up with a curved toe kick design and made them into our wardrobe (full tutorial coming soon!)
Most people don’t even realize that there are more options than the standard toe kick indentation, and that’s one of the reasons why they make such a statement – it’s very rare! You will notice them if you study the projects of the best interior designers. This Warmington & North kitchen provided huge inspiration for our toe-kicking design:
In our own kitchen, we equipped the bottom of the cabinets with unique legs, so it’s the easiest way to dress them.
In our Riverside Retreat kitchen, we installed a flat toe kick that required only 2×4” of additional bracing to expand the outside of the toe kick, and finished it off with a quarter turn.
How To Extend Cabinets To The Ceiling On A Budget:
Any of these atypical options look more like built-in furniture and create a sense of thoughtful, purposeful design.
If you have enough closed storage space and you like the idea of displaying your favorite foods or drinks, consider replacing one or more upper cabinets with open shelves.
We chose a full wall of open shelving for our own kitchen and love how easy it is to access our everyday dishes. Although our kitchen is not large and we could have used extra hidden storage space, the open shelves make the space feel bigger and more characterful than a wall of cabinets.
I also chose this path for the kitchen of Riverside Retreat, I replaced the old upper cabinets with two shelves.
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A simpler (and less permanent) alternative to open shelving is to remove the doors from the upper cabinets to give it an “open” feel. I like the idea of painting the drawers the same color as the wall so they blend in and feel less like cabinets. You can have fun adding wallpaper or even shells and attach the tile to the back wall.
Here’s an alternative to removing the overhead cabinet doors: add glass panels instead! This way you can still display your favorite dishes while keeping them dust-free. A local glass company should be able to modify existing doors and replace the inner panel with glass (tile doors may require additional customization).
Feel free to get creative and consider using beveled, leaded or tinted glass or fluted. Take it a step further with unique options such as reed ribbon, metal mesh or antique mirrored glass.
It’s a great place to add your own personal style to your kitchen and try something new.
Easy & Inexpensive Ways To Update Your Kitchen On A Budget * Hip & Humble Style
The empty space above the upper cabinets is one of my biggest design pet peeves, but luckily it’s relatively easy to fix! By filling this gap, the room will instantly appear taller and more finished.
There are many ways to do this and there are lots of great before/after tutorials online. The quickest solution is to frame the empty space, attach fillers, crown and paint to match the existing cabinets.
At the same time, consider building an environment for your refrigerator. By covering the sides of the exposed refrigerator, your kitchen will instantly become brighter.
This is my personal favorite kitchen design trick. I used two vintage pieces in our kitchen – this wooden piece of furniture that holds dishes, a microwave and a toaster:
Cheapest Way To Update A Kitchen
Vintage pieces are easy to finish to our taste (both were mine) and are often much cheaper than cabinets. They add a lot of character and separate your kitchen from the base of the building.
I try to include at least one vintage piece in every room, and the kitchen is no exception. I found a used $50 kitchen table at Riverside Retreat, painted it and put it on wheels, then turned it into a portable island:
Consider replacing one cabinet (upper or lower) with an antique piece, or simply add an old cabinet if you have the space.
There you have it – ten designer-approved ways to transform your kitchen cabinets. Do you have a favorite? I hope this has inspired you to use your creative cabinets if you don’t have the heart or budget to replace them. You might be surprised how much a small detail can mean!
Cheap Kitchen Update
As we continue to work on our Hacienda kitchen cabinets, I’ll be following our progress on Instagram stories. Next week: new landscaping at the Heights House!
Hi, I’m Jenna and I’ve been designing and building homes since 2008. Please join me in learning, sharing my experiences, and hopefully encouraging/inspiring you along the way!
Get tutorials for the most popular beginner DIYs that you can do with limited tools and a budget (in a weekend!) If you have $80,000, you can buy a luxury SUV. It could pay for a year at Harvard. Or you can change your kitchen. Yeah.