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Replacing Kitchen Cabinets

Low-Cost Ways of Replacing Kitchen Cabinets

Corrine Dolezal

Your kitchen cabinets are one of the focal points of your kitchen, and you want to have cabinets that are both convenient and which look nice. Sometimes, however, people buy homes in which the cabinetry has definitely seen better days, and they dream of remodeling their kitchens by replacing kitchen cabinets with some of the new ones they've seen in showrooms. Unfortunately, replacing all of your kitchen cabinets with fancy new ones can run into big bucks, and most people don't have the budget they need to buy extravagant, solid hardwood cabinets. There are some tricks you can use, however, that will give you a great-looking kitchen at a fraction of the price of showroom cabinets.

When it comes to replacing kitchen cabinets, you can go to your local home improvement store, choose the style and wood you want, and sit down with a sales rep to determine just what you're going to need. The store will also probably send out a contractor who can measure everything for size and make cabinet recommendations. This is premium service, and you can expect to pay a premium price for it. For example, these salespeople are sure to tell you that the entire cabinet needs to be replaced, when you might be able to get by with just replacing the doors. Sanding and refinishing the existing cabinetry is a time-consuming job, but it isn't as hard to do as you might think.

Unless your existing cabinets are the old metal style or some type of soft or composite wood products, refinishing them will probably do the trick. You can even refinish the doors if they're still in good condition. The doors, however, take the hardest beating by being opened and closed dozens of times every day. You can, however, buy just the cabinet doors and stain your cabinets to match, and it will save you hundreds of dollars.

If you don't have cabinets that are salvageable, you'll need to find alternative ways to get the cabinets you need. For starters, you might try salvage yards. These are places that sell used materials, and sometimes you can really be surprised, because people get rid of some really nice things. If you can find a set of cabinets at a salvage yard that you can refinish, you might end up with cherry or walnut or some other expensive wood in your kitchen after all.

You can also try going to lumber liquidator stores. These stores sell new products at rock bottom prices. A whole room full of brand new oak cabinets can actually run you just pennies on the dollar. You'll have to do your own measuring, or you can hire a contractor to measure and install them for you. However you do it, your kitchen will look brand new, and you won't have spent a fortune replacing kitchen cabinets.