Distressing kitchen cabinets for your kitchen – one of the featured rooms of your house – remains a popular look for today’s homeowner. The look of distressed kitchen cabinets says comfortable, homey, and inviting – just the way many people want their kitchens to look.
How Distressing are Distressed Kitchen Cabinets?
Several years ago distressing kitchen cabinets meant using nails, ice picks, chains, hammers and any other devices that could be creatively used to make the cabinets appear much older than their years. Today, the trend of distressing kitchen cabinets seems to be moving more toward utilizing sandpaper and paint. The heavily distressed kitchen cabinets of the past are making way for a simpler look.
This is good news for you as a homeowner because it opens up the possibilities and the budget for you. You can spend as much or as little on obtaining your distressed kitchen cabinets as your budget will allow. A little distressing or a lot, you can decide which technique fits your home decor.
Options for Distressing Kitchen Cabinets
There are three options for obtaining distressed kitchen cabinets. The option you select will depend on your skill at do-it-yourself projects, the time you have to devote to the project, and the money you are willing to pay towards distressing kitchen cabinets.
Option 1: Purchase your distressed kitchen cabinets. Forget distressing kitchen cabinets yourself and find them somewhere else. If you want authentic distressed kitchen cabinets, search antique stores, auctions, or architectural stores for the real thing. You can read more about the possibilities of searching for distressed kitchen cabinets in the sources listed at the end of this article. If you want the look of distressed kitchen cabinets on the outside with modern features on the inside, your choices can be found in new cabinetry at a store such as Home Depot or Lowe’s.
Option 2: Have your cabinets custom made and/or custom painted. This will cost more than purchasing distressed kitchen cabinets at Home Depot or Lowe’s but probably less than hunting down authentic antiques. Look in the yellow pages of your phone book for custom cabinet makers in your area. Going this route limits you to only the imagination of you and the cabinet maker you select. Be sure to ask to see other samples of the company’s work and check references before you make a final selection. It would probably be best to use a cabinet maker who has worked at distressing kitchen cabinets in the past. Ask to see samples of other kitchen cabinets using the distressing technique. You want to make sure that you can communicate just how much of the distressed look you want on the cabinets so there aren’t any surprises.
Option 3: Distressing kitchen cabinets as a do-it-yourself project. If you have some experience with do-it-yourself projects around your home, distressing kitchen cabinets may be a snap for you. Most distressed kitchen cabinets are painted rather than stained. Prior to distressing kitchen cabinets you will need to paint them. Painting kitchen cabinets is certainly possible for anyone as long as you follow a few basic steps. Follow the source listed at the end of this article to read a step-by-step way to paint your kitchen cabinets.
Distressing Kitchen Cabinets – What You Need to Know
In general, distressing kitchen cabinets involves first priming your cabinets. Then you will need to apply a color as your undercoat. Most people prefer a dark color such as brown or black. You can choose a brown or black paint with a little hint of red or blue (or another color) in it to accentuate the color you will be using as the topcoat. This should be just a hint of color. Look at paint chips at the store and you will see there are many more browns and blacks than just plain flat brown or black. Use a brown or black that will coordinate with your final paint color.
Once you have applied your undercoat, it’s on to the next step in distressing your kitchen cabinets. It is now time to apply a lighter paint color over the brown or black undercoat. Once the topcoat is finished it is time to get creative and begin distressing your kitchen cabinets. Sandpaper, chains, nails, hammers, ice picks, etc. are tools for distressing kitchen cabinets. You must decide at this point, how far you want to go with the distressed look.
In many of today’s kitchens, distressing kitchen cabinets is limited to sanding the edges of the cabinet doors and a few other places such as around the door handles – where normal wear and tear would occur over the years. Before you begin distressing kitchen cabinets, this might be a good time to look through magazines, go to the antique store, or to a custom cabinetry shop to view how the experts distress kitchen cabinets or how they become distressed from natural use. If you are redoing cabinets you already own, you probably have some hints as to where normal wear and tear happen.
Lightly sand around these areas until you reach the dark undercoat. Don’t sand a solid area. Try to make it look “hit and miss.” A light touch is better until you get the hand at distressing kitchen cabinets because you can always add more distressing but it will be difficult to undo an overdone area.
Experiment with chains and hammers for interesting dents. Personally I would go easy on the nails. While they can be used for distressing scratches and worm holes into the cabinets, it is very easy to overdo it here. Definitely be sure of the look you want to achieve if you use these techniques.
Distressing kitchen cabinets is an easy and very satisfying project to beautify your kitchen. For more information on various steps in the process, please view the following sources:
Painting Kitchen Cabinets: How to Prep for Distressing
Ideas and Sources for Antique Cabinets (includes ideas for distressing kitchen cabinets)
