|
An old and tired kitchen can be given a new lease of life for much less than the cost of fitting a new one and with a lot less disruption and hassle. As long as the doors and drawer units are in good condition they can be painted in any colour of your choice and brought up-to-date with the addition of new knobs. |
|
Step 1. Make a drawing of the layout of the doors and drawers. Label them U (for upper) 1,2 3,4 etc. and L (for Lower) 1,2,3 etc.
Step 2. Remove the doors, drawer units and blanking panels by unscrewing the small retaining screws at each hinge.
|
Put all the screws and bolts you remove into a container so that none go missing! |
|
Step 3. You will achieve a much better finish if you detach the drawer front from the drawer itself. You will almost certainly have to do this in any case if you are replacing old knobs with new ones as they are attached from behind. Take a photo of the mechanism before you unscrew them and also take note which way is up! You can refer to this when reassembly time comes.
|
|
Step 4. In the hinge recess mark each door with U for upper or L for lower 1,2,3 as appropriate. This ensures you will put the doors back in their original places!
|
Step 5. Remove the old handles.
|
|
Step 6. Clean the doors, drawers, panels and trim thoroughly as they can be greasy. Use Sugar Soap and/or White Spirit or Oops!™ |
|
Step 7. Sand each item plus the trim thoroughly. Wipe clean. Dry thoroughly
|
|
If the old handles have two screw holes and are being replaced by single screw knobs one of the holes will need to be sealed. This can be easily done with tinfoil packed into the hole, sealed with acrylic filler and smoothed to be invisible with a lightweight filler such as spackling.
|
Step 8. Apply a coat of primer to each side of the fitting. For units with mouldings do these first using a brush then use a gloss roller to apply primer to the flat surfaces. Pay particular attention to the edges. Lightly sand between coats. |
|
|
Step 9. Stack or lay the doors flat to dry. |
|
Step 10. Lightly sand between coats, wipe with damp cloth, dry and wipe with a Painters Tack Cloth.
Step 11. Apply two or three coats of oil eggshell paint as necessary to give a flawless finish using a gloss roller. As with the primer coats, if the door has inset moulding, paint this first using a synthetic brush. Lightly sand between coats, wipe with a damp cloth, dry and wipe with a Painters Tack Cloth.
Step 12. Stack carefully to dry
Step 13. Re-assemble carefully and hey presto! - a brand new kitchen!!
|
|
The method described is of course not just restricted to kitchens; doors, staircases, wardrobes, windows – even fireplaces - can all be transformed using the same basic approach. |
