How to Replace or Reface Kitchen Cupboards

Whether it's harvest gold, avocado, mulberry purple or pickled green, sooner or later all color trends run their course. And if you're buying an older home, your kitchen may have an outdated color. But before you hire a contractor, run to the home store or rip out cabinets, consider a simple refinishing job. Updating your kitchen cabinets may be all you need to transform your kitchen from dated to dazzling.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Pressure sensitive veneer
• Drawer fronts
• Cabinet doors
• Plywood panels
• Hinges
• Knobs and pulls
• Degreaser/cleaner
• Sandpaper (150 grit) and tack cloth
• Carpenters glue
• 2 D finish nails
• Wood filler
• Hammer
• Saw
• Utility knife
• Straight edge
• Drill
• Screwdriver

Instructions

1. Measure all surfaces and carefully determine cabinet dimensions before purchasing any materials.

2. Order all cabinets and materials based on measurements.

3. Remove all drawer fronts, doors and hardware using a screwdriver.

4. Lightly sand all remaining cabinet areas, including cabinet box and end-panels.

5. Clean all surfaces with a tack cloth, warm soapy water and a kitchen degreaser to remove dirt and grease that builds up on kitchen surfaces from cooking.

6. Attach a plywood panels to the end panels of the cabinet boxes using carpenter's glue and finishing nails. If you measured properly, you will not have to trim away excess paneling around the edges of the box.

7. Apply the self-sticking, pressure sensitive veneer to the facings of the cabinet. To do this, cut the veneer larger than the cabinet surface, remove the backing from the veneer and press it to the surface of the cabinets. Using a utility knife and straight edge, trim the veneer so that it is flush with the cabinet facings.

8. Reattach your hardware by screwing it into the existing cabinet holes. If you are using new hardware, cover the existing holes with wood filler and drill new holes for the hardware mountings.

9. Drill new hinge holes and then screwing the cabinet hinges into them. Do not put hinges into old hinge holes because this may pull the veneer loose from the cabinet facings.

10. Screw new, repainted or resurfaced cabinet doors onto the hinges.

Resources

• This Old House.com