try to take your kitchen furniture restoration Go a step further by adding molding to your flattop cabinet fronts. It will create an interesting touch in your room without spending much more money than you would for a simple finish. Putting molding on your cabinets can be done easily.

basic tasks

The first thing is to do the basic repainting. Remove cabinet doors and drawer fronts and remove all hardware. Rub with degreaser until completely free of grease and contaminants. This will allow the paint to adhere to the surface. After the wood has dried, you can sand, clean, and paint. Apply three or more very thin coats of paint, sanding and letting it dry between coats. Always wipe off sanding dust before repainting.

When you’ve finished the task up to this point, decide what type of molding you want to have on your cabinet doors and cabinet drawer fronts. You can use thin and flat molding easily. Lattice trim and screen trim work well, as do other types of flat trim. They are about 1/4 inch thick. You also need to consider the width you want. If you want a narrower trim, you can use screen trim, which is typically 3/4-inch wide. Lattice trim, 1 1/8 to 1 3/4 inches wide, is not that narrow.

Hold sample molding against cabinet doors

To figure out how you want to complete your restoration project, take home a couple of small pieces of each type you’re considering. Hold them up against doors and try to get an idea of ​​how they would look in different patterns on cabinet doors. Once you figure it out, you’re ready to move on. Take measurements on cabinet doors and drawer fronts to determine how much molding you’d like. Buy the molding.

After you have the trim, it’s time to prime it and then paint it. When you’ve done those things, you can start cutting it. Use a miter saw, a power miter saw if you have one available, to make the corners square. You have two options for how to proceed with your task at this point. You can cut all the trim pieces at once and then snap them together on cabinet doors and cabinet drawer fronts. The other option is to cut trim for each cabinet drawer front or door, glue it down, and then cut the next one.

Use yellow wood glue to attach the trim to your cabinet.

The best way to attach trim to cabinet surfaces is to use yellow wood glue. You will want to put a thin layer of glue all over the bottom of each piece you are going to join. Then press it down and put some pressure on it for half an hour. You can do this by putting some weight on it or driving some nails into it. The finish on your cabinet will be better if you use nails, because the trim could move with a simple weight. Clean up any glue that has spilled and allow the pieces to dry.

When you’ve reattached the cabinet doors and cabinet drawer fronts, the next job is to add your own hand-picked hardware. When you’re done, your kitchen cabinet refinishing job is complete.