7 Easy Ways to Update Old Kitchen Cabinets Without Replacing Them 

If you're looking for ways to upgrade your kitchen with the hassle or expense of a full renovation, I have some ideas for you. I made a list of 7 easy ways to update old kitchen cabinets without replacing them.  

Easy, because all of these methods take much less time, money, hassle, and mess than a full remodel! 

You may be somewhat familiar with three of these options already:  painting, refacing and replacing your cabinets!

 I'll share with you seven options that contain all three of these methods but some are hybrids or combinations of these that you may want to consider. The list could be even longer, but hopefully this will give you some ideas and inspiration for how to tackle your cabinet makeover.

Sometimes a full cabinet replacement is the best option,

 but when your cabinets are in good condition, and you'd like to save your countertop, backsplash, floor, sink, plumbing or most of all, TIME (Full renovations can take months!) then one of these methods may be perfect for you!

Touch-up Finish - Rejuvinate Old Cabinets

Touching up worn cabinet finishes is an excellent way to breathe new life into your kitchen without the need to fully refinish or reface them.

With this method the cabinets are thoroughly cleaned, degreased and scuff sanded in spots that are damaged. A stain or glaze is applied with a brush and blended with the cabinet. A clear topcoat is applied in spots that were repaired. In a more major touch-up, you may apply a new clearcoat over the whole cabinet face.

The key to blending colors is a good color match of stain or paint. Need help with a color match? We can help with that! 

Sometimes a cabinet door or drawer front needs to be replaced. In this case, we make a new door with the same wood and profile details to match We then create a stain to match the existing cabinets. Color matches are not always easy to get perfect. For best results, replace the cabinet doors in one section instead of just one door.

Painting / Refinishing

With this method, the complete exterior of the cabinets are either painted or restained and clearcoated. Painting is the most forgiving since you can fill imperfections, sand flat and hide with primer and paint. The best cabinet paints are those used by professionals and not trim enamels or off the shelf cabinet paints. 2k products (paints mixed with a hardner) cure chemically and are more water and chip resistant than any 1K product (paint not mixed with hardner).

With refinishing, there's more labor and less forgiveness when it comes to hiding imperfections. Scratches and nicks can be sanded and restained, but must be blended with the existing stain color.

Since most stains are absorbed into the pores of the wood, you will never be able to sand the wood down to it's natural color. When refinishing, its best to refresh the existing color with a similar color, or use a toner stain to darken or change the color tone. You can seldom refinish and go lighter in color without starting fresh with new cabinet doors.

Redooring - Updating Cabinet Style

Cabinet Redooring is the process of partially refacing the cabinets by replacing only the doors and drawer fronts. Nothing is done to the cabinet sides or faces behind the doors. (You could also do some touch up color here as described above). So because of that, you'll order doors in the same wood and color as the cabinets - just the style of the doors will change.

This method allows you to update the cabinet style to either a more modern or traditional look. You can also do a more full overlay look where less of the cabinet face is visible and the gaps between the doors is made less. See examples below.

With this method, you need your new cabinet doors painted or stained with a color match to your cabinets. A good paint supplier should be able to get this very close. (Color matches are not 100% but are usually not noticable unless you are a color perfectionist!) Make sure to get a sample and approve it before having all your cabinet doors replaced!

Painting / Redooring - Updating Style and Color

This method is a hybrid between cabinet painting and cabinet refacing. 

Here the cabinet boxes, (sides, faceframes, moldings, etc) are painted right in the house. You can do this yourself with a brush or roller, or hire a professional to spray them for a factory finish. This process requires a lot of masking, plastic walls, and ventilation to take the dust and paint smells out of the house.

Instead of painting or refinishing the existing cabinet doors, they are taken down and replaced with new cabinet doors and drawer fronts painted or stained with the same finish as the cabinets. This process is like the redooring process above with the addition to refinishing the cabinets. 

You will want to use this method if changing the paint color of the cabinets rather than matching new doors to the existing color.

Refacing - New Style, Color, and Wood Species

Cabinet refacing is the process of covering the exposed cabinet surfaces with new wood and adding new doors and drawer fronts. Cabinet refacing gives you the opportunity to start with a blank canvas, and add any paint color, or wood stain color you like. 

You can convert your cabinets into beautiful cherry, maple, hickory, walnut, White oak and more. These can be natural clearcoated or stained in one of our many beautiful wood stains. Click her to see the stain browser.

See our cabinet refacing options and pricing here.

Refacing / Replacing Only Upper Cabinets 

Here's one more hybrid method  - between refacing and replacing. Replacing the upper cabinets could give you more storage space, especially if your cabinets don't go to the ceiling. 

The upper cabinets are the easiest cabinets to replace since there is no countertop, plumbing or electrical to deal with.

Also Upper cabinetes are usually less money than base cabinets since they don't have drawers or rollout drawers.

By refacing the base cabinets and replacing the upper cabinets, You'll pay more than a typical refacing job, but it will cost a lot less than a full cabinet replacement. You get the best of both worlds without the hassle of replacing countertops, plumbing, electrical or flooring.

Adding Some Accents  - Moldings, hardware, and More

This method involves simple replacing hardware, like door handles, hinges, etc. Adding crown molding, or undercabinet light rail molding, can add character and style to your kitchen.