Is there any hope left for these outdated kitchen cabinets?

MM
by MM
Are these outdated kitchen cabinets, UP-dateable?
We have a fairly small kitchen in our house, so it needs to be torn down completely as we'd like an open concept with the living room next to it. But for now, I have to live with these. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
  15 answers
  • Tammy Tammy on May 28, 2016
    There are SO MANY things you can do. You can use wallpaper or contact paper on them or you can decoupage them. You can paint them after a light sanding or use chalk paint. Paint the wood trim a contrasting color, add cabinet pulls. I used copper contact paper on the sides of my cabinets because stores were asking too much for the end panels and I wanted a unique look for the sides of my wall cabinets.
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on May 28, 2016
    You can paint them with proper sanding , cleaning and a good primer.
  • Swinnen Lisette Swinnen Lisette on May 28, 2016
    Of course you can. I can imagine that you don't want to spent a lot of money on this because of the futur plans for your kitchen. You can paint the doors in any color, including the wooden bits on the bottom, and simply put new knobs or handles on it, in metal or so. It will change the kitchen completely. And for the backsplash? I have put on mine simply thick wallpaper (white bricks) that I varnished with a spray for watercolor paintings. If you paint your cabinetdoors white,you could use a wallpaper with more color in.
  • William William on May 28, 2016
    The possibilities are endless! You can check out what other Hometalkers have done. Just click "kitchens" on the top right side of any page.
  • Bronwen Jones Bronwen Jones on May 28, 2016
    Absolutely , you can add strips MDF to create some depth and bury the bottom pull, you can then paint then any colour you want ideas galore found in places like this ...http://www.listotic.com/easy-remodeling-projects-that-will-completely-transform-your-home/12/
  • MM MM on May 29, 2016
    As added info, the cupboards have laminate stripping over what I assume is particle board. The edges have started to come off in some corners, so I have been using a glue gun to put the strips back into place,so they aren't flapping around! Lol. For those that mentioned painting the wooden pulls, I think I can do that. We have a couple of chocolate brown feature walls in the house (including the living room, as a contrast to the peanut butter colour you see in the photo. So the more I think of it, I might just do that. I have read everyone's suggestions and greatly appreciate your help. I may need to refer back to it at some point! Namaste!
  • Patty Webber Patty Webber on May 29, 2016
    If you don't want to sand and prime I'd use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, my daughter has painted over 14 kitchens now with this paint and her clients are very happy with the end result. Looks like a $40,000 kitchen and all you spent was approx. $250 dollars. Can't beat that.
  • Lynne Krywulycz Lynne Krywulycz on May 29, 2016
    You could paint the timber pulls a bright colour and and paint the 'splashback' area the same if you simply want to brighten it up until you are ready to take it out. Cheap and easy. Good way to try out a new colour scheme as well.
  • Mary E. Sines Mary E. Sines on May 29, 2016
    I helped a client with cabinets just like these. Clean them up, add molding to the center panels to make them appear dimensional, sand, prime and paint. Also add some crown molding if possible and you will not believe the transformation for a small amount of money. Good luck!
  • Ivana Carmon Ivana Carmon on May 29, 2016
    Just cover the fronts with textured wall paper (the kind you paint) I used the kind that looks like punched tin. Paint with gloss paint after applying the paper with wall paper paste (no soaking in water. I patted mine with a silver paint then went over with a dark gel stain and wiped off pretty quick and they kind of look like the middle part of a punched tin pie safe. I sanded the wood grain part and painted them the same color. Looks great, has held up really well and I get lots of compliments!
  • Diana Deiley Diana Deiley on May 29, 2016
    I'm with Ivana and textured wall paper. Easy peasy cost effective way of a wonderful remake. Have fun.
  • Piper Trace Piper Trace on May 30, 2016
    Check out this makeover! She basically has your exact same cabinets and turned them into shaker cabinets with some simple molding. She just covered that bottom piece with the wood before she painted it all. http://littlelessy.com/tag/white-melamine-cabinets/
    • MM MM on May 31, 2016
      Now THAT is a nice look! Thanks for the link!
  • MM MM on May 31, 2016
    I plan to use suggestions made by people to update my cabinets
  • Mcgypsy9 Mcgypsy9 on Jun 01, 2016
    You can also buy breadboard and cover over the fronts and then add the frame around them like the suggestion from piper. This makes them very high end cabinets as well!
  • Mary Meyrose Mary Meyrose on Jul 02, 2016
    We have same cabinets. We used rustoleum cabinet restoration. We painted wood and all. Changed hardware and they look good!