Author Topic: How to match kitchen cabinets?  (Read 16325 times)

ShumateWB

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How to match kitchen cabinets?
« on: May 26, 2017, 06:44:33 PM »
I am a homeowner about to start a significant remodel which includes a kitchen expansion. I am trying to keep and reuse my existing kitchen cabinets. But since the kitchen is being expanded, I will get more cabinet space and will need more matching cabinets. I don't see any indications of the brand or any labels on the cabinets. The previous home owner claimed that these are "Italian" cabinets. I have searched the web for matching cabinets, but have not seen something similar. So I am thinking that I need to hire a maker to make some matching cabinets. Before I do that I would like to see if there is any way I can avoid having custom replicas made.

I have attached some pictures of the cabinets that I have and am hoping I can get some insights from you.

Questions:
1. What kind of wood are the doors made of? Is it ash or oak?
2. What kind of finish does it have?  It looks bleached or whitewashed in some way and has a flat matte finish. Any ideas?
3. The end panels seem to be veneer on particle board. Do you know where I can find a match for the panels?
4. Is it worth hiring somebody to make these extra cabinets or should I get all new cabinets?  Is this DIY-able at all?

Thanks!
« Last Edit: May 26, 2017, 06:46:42 PM by ShumateWB »

Trudie

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2017, 01:56:22 PM »
To me, these look like oak that has been refinished with a process called "pickling" (popular about 20 years ago).  I don't know much about matching cabinets, but if you feel that they are decent and will hold up you could look into refinishing them.  You can get away with slightly different upper and lower cabinets, and you can also take cabinets out and put in glass fronts and/or open shelving.  It might be worth a consult with a legit kitchen designer.

KCM5

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2017, 03:09:44 PM »

paddedhat

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2017, 05:39:08 PM »
The answer you seek is at a local cabinet builder. Not a place that sells pre-manufactured cabinets and tries to present themselves as custom cabinet builders, but a place where there is a shop full of noise and dust, and table saws screaming. One of the dirty secrets in the industry is that a significant percentage of the custom builders out there buy their doors, drawers, and similar items already made. In fact there is a factory near me that employs 1100 people.  All they do is make doors, and other ready to assemble pieces of custom kitchens, that get sold to custom kitchen builders all over North America. Chances are, a local cabinet guy could find a supplier that makes a match to your doors. He could buy the doors unfinished, build the cabinets, then finish everything to match your existing. Take a small door off one of yours, and take it to a few shops for advice.

Dicey

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2017, 07:59:22 PM »
I think they're this:

http://pediniusa.com/kitchen/vintage/
Wow, that was fast! Good eye!

The answer you seek is at a local cabinet builder. Not a place that sells pre-manufactured cabinets and tries to present themselves as custom cabinet builders, but a place where there is a shop full of noise and dust, and table saws screaming. One of the dirty secrets in the industry is that a significant percentage of the custom builders out there buy their doors, drawers, and similar items already made. In fact there is a factory near me that employs 1100 people.  All they do is make doors, and other ready to assemble pieces of custom kitchens, that get sold to custom kitchen builders all over North America. Chances are, a local cabinet guy could find a supplier that makes a match to your doors. He could buy the doors unfinished, build the cabinets, then finish everything to match your existing. Take a small door off one of yours, and take it to a few shops for advice.
I was going to say something along these lines, but PH beat me to it.

We had to match some cabinets in our new-ish house. The laundry room cabinets were off the shelf from Home Depot and we wanted to add more. HD had discontinued them, so DH had to go to a "custom" cabinet maker. He was just the kind of not-custom cabinet maker PH described. DH gave him a door from a smaller cabinet we had removed, so he had an exact style sample.

When DH went to pick up the new cabinets, the door style was completely wrong and our original was sitting on top of the new cabinets with our name on it. He eventually figured out the right doors, but all he was doing was picking out MDF cabinet faces from a catalog and attaching them to boxes. Ugh.

+1 to finding a local cabinet builder. A real one.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2017, 08:57:45 AM »
We added cabinets to our existing kitchen.  Because they were 45 years old, matching them was going to be impossible.  There was an open shelf box beside the glass door ones.  We took that out.  We also took down the one over the fridge.  (all new fridges are slightly taller) We cut two large ones down to fit the hole that we were making in the one end of the U-shaped layout.  For the wall and island not connected to the U- we bought a new type of cabinet.  Put handles that matched the appliances within the U-shape and that was it. It looks fine to me as the lines are clean and everything looks intentional.


