For times when you don’t need to install entire new sets of cabinets, you can transform your kitchen by replacing existing cabinet doors. If you’re thinking of doing the job yourself, you can do an eight-foot run of lower cabinets in four or five hours using a drill, clamps, screws, masking tape, cabinet doors, and new hardware (handles, knobs, and hinges).

Home Depot has a pictorial review of the procedure online, and they make it seem simple–if you know your way around home improvement projects and can use simple power tools. The first step is putting the hinges on the new doors securely, using two for standard sized cabinets, and three hinges for doors 30 inches or longer.

Masking tape is the indispensable tool in lining out the top face frame rail and marking the hinge locations along the edge of the face frame. You mark the location tape for drilling the holes and after starting pilot holes with the drill, you strip off the tape and anchor the new door with the screws. You put in the hardware last.

Using Care with High End Woods

If you plan to replace cherry cabinet doors, you may want to call in a cabinet contractor to protect your investment. Don’t put cheesy or cheap hardware on expensive wood, please!

Some homeowners are choosing eco-friendly cabinet doors for their replacements. Bamboo and cork are among the favorites in this new category. Cork is the more flexible material in terms of matching the stain color and feel of your original design.

We offer a great review of the varieties of door styles, stains, and woods available if you need some fresh ideas.

Kitchen designers, interior decorators, and color consultants agree that the color of your kitchen cabinets, flooring, backsplashes, and wall paint say a lot about you. But that’s as far as their agreement goes. I should think that they’d agree that faded or chipped paint on your cabinets does say that you don’t much care what people think, or that you lack sufficient funds to even repaint them.

Each year, home improvement writers trundle out a color trends list, and I love reading it–but mostly to gather great ideas or see what I don’t like. Cabinet color trends for 2010 include the use of gray for its neutrality and ability to give relief from brighter colors.

Earth tones like beige, light green, and warm browns are also in vogue this year for their subtlety and for the way they complete a “green” kitchen with bamboo counters and cork flooring. Spot splashes of bold reds, greens, yellow, and blues are also popular these days, but they shouldn’t overwhelm the entire look.

Noticing How Cabinet Colors Feel

Better Homes and Gardens says that yellow is a warm color that can add light to a kitchen on the dimmer, north wall of a house. A buttery yellow tone is trending for Tuscan kitchen themes and distressed paint effects. A dusty blue paint can soften the look of your kitchen, complementing white walls, backsplashes, or ceilings.

Your colors should also match the cabinet styles in your home. For example, country kitchen cabinets typically are stained to show their natural wood colors, although bright yellows or glass doors may be your favorite choice.

Look at lots of photos and examples at home improvement stores to get color ideas.

Changing the appearance of your cabinets has a roll-out effect on the way your entire kitchen looks. Visitors may ask if you’ve painted the walls, added new appliances, done the flooring or changed out the window treatments, when all you’ve done is put a new look on your cabinets.

Better Homes and Gardens suggests three quick and sure ways to handle the makeover: replace the doors and drawer fronts, add new hardware, or repaint the cabinets. I’d add a fourth option, too: have the cabinets refaced.

Painting, of course, may be the least expensive option, depending on the existing condition of your cabinets.  If there’s no damage, remove the hardware, mark the doors and drawer fronts for easy replacement when they’re dry. You’ll need to clean them with TSP and degrease the surfaces, sand them lightly, then prime and paint them.

When Cabinet Refacing is the Best Option

If you haven’t maintained your cabinets over time, or if the drawer and door fronts no longer reflect the style of your kitchen, refacing can add lasting value to your home without unreasonably disrupting your routine. Home Depot says  you can expect between three and five days for a professional to complete the job.

The cabinet frames stay in place while your installer adds wood or Rigid Thermofoil (RTF) that you’ve chosen to best complement your décor.  At the same time, you’ll switch out the hardware, knobs, and pulls to complete the project that will transform your home. RTF is priced lower than the cost of wood and is more expensive then laminate. It can prove a solid option that is easy to clean and maintain.

Many consumers and homeowners today are concerned about volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can off-gas toxic chemicals that lead to memory impairment, respiratory ailments, and other ills. Historically, VOCs are commonly attributed to household air freshener products, furniture finishes, and carpeting materials.

Consumer Reports Magazine says the Federal limit on VOCs in household paint at “250 grams per liter (g/l) for flat paints and 380 g/l for others”, while individual states can establish lower levels.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that common organics found in the home are 2 to 5 times higher in VOCs indoors than outdoors. Prolonged exposure to VOCs, the EPA reports, can lead to eye, nose and throat irritation, damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous systems, and a loss of coordination.

Using Low VOC Cabinet Paints

If you’re concerned about VOCs, seek out products that have lower numbers in VOCs or zero percentages in their paint. Home Depot has its own brands of zero-VOC paint, as does Mythic, and Sherwin Williams. Sherwin Williams has created a GreenSure designation for products that actually reduce odor in the air and are anti-microbial at the same time.

When it comes to zero-VOCs, the safest paints may employ water, plant dyes, essential oils, bees wax, natural latex, milk protein, lime, or clay in their mixtures. You’ll find soy-based water repellents and sealers made specifically for kitchen cabinets. To call itself a zero-VOC cabinet paint, the product must contain five or less grams of VOCs per liter. Avoid paint with ammonia, tolulene, cadmium, glycol esters, or cobalt. And always do your painting–low VOC, zero-VOC, or any kind–in a well-ventilated area.

If you’ve had your kitchen cabinets painted or resurfaced, they may look good but remain too small for your storage needs. That’s when it’s time to look at buying inexpensive organizers that than keep you from losing your mind when looking for Aunt Sally’s gravy server.

I took a spin through Lowe’s recently to see what was selling and it amazed me. For those with corner cabinets, there are as many organizers as there are consumers to buy them. There are metal corner dish storage racks with three layers covered in white epoxy steel selling for under $100.

I was impressed with a 28″ plastic, pie-cut Lazy Susan set with two rotating polymer shelves with a telescoping shaft that allows internal adjustments. It comes with mounting hardware and costs $96. The 24″ model sells for $77.19. I also like the under-shelf cleaning product caddy, with chrome shelves that hold spray bottles and a roll of paper towels–all of which slide out of the way so you can close the cabinet door.

Looking at Pantry Space

Pantry shelving can separate the calm from the moody adults tossing boxes and packages around as they look frantically for a box of biscuit mix. Adjustable shelving out of wood or vinyl covered wire not only separate your dry goods, pots, and pans, they allow light to pass between them so you can spot things easily.

There was a swing-out pantry unit at Hardware.com that mounts on an “industrial strength piano hinge” that adds space and storage to the inside of your pantry door. The units run around $70. A little money on organizers can spare you headaches going into holiday baking and entertainment season.