Kitchen reno with paint and ply

[LizzieCro]

I did this reno a few years ago. We had a high gloss polyurethane kitchen, with flat doors. I wanted Shaker style, but we couldn't afford to have the kitchen changed by professionals. To change the doors, drawer fronts and end panels, I ripped down some 3mm ply into strips, and attached this to the fronts to create the Shaker trim. To allow for the additional thickness of the doors I simply adjusted the concealed hinges, to move the door ever-so-slightly away from the cabinet edge. I also created the illusion that there were more drawers, by adding trim to the tops of doors, creating a faux drawer, and by 'dividing' three large drawers, into 6.

I removed two of the cabinets over the stove, and converted the remaining centre cabinet into a custom range hood cover, using ply, pine and MDF. The front cover comes off that, so there is still storage there if needed. I extended the ends of the breakfast bar, where it originally cantilvered, just to give it more substance. I added colonial skirting to the base of the kitchen, and brought the kickboards out by adding 18mm pine to the fronts.

The cabinets were primed with ESP, and Zinsser BIN, then painted with water-based enamel, using a 4mm nap microfibre roller. I replaced the sink with a ceramic butler's sink, cutting down the doors below it to accommodate it.

This completely changed the kitchen's appearance, and has proven really very robust; no chipping or scratching to any painted surface. Having lived with it now since 2018, I'm thinking of changing the colour of the lower cabinets.

[projectmumdanni]

Really love what you have done. We are about to do some Reno's in our kitchen but realised our panels aren't kaboodle 😭 we were wanting to save and re use cabinets etc and just replace panels..might need to do this

[EricL]

Hi @projectmumdanni

It's a great way to upcycle your kitchen doors specially if having custom cut doors is too expensive. If you decide to give this option a go, please make sure to send us updates. I'm sure our members would be keen to see how your doors will look like after the modification.

We look forward to seeing your kitchen doors revamped.

Eric

[LizzieCro]

@projectmumdanni thank you. It's really a very easy process, and makes a huge difference to the kitchen and feel of the house.
A couple of years ago I renovated my laundry, and decided to do Kaboodle cabinets, as I'd renovated the whole house myself, so just thought I'd splurge on the last room, by having Bunnings make it easier. I fitted 'off the shelf' cabinets and Alpine profile doors to one wall, only to find out I couldn't buy them for the opposite wall. So, I constructed the cabinets from Melamine, then made the doors myself, using MDF and 3mm ply for the Shaker profile, just copying dimensions and bevelled cut as per the Kaboodle doors. It's very hard to tell the difference. None of this is tricky, you've just gotta think about it, plan what you need to do, and back yourself.

I hope you'll share your photos once you've done it, as I'd love to see them. Good luck!

[Christy8]

That's what I would love to do in the kitchen and to make it look a lot better for the  Owners because only rental the house and the kitchen is always look dark all the time so we have to have a light on in the kitchen so we can see what we are doing in the kitchen 

[MitchellMc]

We'd be keen to hear more about your issue @Christy8. You might like to start a discussion, including some images, and our talented members could have some suggestions on how you can improve the lighting situation in your kitchen. There are plenty of options you could consider and many that I'm sure the homeowner would be pleased to accommodate.

Mitchell