Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Cabinet Conundrum

Our cabinets aren’t anything special – and that’s a shame considering that we’re doing a floor to ceiling revamp of the kitchen, basically replacing everything except the countertops and the wallpaper. That forced an interesting conundrum after seeing a kitchen remake on TV that provided just the image I’ve seen in my head.

We have beadboard on the lower half of the kitchen walls (and in the bathroom, the basement family room, and very soon, in both bedrooms). I think beadboard panel cabinets are awesome and so I set out to do some research. (As you can see in this shot, I long ago put some spare beadboard into the flat-panel doors on our kitchen cart.)

Getting new, custom-size poplar doors for the cabinets (18 doors in all) all sporting a beadboard panel, would cost about $250. I didn’t think that was bad really but the mother balked.

She insisted that I talk to Lawrence about it. He opened one of the doors, ran a hand along the edge and immediately gave me a solution: “You would take a router and …” I had to stop him there. I don’t own a router. I don’t know the first thing about using one. He went on to explain the process, which sounds time-consuming and a bit tedious, whereby I could remove the raised panel currently in each of the doors and replace it with a piece of beadboard.

Then it occurred to me: “Couldn’t I use a drill bit on my RotoZip to do that?” Lawrence’s eyes immediately lit up. “Hey, I forgot you had that! You sure could. It lets you set the depth, doesn’t it?”

It surely does. Considering that I’ve used the arm attachments and disc blades almost exclusively, it’s a wonder I even thought of that option. After listening to Lawrence describe the job as one that could take some time, the mother immediately decided I shouldn’t do it.

“You’ve got enough to do,” she said. And she’s right.


Even so, I’ll be helping Lawrence when he starts the job on Saturday! Man, I sure hope it looks like what I see in my head. This could be really exciting.


Depending on how it goes, I may offer up a step-by-step guide on how it's done.

9 comments:

cd said...

All Hail to the bead board. Sounds like a great idea. I'm currently looking for a beadboard headboard for son number one's room (his feet currently hang off the one he has). Can't wait to see the pics.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great way to dress up the cabinets for not too much money.

Hmm...I wonder if Stacy has a rotozip for her plastic-cutting dilemma?

Anonymous said...

I think that will look FABULOUS. I'm not a huge fan of the raised middles in general, but I love the beadboard, and I think it will look exceptionally great with your kitchen design.

Vicki said...

That is an awesome DIYer solution! Can't wait to see the finished product!

Jayne said...

Good idea! I really like beadboard. Can't wait to see what it looks like on the cabinets.

Why S? said...

Just as you were starting to tell this plan, I thought to myself, "don't you have enough to do?" But then I say that to K all the time whenever he gets an idea. Good luck with that.

plumbelieve said...

I am sure it will look great. Will the cabinets all get that tea wash you were talking about before?

Enjoy your day.

Anonymous said...

Upon re-reading this, I was shocked that your mother thinks $250 is too expensive. That's a great price! I'm all cool with DIY, but in a case like this I personally would totally drop that cash to get the new perfectly made ones. (Assuming they weren't being ordered from Cabinet Guy).

NV said...

cd -- We'll keep an eye out for one. Yeah, I can't wait to see the pics either! :-)

Gene -- I think so, too! I'm not so sure Stacy has many tools!

Jen -- I don't like the raised middles at all! Thanks. It seemed like a good fit. And I didn't think the price was bad at all. But, you never know what's going to sound high ... or low ... to the mother!

Vicki -- Thanks! Me too!

Jayne -- Yeah, I'm wondering, too!

Why -- The kitchen might never get done if I don't quit thinkin' up more to do!

PB-- Yep. Hoping to get a little stain going through them. We'll have to see what we're dealing with first. Like always.