One of the ways budget-conscious builders keep costs down when building houses is to use the least expensive kitchen cabinets that they can find. And that is why we see so many plain, white, melamine cabinets in today's kitchens. There is nothing inherently wrong with low-cost items, of course, and most people will agree that melamine is easy to clean. But all of that whiteness does strain the eyes after awhile, and the Miami homeowner in this house wanted desperately to do something about it. Fortunately, Doug had a plan. First, paint the doors, drawer fronts and sides of the cabinets. Second, embellish them with some painted molding. Painting offers the opportunity to bring color into the kitchen, while the added molding offers the opportunity to make the flat-faced cabinets assume the appearance of more traditional frame-and-panel doors.

Shopping List
Degreaser, such as TSP
Sandpaper
Tack cloth
Molding
Glue
Primer
Paint
Paintbrush

Design Options

Doug's plan called for painting the cabinets and then dressing up the doors with three separate rectangles of attached trim, each painted a different color to create the tropical fruit color scheme he was after. But there are many alternative strategies that you could take. Painting alone may accomplish everything you feel you need in your own kitchen. Flat-faced cabinet doors, after all, are quite common in upscale, contemporary kitchens. On the other hand, you could choose to add some molding, but then paint it the same color as the rest of the door.