Decorative Hardware

While installing new cabinets in your kitchen or bathroom can cost an arm and a leg, updating cabinets isn’t all that difficult.  Depending on the style of cabinets in the home, the first step is to decide on a new stain (for wood cabinets) or new paint (for cabinets made from wood or other materials).  Most homeowners decide on new paint as this tends to provide the most dramatic turnaround.  Once the color of stain or paint is selected, the next step is to decide on cabinet knobs and pulls.  The knobs and pulls on a cabinet are designed to comment its shape and its color.  For a contemporary look, consider blue steel paint with silver pulls.  For a classic look, consider a rich wood stain with wood knobs in a similar color.

The most important thing to remember when staining or painting cabinets is to have even strokes of stain or paint on the surface.  It’s simple for someone to identify shoddy cabinets that were repainted by the owner, but if you make sure there are no drips and the surfaces are flat and have equal coats, the cabinets will look like new.  For a more expensive makeover, replace the doors of the cabinets including the hinges.  This allows the owner to select the exact look they want, but keep in mind this can be pricy.