Kitchen Renovation #4 - Refacing Kitchen Cabinets...reusing the originals!

Not as groovy as it once was

I remember walking through the house during our inspection day with my iPhone taking a video. I was making a video tour of the house to post to my YouTube channel so my parents could see the house.  On the video you can hear me tell the listeners - so far the house has looked very good....until you walk through this door. Behind that door was the bulter's pantry, breakfast nook and kitchen. Everything was just so ugly. Don't get me wrong...I'm sure Greg, Marsha, Peter, Jan, Bobby and Cindy would have thought it was groovy back in the 70's...but it was not up to 2015 standards (or the 80's or 90's for that matter).

Everything in the kitchen was in need of help. So far I have: 

1. Rehabbed the kitchen floors...including linoleum removal and restoring the wide plank pine floors 
2. Replaced the gross stove and built a great new range shelf and  
3. Removed the hideous wallpaper, painted and changed the light fixtures.

Kitchens take a long time. I have been working on the kitchen for 5+ months (over the past 14 months)...and there was just one more area I wanted to refinish during this stage of the kitchen renovation - the cabinets. 

Refacing Kitchen Cabinets...reusing the originals

Step 1 - Take Before Pictures

 

Step 2 - Make a Plan

There were 18 cabinets plus 7 drawers. Do to space constraints in my workshop - I divided the kitchen into 3 sections. Therefore every step you see below was actually done three separate times...did I mention? Kitchens take a long time!

Step 3 - Remove the Cabinet Doors

Number all the doors before you take them off the cabinets with a Post It so you know which order you took them off in and what order to put them back up in.

Enlist good help...lucky for me good help is NOT hard to find - My Little Helper never disappoints.

Step 4 - Remove the old hardware

Step 5 - Sand and Wipe 

Sand the naked doors then wipe the dust off with a tack cloth

Step 6 - Measure & Cut

I used 1/4" x 3" pieces of poplar, cut to size, to frame out the doors to create the illusion of a recessed panel.

Step 7 - Glue and Clamp

In this pictures you can see my new favorite glue. Up to this point I had always used Elmer's, but then I saw Tom Silva using Titebond II Premium Wood Glue on This Old House. I have learned so much from Tom Silva over the years...and he did not disappoint. This glue is just better...and the round hot dog stand ketchup style bottle is much more ergonomically correct for squeezing over and over again...

Step 8 - Sand, Wipe & Paint the Cabinet Boxes

While the wood glue was drying on the cabinet doors, I sanded the cabinet boxes. I followed that with wiping the dust off with a tack cloth, then painting them with the same Benjamin Moore White Dove paint I used on all the trim work. I then protected all the tops of the shelves with MinWax Polycrylic. Again it is a water-based clear coat for white finishes. Remember polyurethane will add an amber shade to any project...so don't use polyurethane on anything you want to be white!

Step 9 - Add Baseboard Trim

Ok so this step really has nothing to do with refacing your cabinets....but I also took the opportunity to add some matching baseboard trim to the cabinets ends to match the rest of the walls. Note: it is easier to pre-paint the baseboards and any quarter-round trim prior to cutting and installing. Then just touch up any necessary areas after installation.

The proper way to end a piece of baseboard

Most of the time your baseboard will end at a door frame or a inside or outside corner - in which case you will just need to miter the baseboard. However, it doesn't happen often, but in case this ever comes up - there is really only one proper way to end a piece of baseboard in the middle of a wall (or cabinet in my case).

You want to cut a piece to fit into the end that you can glue into place so there is no end grain showing. See the picture to the right. I could write the steps, but seeing is much easier. Here is a video I found that shows you the process. 

Step 10 - Don't forget the Drawers

I was not changing the face of the drawers, because the new drawer pulls (see the After Pictures) will add enough interest and be the focal point of the drawers. However I did have one drawer that needed some reconstructive surgery.

