Can I replace kitchen cabinet doors myself? What about DIY cabinet doors? We are sharing all about our semi-homemade cabinets and what we DIY’d versus what we bought.
If you aren’t familiar with our kitchen renovation then let me share a bit of the backstory. Our kitchen renovation took us about two years because we are very slow DIY’ers. We don’t usually work on weeknights and, to be honest, we hadn’t saved money for a big kitchen renovation.
I started making small improvements to the space and one thing led to another, and “bam,” we were in the midst of a budget-friendly kitchen renovation. Because we hadn’t saved a ton of money for the renovation and we didn’t want to take out a loan, we were looking for budget-friendly options for almost everything in the kitchen.
When it came to the original kitchen cabinets, I knew we couldn’t afford to replace them and, honestly, I didn’t really consider that anyways. We were keeping the original footprint of the kitchen, so it seemed like a waste to replace the peninsula when it wasn’t in the budget and the cabinets were ok.
The kitchen cabinet doors on the other hand were not ok. The kitchen doors on some cabinets were broken (mostly a few of the drawer fronts) and honestly, they felt extremely dated. It didn’t make sense to get replacement cabinet doors for the broken ones because I just didn’t like the old ones to begin with.
DIY Kitchen Cabinet Doors Drawer Fronts
After talking options over with my Grandpa, we decided to make DIY kitchen cabinet door fronts and buy new kitchen cabinet doors for the cabinets. For the drawer fronts, I wanted just a simple slab-style drawer front. This means that the wood doesn’t have any details and it’s just a straight cut. The slab-style drawer fronts are super simple to make, so we decided to save money by making those.
Making slab drawer fronts out of poplar was a pretty easy job. Poplar is a great choice if you plan to paint the wood and, since we were planning to do that, we saved money by using poplar. We used the original drawer fronts as sizing for the replacement drawer fronts. This made our job pretty simple.
We made 13 replacement cabinet door drawer fronts and it cost us around $125.
New Kitchen Cabinet Doors
The old kitchen cabinet doors didn’t have anything wrong with them. I just didn’t like the inset, raised panel or that they had the hinges on the outside of the door (visible hinges definitely date a kitchen). After lots of research, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to get the look of a new kitchen without buying replacement cabinet doors.
I wasn’t willing to budge on not having hidden hinge hardware and that type of hardware isn’t meant to be mounted on a door with a raised inside panel. We gave it a shot to see if it would work in the beginning but didn’t have much success.
After some back and forth about time investment to DIY cabinet doors instead of buying the cabinet doors, we decided to buy cabinet doors for our space.
Cost of Replacing Kitchen Cabinet Doors
I wanted a flat recessed cabinet door in paint grade wood. This was one of the cheapest options for replacement cabinet doors. We ended up paying $505 for all the cabinets, which included holes drilled for all the hinges and the hinges themselves!
The price ended up being just under $23 a door. When you figure in the time to drill the hinge holes and the price of the hinges, I feel like we got a steal.
If you don’t know, the hidden hinges are $5.99 for two hinges. So, we would have needed 42 hinges to hang the cabinets. The hinges themselves would have come to around $130.
Replacing Cabinet Doors Cost, Including Drawer Fronts
For our whole kitchen, we spent $630 on the kitchen cabinet doors. This doesnt include paint or drawer pulls.
I’m going to answer a few other commonly asked questions before sharing the story on building the new wall of cabinetry that houses the oven.
Is It Easy to Replace Kitchen Cabinet Doors?
Yes! If you are doing semi-homemade cabinets like we did, then you’ll have to make drawer fronts first. But replacing the kitchen cabinet doors just requires good measuring and a drill.
Here’s a good post about how to add a new cabinet door to an old cabinet.
Is it cheaper to make your own cabinet doors?
Yes, it is because you don’t have to pay for labor. That being said, my Grandpa and I did the match on making the cabinet doors ourselves and decided the savings wasn’t worth our time and effort. We felt like it was better to buy the cabinet doors because I was getting paint-grade cabinet doors and they were pretty cost-friendly. If I remember correctly, we had budgeted around $300 for the wood to make the doors ourselves and we paid just over $500.
Is it worth replacing kitchen doors?
Yes, replacing older kitchen doors with a new style will instantly change the look of your kitchen. It was one of our best decisions!
If you need more convincing, check out my kitchen reveal with all the before/afters!
Ok, let’s chat about the kitchen cabinet boxes and layout and how we saved money by DIYing part of that and keeping other parts.
Semi Homemade Cabinets
I guess we will talk about the original kitchen cabinets first. We KEPT all the cabinets and drawers in the ‘U’ shape. There was nothing wrong with the actual cabinets and this saved us a lot of money! The drawer fronts on all the drawers and the cabinet doors were tossed out.
We did reconfigure a tiny party of the peninsula area by taking out the section where the oven was and opening up the wall a bit to where the formal dining room is.
Similar small changes in layout were done on this wall:
I hated the desk in the kitchen, because it was a clutter trap for us. Also, it was too low to do any kitchen prep on, so I felt like it was wasted space.
