How to Make Simple and Cheap Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchens are the heart of a home.

Money is no object when kitchen remodels are the project. However, you can allocate hardly any money for the cabinets and save the big bucks for the appliances and plumbing. Be willing to take bold chances with color and with unconventional materials when building your own cabinets.

Things You'll Need

• China hutch
• Dresser
• Filing cabinet
• Bookcase
• Screws
• L brackets
• CD holders
• Wire, chain, curtain rod
• Wrought iron fence
• Bi-fold closet doors

Instructions

Inventory and Purge

1. 

   How much stuff do you really use?

   Assess what you really need kitchen cabinets to hold. Downsize your stuff and you may find that you need less space. Inventory the kitchen equipment and supplies that you actually use on a daily basis and dump the rest. That simple step will help to open the options for unconventional cabinetry.

2. 

   Re-purpose a china hutch.

   Use china hutches or tall entertainment centers as the primary focal point of your kitchen remodel. Make a bold statement with a large piece and have the rest of the kitchen cabinets work into that design. Add shelving to the pieces, obscure the glass doors with tissue paper applied with white glue or paint in colors that show you know this is a unique solution.

3. 

   Dresser drawers make great kitchen cabinets.

   Use dressers for the drawers in the new kitchen you design. Check to make sure the drawers are in good shape. Construct wooden frames under the dressers to raise the height to the standard 36-inch counter height. Paint the dressers bold colors, both inside and out. Add silverware, cooking tools, plastic lids, pot holders and whatever else fits in the drawers.

4. 

   Office storage systems work great in kitchens too.

   Repaint filing cabinets. Build a wooden frame under the cabinets to bring them up to 36 inches in height. Add a tile top, a laminate top or make a faux butcher block top with scrap lumber from wooden pallets. Tall file cabinets make great pantry storage.

5. 

   Ready-made open shelving for your kitchen.

   Secure open bookcases to the walls with L brackets for upper cabinets. Paint the insides and outsides of the bookcases an interesting color. Apply wild wall paper or shelf paper to the backs and shelves and put away your glasses and dishes.

6. 

   CD cabinets work for all that small stuff kitchens have.

   Screw wooden or plastic CD cabinet to the wall to hold cups and glasses or spices. Hang these cabinets either horizontally or vertically. At about 6 inches in width and in depth, these make perfect cabinets to stack two or three on a wall. Add CD jewel cases as shelves or dividers between objects. Change it around to suit your mood or musical taste.

7. 

   Heavy copper wire bent into S hooks to hang pots and pans.

   String a series of high tension wires, chain or curtain rods on the walls. Make S hooks with 12-gauge or thicker copper wire. Hang pots and pans on the S hooks.

8. 

   Iron fencing on the ceiling

   Make an overhead pot rack with a section of wrought iron fence screwed to the ceiling using L brackets. Make S hooks for the rack with heavy-gauge wire and hang pots and pans from the rack.

9. 

   Create a pantry with closet doors.

   Make a tall pantry cabinet with old bi-fold closet doors. Leave all the hinges on the doors. Secure one panel onto the back wall of the kitchen and let the joined section form one wall at right angle to the back panel. Attach the second set of panels to the open side of the now secured back wall panel. Form a square with 3 sides secured and the last panel hinged as a door. Add shelving inside the new pantry. Paint both inside and out. Put away your cereal boxes.

Tips & Warnings

• Use clear plastic shoe-pocket-over-the-door organizers to hold items you need daily or quickly.

• Screw and bracket all upper and lower cabinets to the walls securely to avoid accidents.

References

• "Use What You Have Decorating"; Lauri Ward; 1998
• "Junk Chic"; Kathryn Elliott; 2002