She Turned Her Flat Kitchen Cabinets Into Shaker Doors but Gave Two of Them a Twist
Dark wood cabinets filled this bungalow kitchen from the countertop to the ceiling, with flat slab doors and small round knobs keeping the fronts plain. Yellow walls, patterned square backsplash tile, white laminate counters, and white appliances added several more finishes to the compact room.
Courtney Hierath wanted a new look without replacing cabinets that were still in good condition. She removed the hardware, filled the old holes, and used pine trim to turn the flat doors into Shaker-style fronts. Two doors beneath the sink went in another direction, with diagonal strips forming a chevron pattern across both fronts.
Green and white paint completed the change. Behr Eastern Bamboo went across the base cabinets, white covered the uppers, and long black pulls replaced the small knobs. She completed the DIY renovation for around $500, though the countertops and floors were still on her future project list when she shared the kitchen.
Flat slab doors gave the cabinets few details
Wood grain was the main feature across the original cabinet fronts. Upper doors stretched close to the ceiling, while matching slabs continued below the counter.
Even with a full wall of cabinetry, there was little variation from one door to the next.
Dark wood continued from the sink to the refrigerator
Upper and lower cabinets used the same finish, broken up by the pale countertop and tiled backsplash. Small round knobs added copper-toned points across the wood.
The cabinet boxes offered plenty of storage, so changing their appearance became a different project from replacing the kitchen.
One end of the kitchen shows just how much brown was in the room
Wood cabinets meet a white refrigerator at the end of the counter, with tan walls above and patterned flooring below. Boxes and appliances stored above the cabinets added to the visual weight near the ceiling.
That dark upper section would become one of the brightest parts of the finished kitchen.
Clearing the counter revealed a usable starting point
Behind the clutter was a straightforward cabinet run with intact doors, drawers, countertop, and backsplash.
The old fronts did not need elaborate woodworking to take on another shape. Thin strips attached to their faces could supply the detail they lacked.
These were the doors before the pine trim
Seen close up, each door is one uninterrupted slab. There is no recessed center panel or surrounding Shaker frame.
That distinction matters in the finished kitchen because what appears to be a different door style was built over these existing fronts.
Two doors got more than a rectangular frame
Straight pine pieces form borders around the green base cabinets, but the pair beneath the sink has three extra diagonal strips on each front.
Placed together, the two doors create a mirrored chevron. Long black handles sit near the center, adding another pair of vertical lines against the angled trim.
Eastern Bamboo turned the added wood into part of the door
Painting the pine and old cabinet fronts the same green disguises the construction behind the makeover. From across the room, the trim reads as part of each door rather than material attached later.
White subway-style backsplash tile and a black spring faucet sharpen the contrast above the green.
White paint changes the upper half of the room
Painting the uppers white removes the dark band that once ran across the wall. The cabinet fronts now connect with the white backsplash and pale countertop instead of competing with them.
Black pulls keep the white cabinets tied to the green ones below.
Plants and wood bring warmer tones back into the kitchen
Trailing greenery drops beside the window, while cutting boards lean against the backsplash near the refrigerator.
Those natural materials sit between the crisp white uppers and saturated green lowers, replacing some of the warmth that came from the original wood cabinet finish.
The two-tone treatment makes the room feel less top-heavy
Dark color is concentrated below counter height, while white occupies most of the space above it. Even the refrigerator blends into the lighter half of the palette.
The original dark-framed window remains, now echoed by the faucet, handles, and track lighting.
Chevron trim breaks up a long row of green
Across the full cabinet run, most doors use simple rectangular frames. The sink pair interrupts that repetition at the center.
Because the pattern comes from raised wood rather than another paint color, it remains part of the cabinet design instead of becoming a separate decorative accent.
A patterned rug adds color without competing with the cabinets
A rust-toned rug introduces reds and warm browns beside the green cabinetry. Plants spread across the counters and corners, while the upper half of the room stays white.
From this angle, the green wraps around the corner rather than appearing on one isolated cabinet run.
The stove side reveals another part of the transformation
White upper cabinets continue above the stove, while Eastern Bamboo runs along the base cabinets toward the sink. Subway tile fills the wall between them.
Black track lights follow the same finish as the cabinet hardware and faucet, creating small dark details across each level of the room.
White uppers almost disappear into the wall
From farther back, the upper cabinets no longer dominate the narrow kitchen. Their white fronts merge with the backsplash and surrounding wall, leaving the green base cabinets to define the work area.
A brick wall visible beyond the kitchen adds another warm surface without changing the green-and-white palette.
The same cabinet layout now has completely different doors
The before-and-after view makes the pine-trim trick clear. Flat brown slabs became framed fronts without a new set of cabinet doors, while the sink pair gained a design that did not exist anywhere in the original kitchen.
The green paint gets attention first, but the chevron detail is what separates this makeover from a standard two-tone cabinet repaint.
Would you copy the chevron detail on two cabinet doors, or use the same Shaker trim across every front?
Image credits go to @hierathc.
The post She Turned Her Flat Kitchen Cabinets Into Shaker Doors but Gave Two of Them a Twist appeared first on Homedit.
Comments
Post a Comment