We took the desk out and then started moving appliances and cabinets around on the wall until we got to a layout that worked. During this process, I quickly realized that the original cabinetry that was in this space wasn’t going to work and we’d need to figure out some sort of semi-homemade cabinets to buy or make.
My grandpa and I built the fridge enclosure, the pantry and the two cabinets that flank the stove. I think the total cost of these units, once we finished, was around $475.
As far as a how-to on what we did, I’m not going to get into the step-by-step on it. This project was way out of Luke and I’s skillset as well as tool set. I do think we could have managed to make the cabinets that flank the stove. Also, I know there are good tutorials out there for making them, but if we would have done it ourselves… our cabinets wouldn’t have been adjustable nor would our shelves have been edged with wood to make them look finished.
As far as the fridge enclosure with the wine cabinet and the pantry, we would have been totally lost by ourselves. The tricks to keeping it all square (and the big woodworking pipe clamps to do this) would have been way over our head. Plus, my Grandpa decided to make up plans so that both units could be carried in the house and then tipped up; meaning the back of each unit is at an angle. Then the trim covers the angle so that you don’t see it was built that way. Anyways, the math on that part alone would have thrown us for a loop.
All of that’s not to say that you can’t do this on your own. It’s to tell you that, with our building experience (the Mid-Century bed is the only thing we’ve built), it was way out of what we were comfortable with.
So, we built the cabinet frames and drawer fronts but had the cabinet doors made for us. The price that I gave earlier on the drawer fronts and the cabinet doors included this section of our kitchen cabinets.
I’ve kinda spread out the price breakdown throughout this post, so I’ll tally it all below.
Cost of semi homemade cabinet doors and building new frames – $1105
- DIY Drawer Fronts $125
- Buying Cabinet Doors $505
- DIYing Pantry, Fridge Enclosure and cabinets by oven $475
We feel great with what we DIY’d versus what we paid to have done. I think we spent our money really well here.
You can see the whole kitchen reveal for all the sources! The paint color is Cracked Pepper by Behr but we had it color matched so that we could use the Benjamin Moore Advance line. The brass bar pulls were a splurge but worth it.
Hit me up with any questions you have! It’s been a few years since we’ve done this project and I’m still so happy with what we decided to do.
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE DOORS , I WOULD HAVE TACKLED THE CABINETS MY SELF,MAINLY BECAUSE I HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE AND WOULD HAVE LIKED THE CHALLENGE.
AS FAR AS THE ADJUSTABLE SHELVES . YOU CAN GET A TEMPLATE TO DRILL HOLES FOR MOVABLE SHELF BRACKETS .
I DO LIKE THE WAY YOU RS CAME OUT THOUGH ! GOOD JOB
Thanks John. We did use a template for the holes, but it was something my grandpa made forever ago. I’m a little jealous you have the skills to do all of that. I hope I can get there eventually!
Where did u buy the cabinet doors?
The kitchen makeover is gorgeous and I thought the cost a 100 times more than your actual cost! Outstanding transformation and encourages others to makes changes in their homes. Congrats on your kitchen project!
Thanks Kathleen! I think the key is being open to try things but not be afraid to ask for help as well. Also, it totally helps to shop around for pricing!
Where did you purchase your doors? Box store, local cabinet maker?
Hi, a local shop that bills themselves as a cabinet door refinisher, maker, all-in-one, etc.
THE SECOND REASON I WOULD HAVE TACKLED IT IS I AM ALWAYS SHORT ON MONEY !
Haha, aren’t we all!
It looks incredible!!! SUCH a transformation!
Thanks Kristi! It feels pretty darn good. We still have quite a few things to do, but we are getting there.
I think it looks amazing!! And it sounds like you did a great job knowing what you could manage yourself and what was best to source, and still managed to save a TON of money. Your cost is outstanding. The wall with the stove just seems to have so much more usable space.
Thanks Charlotte! The stove wall is definitely a game changer.
It really is fantastic! I love how much you were able to do with your grandpa. New cabinet doors and drawer fronts are on my list too.
Thanks Julia! It totally helps to have someone in the family who is knowledgable. When I was doing my research on the doors/drawer fronts, I did see quite a few affordable sources online. They might be willing to partner?!
Oh my gosh, this is incredible Ashley!!! I’m so glad you shared the cost for the cabinet doors – I would have expected it to be much more expensive! What an eye-opener! And how special is it that your grandpa helped you create those custom cabinets? You guys did a wonderful job!
Thanks Brynne! I agree on the cost being an eye-opener. I think sometimes we forget that we can half diy things or keep parts of thing to cut down on the costs.
It looks amazing! Great job! One thing I didn’t see in the price breakdown is the hardware — would you mind sharing where you found those nice handles?
🙂
Hey Chloe – Thank you. They are Lewis Dolin Brass Bar Pulls. There are quite a few stores that carry them (Lowes’s – online, My Knobs, Hardware Hut, etc.).
Your new cabinets are gorgeous. Very nice job. Thansks for sharing how you did it and the cost. We are getting ready to redo our kitchen, so the information helps!
Thanks Rebecca! When I’m getting ready to tackle something, I always love it when I can see budget information so you are quite welcome.
This looks AMAZING!! I love it!!