As you can see this drawer was missing a major section of the lower center and right. I built a form around the drawer with some sections of wood covered in packing tape. I then used a Wood Filler. Note there is a difference between Wood Putty and Wood Filler. Wood Putty is for just filling small nail holes or indentations in a wood surface. A wood filler has the structural strength capable of rebuilding the wood. I used MinWax High Performance Wood Filler. The packing tape I mentioned above was used to keep the wood filler from adhering to the form I made. After the filler dried I was able to sand it to shape, then paint. Good as new.

Step 11 - Spackle

In order to hide the fact that the 1/4" trim boards were glued on top of the existing cabinet doors, I used joint compound along the 4 edges of each cabinet. Then I sanded everything smooth with my orbital sander with 220 grit.

Step 12 - Paint the Cabinet Doors

Painting the cabinet doors was a another monotonous job by itself. Each door had to be painted 6 times which included 13 steps!...and remember I had 18 doors (plus 7 drawers). That is 108 door sides I painted - how many things can you think of that you want to do 108 times!...and that is just the cabinet doors!

1. Prime the back of cabinet door (#1)
2. Flip over & prime front of the door (#2)
3. Sand both sides
4. Wipe of dust with tack cloth
5. Paint coat 1 of the back (#3)
6. Sand
7. Wipe off dust
8. Paint coat 2 of the back (#4)
9. Wait to dry for a full day or more (cure)
10. Flip over and paint coat 1 of the front (#5)
11. Sand
12. Wipe off dust
13. Paint coat 2 of the front (#6)

Of course it took me until my last 5 doors to get smart. Thats when I finally raised the cabinets onto boxes. It was easier because I had to bend over less, plus I could paint all 4 edges without having to lift up the door. 

Note 1: when painting the edges I always had to wipe the underside of the door to remove any extra paint that overlapped onto the bottom - this way I wouldn't end up with some unsightly overlap lines. I wore rubber gloves and wiped the paint onto my pants. I started out using rags, but it was just easier to use my pants. Those pants could now stand on their own...literally because they are so stiff from the dried paint!

Note 2: I used Benjamin Moore's ADVANCE Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint. It self levels much better to a smooth finish. Brush strokes are barely noticeable

Note 3: Talking about brushes...buy a good brush - expect to pay $14-$18 for a 2.5" angle brush. A cheap brush will ruin your paint job, no matter the brand of paint...and if you are going to spend the money on B.Moore paint - you obviously care about the finished product so don't ruin it by using a cheap brush. FYI if taken care of properly you can us the same brush for multiple projects.

Step 13 - Drawer Pulls

The key to nice looking drawer pulls are:

• centered, 
• leveled and 
• evenly spaced from drawer to drawer.

In order to achieve the above you must create a template (well must may be an over exaggeration - but it sure will make your job a hell of a lot easier!). Once your template is perfect - so will be every drawer pull!

Here is how I made and used mine:

Make sure the guide lip on the back is level with the your guide holes
and the distance between the lip and holes are the desired distance you want the pull to be from the top of the drawer.

Make a Center Line (on the tan masking tape)

Rest the guide lip on top of the top of the drawer,
line up the center line on your guide with the center line on your drawer front,
then clamp in place. Drill your holes. Perfect every time.

Step 14 - Hang the Cabinets and Knobs

Definitely a chore in and of itself. It is not easy to get everything to line up. To make your job easier make sure your new hinges have slotted holes so you can make slight adjustments up and down. You will also need to adjust for plumb. Every style of hinge will require a different process to make sure every door is level and plumb.

As for the knobs - just make sure they are all even and level (on the same plane) with each other.

The After Pictures

Side by Side Comparison

So after almost 5 months this stage of the kitchen renovation is finished....the next stage...counter tops will have to wait...wedding season is upon us so Splendid Stems will be very busy these next few months...and we don't even know what material we want yet! (well actually we both know what we want - but we both want a different type of counter top). So wait we will. In the meantime I will start knocking off some other great projects. Stay tuned.