One thing that has always been consistent in the kitchens that I really love and find inspiring is that most of them have custom cabinetry. They really add something special to a kitchen. I love the tailor-made look of them. Just because you don’t have custom made cabinets doesn’t mean you can’t get the look of them in your kitchen. Here’s what we did to create a custom cabinet look using trim.
When we started the renovation process in our kitchen we considered installing new cabinetry but decided to save the money and keep the existing. (You can see the before & after here.) We did do a little reworking of a few cabinets and appliances but the cabinets are solid wood and seemed to be good quality, so we kept them. I still couldn’t get that custom cabinet look out of my mind. To recreate it we decided to add trim to the bottom to give it a built-in appearance. Here’s a couple kitchens that inspired me –
This idea isn’t for everyone. Not everyone would be able to get rid of the toe kick but we realized that when standing and working at our cabinets our feet did not stand under it, so for us it works.
Here’s what the cabinets looks like before we started –
Start by removing all the quarter round from the base of the cabinets.
We placed a 1×2” board under the cabinet with Brad nails, making it flush with the front. This will give you something to nail the trim into at the bottom.
Using our nail gun, we nailed 3 1/4” baseboard around the base of the cabinets.
We then nailed fresh quarter round and filled the holes and painted.
I absolutely love how it turned out. It has a much cleaner look and is so much easier to sweep and mop!
I really think it adds character to the kitchen and really goes well with the colonial style of our home. It’s a great little weekend project that wont break the bank. Again, it’s not for everyone but it works well for us and gives me the look I was wanting with custom cabinets. It was a complete win for us!
I’m still working hard in Charlie’s room. I hope to have an update for you soon. It’s starting to come together. We had a little set back over the weekend when our focal wall didn’t go to plan. I’m hoping to share all the frustrating and exciting details on that soon!
Wow! That really looks good. Great job. I think your decision to keep the existing cabinets and rework them was the right one. You not only saved a lot of money but they look fabulous.
Thank you Carole! It saved us a ton, for sure. I try to work with what we’ve got first and replace second. In this kitchen it worked well. Thanks for stopping by!
What color green did you use~ it’s beautiful.
Thank you so much, Cathy! The colors is Fieldstone by Benjamin Moore. I love it because depending on the lighting it will pick up greens, soft blues and sometimes grays. It’s very versatile!