I was blessed with a good kitchen layout, but the cabinets were all custom built - not one single cabinet is a standard size. Mr. R. had it updated in 1972, hand built by a local curmudgeon old school carpenter in his late seventies.
Honestly, all you saw was walls of artificial wood laminated onto plywood - I couldn't wait to get rid of it, until I realized I'd have to pay for all new custom everything kitchen cabinets. Looked like blocks of wood - stacked high.
Lucky for us Mr. R. has a cousin who can do anything:)
First - I had him take off the entire top row of small cabinet doors, cut openings for glass inserts (his other cousin deals with glass:)
Then - I hunted down interior cabinet lights at Lowes - looks fabulous.
We installed a button below the bottom cabinet - touch it and the entire row of cabinets up top lights up in three different stages of intensity.
The main cabinets I left as is, they worked fine, except for the front facing cabinet above the kitchen island - I chose glass for it as well and just keep it stocked with pretty glassware.
The cabinet above the refrigerator came down too low - the new refrigerator would not fit below. I took that opportunity to have the existing cabinet and door cut off at the bottom. Since I am short - we left it just low enough to where I can reach it to open - if:) - the hardware was placed lower and sideways instead of vertical.
Details:)
The most ingenious part was the drawer makeover - I complained about the size and extra depth of the drawers creating a hell hole that swallowed up everything.
Ha! Turns out his wonderful cousin is a good carpenter and said nonchalantly, "Oh, I can fix that. How would you like two or three drawers instead?"
So he converted three of the big hell holes into functional drawer space including one that is super shallow, my new spice drawer. Love it!
Mr. R. is a little handy too and converted a large lower cabinet into a slide out metal organizer for pots and pans. Yeah, no more crawling on my knees to find the little pot in the back.
Then I talked the cuz into painting the laminated wood over Mr. R's protests, a very light buttery vanilla. Chose new knobs and drawer pulls, but left the old hinge hardware intact.
That turned out to be the only fly in the ointment - the paint is coming off around the knobs and in a couple spots, after six years, but only on the cabinets I use daily. We were rushing to get it done for a big party - I think all it needed were two more coats. So sometime this year we will repaint several of the cabinet doors. Most still look like new.
The cabinets below the island are painted a rich espresso brown to show off the beige-brown-cream countertop. That was a spur of the moment decision that turned out looking rather elegant. It also works well with the dining furniture in the immediately adjacent open dining area. We've since switched dining furniture and it looks even better now.
Other than the cabinets, I insisted on enlarging the window, before we even started - best decision ever:) and we added a new granite countertop, took a while to find a good deal, but it was worth it - standing in the rain in their yard, picking out a particular slab and marking the area I wanted - so fun:).
Added new lighting, sink, faucet, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, it was all worn out or broken.
I'll see if I can find my pics, oh and the price for the kitchen cabinet makeover was cheap - just the glass, one new door (plywood)- the old one was bowed, paint and interior lights and knobs. Around $500 incl labor.
Total kitchen renovation, right at $3,500.
This was my fifth or more kitchen makeover - I'm done, just one more bath reno and I am out of the design/reno biz:).
