DIY Kitchen Remodel - The Janet and Sean Method
When we moved into our house in the cove two years ago, my one reservation was about the kitchen. Painted a shade of persimmon that made my eyes hurt, making the orangey oak of the cabinets stand out even more.
I painted it lavender, thinking that the purple would tone down the cabinets and to give a nod to the ultra modern in hopes of counteracting the country feel. We also installed stainless steel appliances. While the purple is getting old and has moved into the "has to go" category, the real problem in our kitchen is the awkwardness of having framed cabinets.
Framed cabinets are used for various reasons, one being price. Narrower doors are likely less expensive. However, they limit the size and shape of items that you can store in a given space. With a wedding upcoming, a new kitchen is not in our near future. Not even new doors. Barely even new knobs.
Framed cabinets are used for various reasons, one being price. Narrower doors are likely less expensive. However, they limit the size and shape of items that you can store in a given space. With a wedding upcoming, a new kitchen is not in our near future. Not even new doors. Barely even new knobs.
Now, I've been thinking about removing the frames for a long time but never got around to it. Enter Sean, who just successfully completed a $10 pot rack project that turned out quite nicely and is another component under our Kitchen Improvement Initiative. The wood shelving that he used for that project was on sale, and if I didn't distract him, I was going to end up with DIY six foot long shelving above the kitchen table for people to hit their heads on.
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| different, messier cabinet with frame removed |
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| cabinet with frame (in place of true before picture |
Sean started sizing up the cupboards; immediately I could tell he was measuring in his head (a major flaw in many a design process around our place. "Yeah, that looks like 17 inches...")
His focus shifted away from the shelf dream, as planned. He got a hammer. The frame was out in 45 seconds.
After some sanding, more measuring and some wood glue (only one mishap: I measured and applied glue on the wrong side the first time...oops), we were left with two newly functional spaces.