Agg97

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2017, 09:57:16 AM »
I am a homeowner about to start a significant remodel which includes a kitchen expansion. I am trying to keep and reuse my existing kitchen cabinets. But since the kitchen is being expanded, I will get more cabinet space and will need more matching cabinets. I don't see any indications of the brand or any labels on the cabinets. The previous home owner claimed that these are "Italian" cabinets. I have searched the web for matching cabinets, but have not seen something similar. So I am thinking that I need to hire a maker to make some matching cabinets. Before I do that I would like to see if there is any way I can avoid having custom replicas made.

I have attached some pictures of the cabinets that I have and am hoping I can get some insights from you.

Questions:
1. What kind of wood are the doors made of? Is it ash or oak?
2. What kind of finish does it have?  It looks bleached or whitewashed in some way and has a flat matte finish. Any ideas?
3. The end panels seem to be veneer on particle board. Do you know where I can find a match for the panels?
4. Is it worth hiring somebody to make these extra cabinets or should I get all new cabinets?  Is this DIY-able at all?

You might consider keeping the existing carcasses, but getting all-new doors for both your existing boxes and the new cabinets as well.  Most custom cabinet makers outsource the cabinet doors themselves; they only make the boxes.  Just do a google search for "cabinet doors" and a whole world awaits. 

Dicey

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2017, 10:37:15 AM »
I did something like ^this^ to the Euro cabinets in my last house*. I'll dig around and see if I can find a picture. The new owners put in a larger fridge when the old one died. The upper cabinet had to be removed to make it fit. We heard about it and DH offered to shave it down for them. He's finished it and we're going to try to mesh schedules to re-install it for them this weekend.

Actually, DH did the  some of the work for me during my shoestring reno, before he was DH. In fact, we weren't even dating, but that's a whole different story...

Off to figure out if I can lift a photo from the expired listing...Love the new owners too much post the link.

ETA: It worked (I think). You can see the cabinet I mentioned above the fridge. All the door fronts were replaced, and ordered to match the color of the existing boxes. Sink, faucet, counters and backsplash were updated. Everything else was existing. I did it in two phases and IIRC, the cost was about 6k.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2017, 10:53:53 AM by Dicey »

Grantstacey

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2017, 04:42:34 PM »
Hey There,

After looking at the pictures that you have provided I think this is what you are dealing with. The doors are a shaker style construction. Most likely Oak, which has been rift sawn. The outer "picture frame" of the construction is most likely solid wood with a veneered panel in the middle. This veneered panel is slip matched (this refers to how they layout the leafs of veneer). The finishing is definitely either a white wash or pickling with a 5-10 degree sheen top coat. The Italian style which you referenced is most likely indicating a thin film finish on the doors. Most likely a clear lacquer, but if the original owners splurged it could be a polyurethane or acrylic (these materials are typically all imported from Italy).

I would recommend hiring a local cabinetmaker as well unless you are experienced with this type of carpentry and are adept at finishing. Stain grade projects are not easy and even the clear coats that go on top of the stain can tint the overall color once everything is said and done. I would have the cabinet maker make a sample with all levels of finishing complete before proceeding with the job. Also note that not all wood responds the same to stain and it can be hard to account for UV damage over the years which will change the overall color.

I hope this was helpful.

ShumateWB

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2017, 05:32:46 PM »
Thank you all. I suspected that it was a pickled finish, so it is good to get some degree of confirmation. I was also told that the middle panel is rift sawn plywood.  I live in Silicon Valley - any recommendations on local cabinetmakers?  I know of one nearby, but it would be good to get more references.

The Pedini reference from KCM5 is close, but not exact. The miter cut slant on the insides extends to all four sides, i.e., the rails and the stiles, whereas the Pedini website shows them on the stiles only. The inside flat panels of my cabinets show rift sawn plywood with horizontal grain, but the Pedini cabinets show the grain going vertical.

The other suggestion I got was to get new unfinished cabinets in the same style, stick and cope with flat panels, and refinish all of them with the same finish.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2017, 06:04:35 PM by ShumateWB »

Beriberi

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Re: How to match kitchen cabinets?
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2017, 10:59:29 PM »
Depending on the feel of your kitchen as well as your own aesthetic, you may want to purposefully mismatch the cabinets. Here's an article on the idea: https://www.semihandmadedoors.com/blogs/news/81778119-semihandmade-solutions-creative-updates-for-discontinued-akurum-cabinets

 

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