When you’re thinking about redecorating your home, the first place you should have in mind is the kitchen. Sure, upgrading your living-room and bedroom sounds great, but the kitchen is the place that sees perhaps the most wear-and-tear. After all, you cook in there, meaning that all the furnishings are vulnerable to extreme temperature variations, damage from steam and heat, as well as stains, some of which may be quite challenging to remove. As such, you should make sure renovation work doesn’t skip your kitchen.
However, you might be concerned about the costs. After all, a full makeover is definitely going to cost a bit. And since you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on redecoration, you may be reticent about starting this project. However, there’s an easier, more accessible solution to this problem: replace the kitchen doors. Here are some reasons why you should consider this alternative if you’re worried about wasting a small fortune on refurbishment.
Why replace the doors?
When you have high-quality furniture in your kitchen, it’s most likely going to preserve its shape well, the colours will remain bright and the surfaces smooth. Even after many years it’ll still look almost new. Premium quality materials look nice years, even decades after their initial purchase. However, even when the cabinets by themselves look great and their integral structure is solid, the doors can look quite beat. This is because this is the area that sees the most damage. No matter how careful you are, the doors are still going to see more spillage, you’re going to touch them with your hands more, and if you drop something they’re more likely to become scratched. Moreover, since they’re more prone to stains, you’re also going to clean them more often, and maybe use harsher products. Cleaning agents can cause surfaces to lose their structural integrity in the long run, losing their lustre and becoming more fragile.
Because of this, choosing replacement kitchen doors is the first thing you should do if you want to give the room a whole new look swiftly. Not only is it an inexpensive solution, it also allows you to be creative and design your kitchen however you want. You can have your pick and choose from a wide variety of designs including handless gloss or matt, solid wood, acrylics, shaker style and painted wood. No matter which style you own at the moment, you’re guaranteed to find an appropriate replacement. And if you’d like to give your kitchen a makeover and go for something completely different, this is your chance to do it.
Consider the measurements
Once you’ve decided on the design that works best for you, it’s time to start the replacing process. Doors come in different measures, so it’s important to make sure yours fits your cupboards perfectly. Anything too small or too large is going to either not fit at all, or make the ensemble look tacky and misshapen. You can get standard doors and then customise them so they fit your requirements, or you have the possibility to buy made-to-measure doors from the beginning.
When you’re taking the measurements of your doors, make sure to consider both the length and width and pay attention to where the hinges are placed. Getting a door that closes on the opposite side is a common mistake, but it’s also annoying and irritating, as it means you have to redo everything and it’ll be a while yet until you see the finished product.
Choose the style
Although your kitchen is a place that serves a very practical purpose, it’s normal you’d want it to look nice as well. After all, not everything has to be strictly utilitarian and if you see a nice design and it goes well with the rest of the layout, it would be a pity to miss out on it. The only important thing is to decide on the overall look you want to achieve. It’s not a good idea to grab many starkly different pieces belonging to different styles, trends or time periods. It’ll make your kitchen lack a cohesive look and look tasteless.
For example, you may have decided that the classic, minimalist style is the one that works best for you. In this case, you’ll want to choose doors that have a crisp design, with clean lines. The colour palette should be in neutrals, greys, beiges and ecrus. These pieces go well with everything, so if you want a splash of colour, you can add it without fear of looking gaudy.
If you’re a fan of the retro look, there are plenty of options that look like from a different time period. There’s been an ongoing trend for appliances, such as fridges and cookers that look like from the 50s or 60s, so these items are not only cute but also fashionable. As for the cabinets, the Shaker is one of those timeless styles that is trendy while maintaining the charming feeling of a bygone age. For an extra retro vibe, choose a pastel colour scheme. Mint green, sky blue, and even light orange, yellow or pink are all great ideas. You can even take it a step further and mix-and-match them to create colour-blocking.
Another option is to go for a futuristic style. Stainless steel and well-placed lighting are the key aspects of this design. Islands are very common for this design, and geometric shapes are usually preferred for all furniture. As for the shades, black and charcoal grey look amazing and give your kitchen a sleek, luxurious feeling, but you can also opt for earth tones.
If you’re looking to change something in your kitchen, you should start with the cabinets. They are the piece that first comes into view, so the way they look is bound to make a big impact and affect the way the rest of the room appears. However, if your cabinets have become scratched with time, it doesn’t mean you have to replace them completely and put yourself through additional expenses. Replacing the kitchen doors will work just as well and is the preferable course of action.