Kitchen Cabinet Hardware Can Change the Look of Your Room

Remodeling your kitchen is one of the easiest do-it-yourself projects you can complete. Don’t believe me? Well, while many home renovation projects include replacing larger items such as appliances, floors, wall paper, ceiling fans and furniture, it doesn’t have to. One of the easiest and cost-effective ways to renovate your kitchen is through remodeling your kitchen cabinet hardware. Not sure that you can handle this home renovation project yourself? Follow these guidelines and you’ll consider yourself a cabinet and drawer hardware professional! Step #1: Count Your Cabinets Before beginning any decorating, it is of the utmost importance to take stock of what hardware units you would like replace or reinstall. Write down the number cracked, crooked or outdated cabinet fronts, as well as their corresponding drawer handles, hinges, screws and handle back plates. In order to keep your style and theme consistent, it may be easiest to replace all your kitchen cabinet hardware, instead of just the broken, dangerous or worn items. Additionally, by purchasing more cabinet hardware units, you might even be able to secure a bulk pricing unit. Step #2: Remove Existing Cabinets This is perhaps the best step in this entire process! Now is your chance to take your sledgehammer to those ugly cabinets installed by previous owners or maybe just the ever squeaky cabinet that was knocked off its hinge ages ago. Before taking out your aggression, however, you should remove all the smaller cabinet hardware pieces first. This means unscrewing the screws and making sure your hinges and knobs are accounted for. Step #3: Choose Your Drawer Knob Style Carefully Not every cabinet in your kitchen is utilized for the same reason. Some cabinets are to store items rarely used and some drawers are to hold your every day items. For waist level drawers, install drop handles or dummy handles is a perfect solution. Drop handles hang about an inch below the middle of your drawer and make for instant access into drawers. Dummy handles – handles that do not turn – are ideal for drawers and cabinets that need quick and easy opening. For cabinet units that are below the waist, finger wells or recessed pulls are ideal for quick opening. Above eye level cabinets can be tough to reach; we all can relate to grasping multiple times to open that hard to reach drawer or cabinet. That’s why using traditional dummy handles are great solutions for those higher cabinets. Step #4: Match Your Knobs with Your Style Now that you’ve selected what type of knobs you will need, you now need to determine what materials and finishes best match your current or soon to be kitchen design. Contemporary designs incorporate both traditional materials such as nickel, brass, chrome, iron, stainless steel and colored glass. Additionally, you must choose what type of finish you would like. Typical finishes utilized in kitchen decorating range from dark, such as weathered, burnished, or antiqued, to lighter finishes such as polished and satin. Step #5: Add the Cabinet Hardware Knobs Before re-hanging your cabinet knobs, you should attach your new drawer hardware. This will make installing your cabinet units easier. However, you obviously will have to secure hinges once the cabinet fronts are installed. If you would like to get the family involved, you can re-hang the cabinet fronts and allow your smaller helpers to finish screwing in the nails and hinges. Step #6: Hang the Cabinets With Care Now that you have finished all the harder elements in this project, this is the easiest and last step in your home renovation project. Be sure that the new screws and hinges match up with the already existing holes to ensure straight and proper hanging. If you are creating new cabinets, use a leveler to make sure your cabinets and drawers are properly aligned. Now, start the cleanup process and enjoy your newly installed cabinet units!