Mix it up–that’s the message of kitchen designers these days. Finding new ways to work with what you have is also atop the suggestion list, especially with bumpy economic times limiting the amount you can spend on a kitchen renovation.  You don’t have to sacrifice good looks and functionality to dramatically improve the look of your kitchen cabinets and stay within a budget.

Charlotte Carolina’s WSOCTV advises consumers that mixing in elevation and depth dimensions for base cabinets and walls can dramatically change the appearance and function of your kitchen space. You can add glass inserts in the upper cabinet doors, too, to brighten up your space and show off your glassware. Other trends: natural wood finishes, stacking effects, maximizing storage.

Customizing or Refacing Cabinets

Better Homes and Gardens suggests changing out cabinet doors to spruce up the look of your kitchen in a cost-efficient, time-effective manner.  New doors take less time to complete than full replacements, so you won’t be barred from your kitchen that long. The magazine also recommends new paint or new hardware as a relatively quick and financially prudent way of changing a lot in a reasonable amount of time.

Evaluate your existing cabinets and see if they’re good candidates for new hardware (hinges, pulls, knobs, etc.) or new door fronts.  If you shop around, you’ll find slab, raised panel, or recessed panel replacement doors that fit your kitchen scheme and budget. If wood is too pricey, consider medium-density fiberboard (MDF).

Want to create a custom look and spend a little more? Hiring someone to do custom cabinet work offers you the opportunity to include pull-out pantries, full extension under-mount slides, under-cabinet lights, or deeper upper cabinets.

I read a thought-proving article at HGTV where the writer asked homeowners to consider the cost of custom-made cabinets over less expensive, stock cabinets. Since any kitchen renovation typically includes new cabinets or refaced cabinets, you know a chunk of your budget will be devoted to them. Between the two poles of custom and stock are the semicustom models where a existing cabinet style is modified, based on the size of your available cabinet space. So which is right for you?

Custom cabinets are not always made from top-shelf materials. So even within that option, you’ll find incremental prices based on materials and workmanship. Of course, consider hardware in your budgeting. But you can generalize that custom cabinets—whether wood, glass, green materials, or metal—will be priced higher than stock models.

Refacing Options for Existing Cabinets

The greatest single cost in custom, semicustom, and stock cabinets is in the doors. So an obvious qualifying question is, how sound are the existing doors and drawer fronts? If they’re in great shape (but you want to change the color or texture pattern), you should look into refacing cabinets. You can choose among classical, modern, or hybrid style veneers in a wide range of colors and patterns that can transform your kitchen and reduce your ticket price.

You can even patch and sand slightly damaged cabinets and cover them with fresh paint or even wallpaper. Painting the kitchen walls and cabinets, swapping out old hardware for the new, and adding new backsplash colors and coordinated flooring can transform a really tired kitchen into a work of art.

Don’t feel reigned in while evaluating your cabinet options and your budget.

Are sustainable countertops a rage, a trend, a passing fancy, or a commitment to the environment?  What I know is that you see more of these inventive products introduced into the kitchen remodeling marketplace all the time. Generally speaking, to receive the sustainable tag, wood countertop materials must be approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). But today’s countertop materials in the green category may be made of products beyond wood.

The FSC does set requirements for counters made of recycled paper products. They must be certified to be manufactured with nonpetroleum, formaldehyde-free resins, according to Sunset Magazine. Appropriately named, PaperStone surfaces are compressed from 100 percent consumer paper waste into a solid block. Natural, non-toxic resins help create the durable finish. You’ll also find an assortment of recycled butcher-block countertops in standard or custom sizes that help spare deforestation of natural wood.

Going with Recycled Glass Counters

The Daily Green recommends recycled glass and concrete surfaces for kitchen countertops if you really want to be environmentally friendly. The new, Icestone counters are made through an environmentally clean manufacturing process and still have the durability of quarried stone, says the Daily Green.

Natural Home magazine reports on new recycled plastic used in countertops. Chroma, made by 3Form, is a solid, translucent surface created from 40% pre-consumer recycled materials.  They feature a dazzling array of colors.

Bamboo is also moving up in popularity among the range of countertop materials. Many manufacturers offer counters with formaldehyde-free laminates and adhesives that won’t off-gas dangerous toxins in your home. Bamboo can be machined into attractive parquet designs.  Look over your options!

I won’t say I’m in favor of what Alan Daly did to his kitchen cabinet, but I promise there are people reading this that will love it. It’s reminiscent of a Tim Allen conversion. As more than three million iPads have been built, it was only a matter of time before someone embedded one in their kitchen cabinets.

What’s great about it, I admit, is that the iPad has the Epicurious.com application installed, which means Daly can stand in his kitchen with immediate access to 28,000 recipes from magazines like Gourmet and Bon Appétit. Here’s how Daly did it: using a replacement door (just in case…) he used a jigsaw to cut the hole and smoothed around the edges with a Dremel tool.

