Kitchen remodels are one of the most popular home modifications. People spend a lot of time in their kitchens, and kitchen upgrades can make your kitchen easier and more enjoyable to use. In addition, they can add value to your home, add storage and food prep space and make room for new appliances.
Whether doing a major kitchen remodel or just a minor renovation, you could consider upgrading your old kitchen cabinets. Depending on the size of your kitchen, you could spend thousands of dollars on replacing outdated cabinets.
If you decide that your cabinets still have some life in them and you want to save yourself some time and money, consider these kitchen cabinet upgrade ideas. You can enhance the appearance of your cabinets, transform your kitchen to get a trendy new look and make your kitchen more user-friendly. You can use any combination of the following ideas for a unique solution to your kitchen.
Painting Your Cabinets
Painting is by far the cheapest way to change the appearance of your cabinets. Of course, this will depend on the look of the existing cabinets. However, if the cabinets have already been painted, this is an easy choice, and you can achieve an entirely new look for your kitchen in one weekend.
Painting your cabinets is so easy that choosing a kitchen cabinet color might take you longer. Take the size of your kitchen into consideration when making a color choice, and also factor in your countertop, backsplash, and wall colors. If you are upgrading your kitchen with the intent to sell your home, consider neutral color choices that will appeal to most buyers.
You can choose from a few different painting techniques that can add character to your kitchen. For example, the crackle glaze is a finishing technique that creates a rustic look. Distressed paint and antiqued paint are other ways to achieve a shabby chic or provincial look. And if you want something more elegant, try a high gloss paint that also makes your cabinets easy to clean.
Pull Out and Slide Shelving
One of the top reasons for a kitchen remodel is to increase your kitchen’s storage space. If you decide to install pull-out shelves in your kitchen cabinets, you will be surprised at how effective this upgrade is at helping you to utilize the hard-to-reach areas of your cabinets.
Pull-out shelves make it much easier to organize the contents of your kitchen cabinets, especially your pots and pans. If you have ever found yourself shoving a pan into a cabinet while hoping that you’ll be able to find it again, pull-out shelves are right for you.
Some kitchen appliances are left on the countertop because they are used frequently. A slide-out shelf can make it easier to pull out and put away daily, freeing up counter space. Pull-out shelves are also great for recycling bins and waste containers, making your kitchen easier to organize and clean.
With various solutions for every type of kitchen cabinet, from under sink caddies to pantry rollouts, pull-out shelving can be a great way to renovate a kitchen and free up space without moving a single cabinet or appliance.
Under Cabinet Lighting
Another great upgrade for old cabinets is under cabinet lighting. Not only can task lighting change the appearance of your entire kitchen, but it can also be very efficient. With cabinet lighting, there isn’t a lot of wasted light. In addition, under cabinet task lighting is generally easier to install than other types of light fixtures in your kitchen.
There are three main types of under-cabinet lighting:
- Puck lights
- Strip or bar lights
- Tape or rope lights
All of these are available as LEDs and can be found in different color temperatures to match the look of your kitchen.
Other Cabinet Features to Add
Modern kitchen cabinetry has various features you can add that will bring new life to your old kitchen cabinets. Some of these will free up space in other parts of your kitchen, and others are designed to improve your cabinetry style.
Add a plate rack
A plate rack can be fitted to your existing cabinetry, or you can purchase a standalone plate rack unit to hang on the wall by itself. Integrated plate racks can be combined with glass doors on cabinets to show off your dish collection and give your kitchen a sense of depth. No matter what style you have in your kitchen, there are many ways to add a plate rack to upgrade your kitchen cabinets.
Add crown molding
If your kitchen cabinets don’t already have crown molding, adding it is a relatively simple process. Adding crown molding typically costs about $7 per linear foot. Crown molding can make your kitchen seem taller, larger, and more elegant.
Add more cabinets
Take a look around your kitchen. Is it possible that you have overlooked a space to add a kitchen cabinet? If you are already planning a kitchen cabinet upgrade, now is the time to add a cabinet to an underutilized corner of your kitchen. Especially if you are going to paint your cabinets, it is easy to add a cabinet and make it match the rest of the kitchen.
