What can I do to make my awful melamine cabinets look less awful?

You can update them with paint, or change them up completely with some trim and paint..,different hardware makes a huge difference too! Btw paint the wood trim toi!

you can paint them or stain them or put decals on them or switch out the doors....

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/before-after-gemmas-under-200-kitchen-spruce-up-165505

Painting melamine cabinets requires primer and make sure your paint says for melamine on the label. It is harder to find now with low voc regulations but is still out there. Prep is the key.

If you have ever wanted to use Contact adhesive paper on doors, these doors are perfect — smooth, long expanses. Measure first, then buy enough for the whole job at once to be sure you get matching colors or patterns. 😇💞

Pretty hardware would help too.

After degreasing and thoroughly drying w/soft jersey material, you can paint with Anne Sloane chalk paint. Go to Anne's site for directions on using chalk paint.... it will show you how to proceed.

Putting "Chalk Paint Recipe" into your browser should give you recipes to make your own chalk paint.

Oh, and take lots of before and after pictures. Good luck! What a wonderful adventure!

they can be painted! I did the ones that were in my laundry room and they look great. I used Behr alkyd paint.

Paint the wood trim in high gloss paint that matches the laminate and add modern-look hardware.

Cover with simple wallpaper

if you do decide to paint spruce them up with decals as well!! Adds a decorative touch. I did with kitchen and laundry room...

Mac tac style, or wallpaper is not recommended on kitchen doors that do not have any handles or knobs. Just with normal use, it will soon begin to peel away from the edges, and will be very hard to re-attach without upsetting the original seal. Any area on the doors that wears out unevenly, gets tiny hairline cracks or rips will invite dirt, moisture, and bacterium to enter and continue growing.

you can get customized vinyl stickers printed and stick them on all doors for a very cheap and elegant upgrade. I am gonna do that to a 4 dour wall cabinet in my kids' room.

They sell sheets of bead board at home depot. Cut to size, and use rubber cement to glue them on, (or ask home depot what kind of glue to use.) Then you can paint to the color you prefer. It looks amazing! Good luck.:-)

Contact paper would look nice. After it's up, spray a rag with furniture polish, this will keep the grease and grime off the paper. Repeat with polish after you clean them . Mild soap and water is all you need.

Wood strips from a hardware store. They come in different widths, and depths. You could just varnish, stain and varnish, or paint. Go into thrift shops if hardware shops are expensive for handles. My kitchen doors came without handles so I put in brass ones from the old kitchen doors I had before. makes the kitchen units look more expensive. I also thought outside the square and used brass used to edge carpet between tiled areas to edge rim around bench top, and then again rim around units meeting the floor more class.

If you like the farmhouse/rustic style, you could build some new doors and drawer faces. You could use pallets and often you can get them for free. Just be sure there isn't any toxic chemical residue on them. If you have a Re-Store nearby you can purchase paint and building materials very inexpensively. You can find knobs and pulls on clearance at almost any hardware or home improvement store. They may not all match but a can or two of paint in a contrasting color would make them blend together nicely and add to the charm. I sure hope this helps! 😉