My upper and lower cabinets were maple with peeling hardware. They made me feel a little claustrophobic in the space and were suffocating when I was at my sink.
After
The floating shelves and fresh paint on the lower cabinets make my kitchen feel brighter and bigger. We were able to transform our cabinets for $325 and a little elbow grease. That price tag included the open-shelving materials, cabinet paint, and new cabinet hardware.My open shelves are everything I thought they would be and more. Our everyday items are easy to reach, and I love styling the shelves and changing out seasonal decor. For the floating shelves, we used sanded plywood with a pine edge and installed them on floating brackets. They opened up the space, making it feel much larger than it is.Across from the shelves, we have our original cabinets, just painted in new shades. For the top, we used Alabaster from Sherwin-Williams. On the bottom, I went with Still Water by Sherwin-Williams. I chose the color because I loved the bright feel, and now that it’s in the space, I love it! It’s so daring and feels so right.This mix of styles and colors pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I’m so glad I followed my designer-self’s advice and did it. There’s no need to be scared of mixing two colors or styles, especially if one is a neutral. I absolutely love how these cabinet choices really made our kitchen feel like our own.
