Need Some Great Ideas for Unfinished Kitchen Cabinets?

Now that you have cleaned, stripped, sanded and prepared your cabinetry, you may want to be a bit more adventurous with some refacing techniques..

What about a 'distressed' finish to enhance your new kitchen?

This technique involves a sanding and then rubbing with muslin or using sponging techniques to give a beautiful rustic look for your cottage or farmhouse kitchen design.

A gloss finish will give you a very high sheen and attractive smooth look.Use glaze or gloss over a base stain or paint.

A matte finish takes the shine out of your kitchen cabinets , softening the wood's natural tones.

A semi-gloss will give your cabinets finishes of a beautiful lustre and shine which goes well with contemporary designs.

Consider some other unfinished kitchen cabinet methods if you're creative and want to draw attention to your cabinets as a focal point in your remodeled kitchen.

How about "ragging" or "bagging" your doors? You can use soft pastels and varnish afterwards to lift both the grain of the wood underneath and the color.

You could pick out the edges or routing in different colors or tones of the same color.

Go for a 'shabby-chic' look with distressing on white, off-white or cream...this gives a lovely look and can blend with your furniture in nearby rooms.

Don't forget to think of your whole house and you can see how easy it is to extend a style chosen for painting or staining unfinished kitchen cabinets into the laundry, office etc.

If you have old laminate and want to replace this veneer you'll have to get this done professionally.

It is a great option and very affordable and durable.. With the endless choice of colors and effects , new laminate will really lift your new kitchen - everyone loves the crisp, clean lines of new laminate.

And it is very easy to match or contrast with benchtops.

The wonderful thing with all of these cabinet finishes is that if you don't like what you've done,...simply sand it all off again and start afresh! It's easy! Work away at painting your unfinished kitchen cabinets until you achieve exactly the look you want. Staining kitchen cabinets is a little more difficult to reverse, though!

There are so many colors on charts in paint shops that it's easy to get overwhelmed, or sidetracked!

If you want a neutral yet warm look, so that you can blend other more dramatic colors used for your furnishings, think about creams, light greys, antique whites and light mocchas and lattes.

Very much in vogue, these colors can blend with more striking statements in similar colors and different materials for splashbacks, tiles, wall colors and flooring.

There is nothing more gorgeous than a high gloss tile in a slightly different tone of the cabinet door color- the contrast is so aesthetically pleasing!

Also remember to think about cabinet hardware ...knobs, pulls, handles,and hinges.This will also add to your specific look and finished kitchen design.

Natural stains and finishes such as an oil, will leave you free to concentrate on color elsewhere.

Remodelling and painting or staining kitchen cabinets is an important investment if you are planning to sell your home. A potential buyer will either love or hate your choices and this will weigh into the purchasing decision.

Certainly, refacing your old kitchen cabinets will provide your kitchen with much added appeal and and value.

To see how to get the most out of cabinet hardware or to uplift your existing hardware,see Kitchen-Cabinet-Hardware.com