This was a great older home that had been painstakingly restored in Downers Grove, IL. It was actually a Sears home that dated to around 1925. The kitchen had been redone sometime in the early nineties to dark oak cabinets with arched raised panels. Black granite was installed about 5 years ago. The granite looked great and the owners knew that replacing cabinets and keeping the granite counters would be nearly impossible, so they called us in to look into refacing them.
dark oak cabinets before refacing
The objective was a clean, lighter feel while still respecting the vintage feel of the home. The owners chose a solid maple recessed panel door with a bead detail around the frame. I like the beading because it provides a nice shadow-line to accent the door profile, without having to use a glaze. The crown molding they chose was a little larger and a better fit to the scale of the cabinets. The crown molding also had a bead similar to the door.
Crown molding that complements cabinets
Another change we made when refacing the cabinets was to convert 4 of the lower cabinets into 4 big drawers. This is a great way to increase storage. I often see pullout shelves installed in base cabinets, but converting them into big dresser-like drawers is so much more convenient. Not to mention they look really cool.
Base cabinets converted into 4 big drawers
The other little touch was getting rid of the “tambour door” on the appliance garage. Those slatted, garage-style doors work pretty well, but they just don’t look very good. The owners didn’t want to lose the storage space, so we improved the look by installing a standard concealed-hinge door in place of the old appliance garage door. The only potential downside is that the counter space needs to be clear in order to open it, of course.
Appliance garage with updated door
We finished off the look with some interesting wrought iron hardware from the Amerock divinity collection. After the cabinet refacing was completed, the owners had a clean, light kitchen that worked perfectly with the vintage feel of their Downers Grove home.
Total time: 6 days.