Thanks Jenn! I love looking at the before/progress! It totally makes the whole reno worth it!
Where did you buy your cabinet doors, they look very nice.
Thanks Janet! http://kdproduct.com
Whoa. This kitchen is incredible! Thank you for sharing the cost for the cabinet doors – I would have expected it to be much more expensive! I can’t wait to see what room you tackle next!
Thanks Ashley! We aren’t finished yet, but we are close! I love reading detailed price breakdowns because I find it so interesting (and informative!). So, I felt a bit weird putting it all out there, but I’m glad I did.
Getting things together to redo my kitchen, and I love the paint color you chose. Who makes it and what color is it? Looks almost like what I’ve chosen. You’ve done such a wonderful job!! I so wish I could move cabinets around, but I am removing my built-in microwave, too. It’s too high for me, and am filling space with a couple of additional shelves/cubbies. Thanks for sharing your beautiful success!!
Thank you! We used Benjamin Moore Advance and had it color matched to Behr Cracked Pepper. I would definitely recommend spending a bit more and getting the BM Advance line. It’s an amazing paint line. I bet those shelves/cubbies will look so good! Good luck on your renovation!
This is such a beautiful transformation! I agree that you spent your money very wisely. I’m super impressed with the difference for only $1105. Great job!
Thanks Kati! We still have some things to do (tile the walls, flooring, sink, etc.), but overall, we are super happy with how it’s coming out and the price breakdown.
What is the color and brand of paint that you used on the cabinets? They look so nice with the white brick.
Thanks Judy! We used Benjamin Moore Advance paint and had a paint store color match to Behr’s Cracked Pepper.
You’ve already made some wise decisions. Trying to work in the evening is a good way to burn out in a hurry; working at a slow pace is always better if you can possibly manage it. Paying cash instead of going into hock = good. Knowing the limits of your own skills = even better. Of course, your smartest choice was getting the right grandfather, hearty congrats on that one.
Thanks so much!
These look amazing! Great work, we’re needing some new ones as well, we have just re-done the floor in our kitchen with some amazing quartz tiles!
Thanks James! I bet those tiles are great.
Looking for paint to use on my cabinets and love how yours turned out! How is the Paint you used holding up? Did you have to put any protective top coat over it and is the matte finish hard to clean? Also wondering about how much preparation it took before painting, like if it took any sanding or deglossing. Thank you!
It’s great. I’d definitely recommend Benjamin Moore Advance line – it’s specifically made for wood. I didn’t do any sanding but I did clean them all off with a wet rag. No protective coat – just make sure to let the paint cure as the brand recommends.
I absolutely love this look! Great job! Are your floors original? Do you know what color they are? The floor color compliments the cabinets so well.
Is this cabinet color good for hiding stains? That’s what I need. I’m actually thinking about getting enamel/powder coated cabinets!
Thanks Melanie. We actually had the wood floors (shown in this post) removed so that we could have our whole house have the same wood flooring. They were red oak but that’s all I know about them.
The cabinets have been holding up great. We painted ours but I’ve heard amazing things about the powder coated cabinets.
Your kitchen just became my ultimate in inspiration! We need new cabinet doors and I’ve found the whole idea very daunting. I see the company you used, were they local or did you order online? Also would you mind sharing what kind of doors you ordered material wise and how many were included in this cost? Thank you so much. I can’t wait to explore the rest of your blog. xx, Katie
Hi Katie,
The company was local but I’m sure you have a similar one where you live. Or, I have been seeing semi-handmade doors (I think that’s the company name) floating around the web. They look really nice. If you go to our “kitchen reveal” (just search that on my blog)… all the doors you see were included in that price. Door prices go up depending on if you are planning to paint or stain. Paint grade of course is cheaper. Also, if you want more ornate doors… those are more expensive too. Hope that helps!
Hi Ashley!
I stumbled upon your blog via pinterest and we just bought a home so your house and blog is definitely serving as inspiration right now for me. I love the color of your cabinets and the custom doors. That is probably the route we will have to go as well. I’m curious where you got your custom doors made? Do you have any recommendation of where to get quotes from on this type of project. We are working on a budget here 🙂
Thanks so much!
Katie
We got our cabinets at a local cabinet shop. In your area, I would just look up cabinet/woodworking shops (not kitchen design places) and start there. Ask lots of questions but I bet you’ll find them to be super helpful and inexpensive!
Hello!
I was searching for dark cabinet kitchens, found your blog & I’m in love with it – especially the kitchen! We’re hoping to do something similar & I wondered if I could get your advice on the cabinets above the fridge. I LOVE them & I think I have a similar skill of wood-working to you (I’ve made shelves, benches and a kitchen table, but have rarely used a table saw). Sadly I also don’t have a grandpa who knows how to make cabinets – so I wondered just how difficult was it and what made it so hard? Did you need special equipment? Many thanks 🙂
It’d be hard to make without a table saw because of the width of wood you are using but if you have one… then I’d say it’s definitely within the skill set that you said that you have!
Thanks! We were thinking of buying a table saw, so this might have pushed us towards that decision. This is definitely an inspiration, so thanks for posting all the details.