Everyone knows that the kitchen is the heart of the home. If you cook as often as I do, your happy place can look a little worse for wear. From steam damage coming from the electric kettle, to your pet’s little paws scuffing up the wood finish, the heart of the home can take a lot of wear and tear!
The good news is that refreshing your kitchen is a great DIY project. No knocks on a full remodel, with dramatic changes and new appliances, but the little switches make all the difference when you don’t want to break the bank.
Let’s start with hardware. It makes a world of difference, and is oh-so-easy to replace.
First order of business: let’s pick a visual style.
Material Options: Getting the Color Accents Just Right
For starters, we’ll want to pick a material. Some of the most popular include:
- Nickel – Versatile, matches just about every sort of paint.
- Brass – Classic. More warmth than nickel, offsets bright cabinet paint.
- Bronze – Often oil rubbed for a dramatic and elegant look.
- Black – Very popular lately! Complements almost every color.
Finish Options: The Finishing Touch for Your Cabinet Hardware
Once we have a material picked out, we’ll settle on a finish. This is the treatment of the metal and will determine the final look:
Popular options include:
- Polished: Reflective and clean. Feels industrial and fancy. Shows fingerprints easily.
- Brushed: In-between polished and satin. A great middle ground for when you want a little razzle-dazzle, but also an easy-to-clean surface.
- Satin: Understated, matte and metallic. Timeless. Easy to keep clean.
- Oiled: Big drama! Particularly popular in bronze. Looks beautiful, but scuffs easily and the scuffs are very bright.
- Painted: Acrylics and painted metals are making a comeback! You can choose from almost infinite patterns and colors.
Hanging Your New Hardware
The easiest way to hang your new hardware is to choose new hardware in the same size and configuration as the old hardware. So, if you have 4 inch handles, buy 4 inch handles again, and that way you don’t need to re-drill the cabinet hardware holes.
If you’re ready to start brand new, not worry, it’s not hard to do.
Here’s what to do:
- First, remove the old hardware. A simple screwdriver will do it, but a power drill with a Phillips-head bit will make the job quicker!
- Use wood putty to fill in any old holes that you no longer need. Use a little touch-up paint over the wood putty after it sets. No one will notice!
- Use a cabinet square to make sure that your newly placed cabinet hardware will be symmetrical. This is a little square ruler that hangs off the lip of the cabinet and helps you measure cleanly!
- Mark your drilling spots with pencil. Hold your hardware over the spot to make sure you like it just right.
- Using a drill bit that is slightly smaller than the screws that come with new cabinet hardware, drill through your pencil marks.
- Hand-tighten your new hardware into place (that means the final few turns are done with a screwdriver instead of a power tool).
And voila! Step back and marvel at your new space. It really does make a world of difference! We’ll whip up a cabinet refinishing guide, which makes the perfect pairing for new cabinet hardware, for a low-effort, low-cost, high-impact DIY kitchen project.
