DIY Cupboard Facelift or Not?

[ladyrsanti]

Hello. We moved into this house almost exactly a year ago. I am getting around to redecorating the dining room. The nasty wallpaper is coming down, the shag carpet is coming up. I will leave the trim white, paint the walls a slate gray and put dark walnut hardwood floors in. But then there are these cherry stained cabinets to deal with. The handles are outdated and the style is plain. I will change the handles regardless but I've thought about painting the wood to match the trim but worry it would be glaring as a wall of white. I've considered staining a darker color but that's more work. At any rate, they will not match the updates as is and I have to do *something* to them. I'm looking for thoughts and ideas. Tell me not to do it or that I must. Tell me to tear them out if you want. I will listen and entertain all ideas. I just want as many opinions as possible. I don't like the cupboards but love the storage space. I'm a trained fine artist and aesthetics are my life but visualizing rooms has always been hard for me.

 

[Eggsoteric]

Go ahead and change out the handles (it's amazing what just a hardware change can make), however, if it were me, I would wait until I got all my other updates in the room before deciding whether or not to paint or restain. You may find that they look nice as is or even nicer with a little Murphy's Oil soap taken to them. I wouldn't want to give up that storage space either.

 

[satay]

After reading all the things you are going to modernize, I would pull it out. I don't think it would suit with all the modern touches you are doing. Either that or change the doors on it for more modern ones.

 

[wyoDreamer]

For me, I would definately leave them if you don't need the wall space for furniture and/or artwork. You will never be able to replace that amount of storage, especially in a dining room. However, they do seem a little odd with the glass doors not matching the lines of the lower and upper's. I would definately change out the glass doors for a solid door. You could cut a piece of hardboard to replace the glass to do something quick and easy, and even cover it with wallpaper if you feel the need to add a punch of color or texture. That would also be fairly cheap and easy to change if you get tired of it.
With dark walnut floors and slate grey walls - a coat of satin or eggshell paint in a charcoal color might look nice - or for something more subtle choose another grey either one or two shades lighter/darker than the slate on the walls (up or down on the sample card). White would be way too much for the room I think - they would just seem huge with the dark walls. Using the same color as the walls may look funky.

 

[smilingcat]

Sometime, all it takes is to change the door, handle and the hinge. If you want a more updated look, use a hidden Euro style hinge. They are hidden inside so you do not see the pins of the hinge. In fact, they don't have the pins.

You could also replace the glass but they do cost bit of money especially if you want it beveled.

Replace everything else first then see how it would look. IF you are not sure just get one door and stain it to the color you want and place it and see how you like it.

Replacing the whole cabinet is going to cost money!! And today's cabinet quality are not that great. Mostly made out of particle board Will not last.

 

[FreshHappyEggs]

I really don't think they look bad. I agree with the others about changing the hardware. It is the easiest/cheapest change that could make a huge difference. You should see how outdated MY kitchen is. My cabinets are a pecan color with a scalloped piece above the window, horrible brass handles, pink and mint green wallpaper and pink carpet! We have our work cut out for us! The most annoying thing is the carpet. I have to run the vacuum every day it seems. It would be much easier to get out a broom and dustpan. Sorry to ramble on... anyways, your cabinets look to be in pretty good shape. And personally I don't think the color is bad.

 

[DeerFangRanch]

I think I would take out the top row (makes the whole thing look heavy & massive).

Wall color up there (and seeing more ceiling showing) will give it a more pleasing balance.
Since the wall color shows on the open shelves on the right side, I would also paint the back (not sides) of the glass cabinets to lighten that space up.
That will also "please" the eye and tie all the shelves together. (while you're painting, I also like the inside of the closed cabinets painted a light color - feels bigger and is not like putting things in a cave).

The storage loss would be small (can always put those cupboards up in the garage - something like that always needed there - especially if you put them at a height that you can actually use them).

A good scrub with Murphy's oil soap, or any good handwash dishwashing soap and then a nice coat of mineral oil will make the wood look nice.

Buy lots of different handles (someplace where you can return) and put them up all at once. Even just holding them up will knock a few out of the competition. Leave them up for a few days and you'll quickly develop a favorite.

 

[ladyrsanti]

We've considered maybe taking the doors off the top row of cupboards but the trick is that the plaster behind them is crumbling and would need to be covered with wallboard so I'm not touching it until we're ready to tackle another big project. But yeah, we've never used them or even attempted to clean them (the top row) so it would not be any sort of a loss if we took them down. Don'tcha love the ivy wallpaper?!

One issue I can think off right off the bat is that the ceiling board was updated and stops at the cupboards. The original plaster ceiling is inside the cupboards and would need to be covered. This would leave a seam unless we replaced the entire ceiling (which we're not going to do). Thanks for the idea though!





I bought some old vintage drawer pulls but haven't had the time to put them on yet. They match the ones in the kitchen (seen here). I still need to find something for the cabinet doors though.

 

[DeerFangRanch]

And it looks like they left you extra ivy wallpaper - Lucky You

 

[chickenstricken]

kicking around the idea of doing this on our kitchen cabinets.

http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/

A lot of the "after" shots don't look to bad, and it's waaaayy cheaper than an R & R.