You can view the cabinet iPad at the My Kitchen iPad upload at Flickr. Meanwhile, the project has received viral praise across the Internet. Even Engadget went wild over it, commenting that the cabinet iPad protects the streaming technology of digital recipes from the hazards of spattering tomato sauce.

What’s the Secret of the Cabinet?

I’m curious about how Daly rigged the power source to the iPad. The virtual aquarium screen saver might perk up your kitchen, but is the rear deck strewn with cable? Must he remove the iPad to recharge it and leave an opening fit for a mouse in the cabinet door? Where there’s a will, techies always have a way.

If you haven’t run off and bought an iPad, I suppose you can embed your latest cell phone or, in last resort, a flat touch-screen monitor run through a wireless connection. Let’s not go overboard, people! Wait a year and manufacturers will surely have models for you to buy and install.

If you’re looking to spruce up your kitchen cabinets and the doors and drawer-fronts are in good shape, you may just need to paint them. If the hardware is funky or outdated, you can add new hinges, pulls, and knobs as part of the painting project and create an entire new look for your kitchen. Of course, if the cabinets are too damaged to paint, you might salvage them by hiring a contractor who’s experienced in cabinet refacing.

Sunset Magazine recommends other alternatives than new paint for refinishing kitchen cabinets if you already have melamine and laminate veneers  now. But solid wood veneers and metal cabinets can hold a fresh coat of paint. They recommend that you set aside four days to do the job right, removing the hardware, including prepping and cleaning the surfaces, and time to dry between coats. The better quality of paint you can afford, the better the ultimate look and durability you’ll have for the paint job itself.  Many professionals prefer 100-percent acrylic enamel paint. Oil-based paints can be a nightmare to clean up afterward.

Do You Need a  Professional for Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets?

The folks at Reliable Remodeler suggest that you look at all the stages of painting—dismantling, cleaning, prepping, sanding, priming, spray finishing, and a week’s worth of drying—before deciding whether you can do the job or need to call in a professional.

The trickiest part can lie in the spray finishing. For this reason, some homeowners will compromise the fine, clean finish created by spraying in favor of using a roller. If you spray, microscopic overspray can get all over the kitchen. You may even want to employ a brush, pulling it into corners rather than slopping paint in there, causing drips.

If you’re concerned about the environment and concerned about your beat-up kitchen cabinets, you don’t have to choose a home improvement project at the cost of damaging the Earth. While the use of traditional, non-sustainable hard woods for building replacement cabinets has an impact on the environment, choosing the right green materials for refacing your cabinets helps you do your part.

Let’s start with the supposition that your existing cabinet boxes are in good structural shape. Perhaps you can avoid a costly and non-sustainable replacement project by adding a veneer and new hardware. That’s a win-win situation for you and the planet. New, green veneer products are released all the time, and they’re known for sustainability, ease of maintenance, and durability, too!

Green Refacing Choices

The Forest Stewardship Council maintains a list of companies that use wood certified for sustainable harvesting. You can choose veneers for cabinet doors and drawer fronts that are warp-resistant, scratch-resistant, and heat-resistant. Moreover, when you order up a kitchen cabinet refacing project, there are fewer materials destined for the landfill.

In fact, many homeowners choose recycled wood materials in their veneers and have their contractors recycle all materials that come off the old cabinets.

Cabinet costs make up nearly half of the total cost of a kitchen remodeling effort. When you consider new faces, you can save between one and two-thirds the cost of having new cabinets installed.

Green remodeling also employs the use of sustainable materials (such as bamboo and cork) for kitchen counters and flooring. Eco-friendly kitchen cabinet refacing materials mean you choose a green project that saves green in your wallet, too!

A tile backsplash is relatively simple to maintain with dish soap, non-abrasive cleaners, and warm tap water. In return, the backsplash protects your walls from water damage and stains, and tile can be an exceptionally beautiful addition when coordinated with your cabinets and counters. If you’re considering doing the tile installation yourself, be sure you’re comfortable working with a tile cutter or wet saw, trowels, and adhesives. If not, call in an experienced contractor.

HGTV has a straightforward explanation of the steps involved in putting in your own tile backsplash. You may want to read it through before racing out to buy materials you’re completely uncomfortable installing on your own.

Basic Tile Preparation Procedure

Before you begin, we can help you plan your backsplash project. If you decide to use tile, you’ll need to thoroughly degrease and clean all the surfaces where you’re installing the backsplash or the grout may not hold the tiles with uniformity, or at all. You can use a commercial wall degreaser product, or make your own solution with laundry bleach and water.

One key in getting the line of tiles straight across the backsplash area is to measure with width of any area that will run beneath an existing window. That width must be filled with uncut, full-sized tiles. Nearly all tile experts will tell you to “dry fit” the backsplash to the wall before you try to attach them with grout or an adhesive. Starting from the row that rests against the countertop, add rows until you reach the bottom of the window.

You can create a plumb line and mark the rest of the wall using the base of the window as a straight-edge. If you’re still unsure if tile is for you, Better Homes and Gardens has a great rundown on materials.