A significant part of what makes a kitchen feel welcoming has to do with the appearance of the cabinets. When their surfaces look damaged, dirty, worn out, or outdated, your kitchen can look worn out too, even if the floor plan still suits your lifestyle. Kitchen cabinet refinishing in Portland OR is a great alternative to replacing the cabinets entirely for many people.
Why Refinish Instead of Replace Your Cabinets?
Refinishing kitchen cabinets just improves the exterior parts of them. You don’t remove the cabinet boxes, so only the doors, drawer faces, and frames are cleaned up, fixed, sanded, and coated with new paint, stain, or something similar.
Kitchen cabinets in most homes have sturdy boxes that work well for years, but homeowners just get tired of how they look over time. Refinishing them keeps all of those good cabinets in the kitchen but gives them a cleaner look that feels more like the current style.
This is often a great option for older Portland homes that have a lot of nice features, which you’d hate to lose if you were getting rid of them. Refinishing makes those good cabinets last even longer while still looking like something completely different from what you’re using now.
Refinishing Cabinets Versus Replacing Them
If the layout of your kitchen doesn’t work for you anymore, the cabinet boxes are broken, or the cabinet materials have failed, you might need to get new kitchen cabinets. But if the cabinets just look ugly, refinishing them is often a better option than getting new ones.
Some reasons that you might want to consider refinishing your cabinets in Portland instead of replacing them include:
- You’d like to have a fresher look instead of having a yellow or faded finish
- You’ve noticed that you have scuffs, scratches, or other issues that show up easily on the finish
- You don’t like your current colors anymore
- Your kitchen cabinets make the kitchen feel dark and dingy
- You’d like the kitchen to look more modern but you don’t want to do a full renovation right now
Replacing kitchen cabinets can involve getting rid of your current kitchen cabinets and getting new ones that are installed. It can involve plumbing, electrical work – you can read more at https://www.portland.gov/ppd/residential-permitting/residential-electrical-permits, or other construction work if you want to change the floor plan. Refinishing kitchen cabinets is more of a smaller project than that, where you keep the boxes where they are but just make the cabinet frames, door faces, and drawer panels look new again.
Common Finishing Styles for Cabinets in Portland Homes
Many Portland kitchens have a lot of character and charm already, but you still might want a finish for your cabinets that feels more simple, warm, and welcoming. Soft white or warm neutral cabinet colors often stay on trend because they really make a kitchen feel open and fresh, even when there isn’t too much sun coming in through the windows during dark months. Darker colors like greens and blues and deep charcoal colors can work in many kitchens if it’s a color palette that suits that kitchen.
Or, you might want a finish for your cabinet doors that’s more of a natural stain that shows off the wood grain. There are many different styles of finishes you can get for your cabinets in Portland, but you’ll want to get one that works well with your current floors, your counters, the lighting, and your home’s style.
What to Expect When Refinishing Your Kitchen Cabinets
- Removing cabinet doors, drawer faces, and handles
- Cleaning cabinet surfaces to remove grime
- Filling in dents and fixing anything else damaged on them
- Making sure that there isn’t a shiny finish left on the wood
- Applying primer, base coats, and a topcoat
- Waiting for the paint to dry
- Putting your cabinet doors back on
How Long the Project Will Take and How It Might Disrupt You
Portland’s wet weather, which you can explore on this website link, can also have implications for cabinet refinishing, especially regarding how long cabinets need to dry before you use them. You need to make sure your cabinets are completely dry and cured before you use them; otherwise, you’ll be ruining your hard work. There are some things you can do to help you with getting this finished quickly, though, like emptying out the cabinet boxes and having a designated area to prep food temporarily during the time you don’t have your cabinets. It’s also a good idea to start thinking about whether you want to get new cabinet knobs and pulls or hinges.
Make Your Kitchen Cabinets Look New Again
Kitchen cabinet refinishing in Portland OR can be a great choice for homeowners who want something different than what they have. If you feel like your kitchen is dated, but your cabinet boxes work perfectly for your lifestyle, and you don’t want to be replacing the floor, countertops, and the cabinets, refinishing your cabinet doors and frames is one way you can do something different with your cabinets and give them a new, modern look.