We recently completed work on three new kitchen updates. A kitchen redesign can be very expensive, typically $15,000 and up when talking about new cabinets and countertops and all the labor required to tear down the old and install the new. Not to mention the construction time in your home, the mess, the inability to use your kitchen until the project is done and so on.

We took a different look at the kitchens. What if we could dress up the existing kitchen instead? So we did the following:
  • Remove all the doors since they were either thin and cheap, had no style or were just worn out.
  • Sanded, primed and painted the existing cabinet boxes. They are just wood boxes, why replace them with more wood boxes?
  • Add crown moulding to all the tops. This gives the cabinets a furniture and bold look.
  • Make new raised panel solid doors. Each was made with poplar (a hardwood) and MDF (takes paint extremely well). Given the variation of raised panel and door edge router bits, the actual look of the door can be customized to your style.
  • Euro hinges were used for all doors. The closed doors just looked perfect, no unsightly hinges.
  • New premade laminate countertops were installed in one kitchen and new granite in another.
  • One kitchen got a new base cabinet built to match the existing cabinets.
  • One kitchen got a new base cabinet added to the existing island cabinets to make a bigger island.
  • New sink and faucets were installed.
  • Undercabinet lighting, tile backsplash, new wall paint etc. are still in the works.
By having the homeowners do the cabinet prep and painting, and having Schott Woodworking build the new doors (and drawers if needed), literally thousands of dollars were saved, the kitchen was usable during the whole process and the comments from friends and family were off the charts. Enjoy the photos below, before and after photos are coming shortly!
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