About this Project

Sometimes you can remodel old cabinets by painting them, replacing the doors and hardware, or hiring a company that specializes in applying new finishes. Often, however, the best solution is to install new cabinets. With careful planning and modest carpentry skills, you can do this project yourself.

When designing a kitchen, measure your space exactly and map out a wall plan on a piece of graph paper. As you plan, allow an extra inch or so for the width of the stove or refrigerator and for overhead clearance. Make sure that all cabinet doors, as well as those on the dishwasher and range, can open freely.

Many people prefer to have a soffit -- a partial wall -- coming down from the ceiling to meet the top of the wall cabinets. Building soffits is a lot of work; consider topping off wall cabinets with crown molding instead (see Installing Crown Molding, related projects).

Unless you're a real stickler for symmetry, there's no reason to make the wall cabinets the same width as the base cabinets. Your cabinet supply center will have someone to check your design.

As you plan for new cabinets, upgrade the rest of your kitchen as well. With the old cabinets gone, it's an ideal time to add electrical outlets, under-the-cabinet lights, flooring, and new plumbing and to patch and paint your walls.