Whether you’re remodeling an authentic ranch house in Wyoming or trying to create a Western ranch kitchen in your suburban home, certain elements can help you achieve your goal. You don’t have to have everything custom made or visit countless antique shops, even if you have the patience and the financial resources. Finding real treasures certainly gives your renovation historical authenticity. But if you love the romance of the old West, you can create it in your own kitchen. Yes, even in Waukegan or Tuscaloosa.

What gives Western ranch kitchens that hospitable look?

1. Floors: Hand-hewn plank floors and cupboards made from local pine or oak trees were common in the old West. You may be able to find such floor planks at a reclaimed lumber warehouse. But today’s hardwood, engineered, and wood laminate flooring offers easy installation and maintenance along with choices galore from Bruce (R) and other brands. High end vinyl such as Earthwerks (R) Dakota, Legacy, Vintage Floral, Wood Antique and other planks come in very authentic-looking individual 4 foot by 7 inch glue-down planks. Surface textures faithfully follow every knot, saw chatter mark, and flow of wood grain.
2. Cabinets: You won’t find the appropriate knotted wood cabinets in all brands, but browse deWil’s Belvedere and Stonybrook in knotty alder, Timberlake’s Wyoming line in oak or hickory, and Aristokraft’s Ayden, Dryden and Harrison lines in rustic birch, among other brands and styles. Knotted wood cabinets are seldom made from pine because pine’s soft wood does not stand up well to wear.
3. Brick: A wide, shallow brick arch and rangetop alcove are often features of Western ranch kitchens. Consider extending the brick to the backsplash areas.
4. Cast iron: Hang a wrought iron cooking utensil or pan holder above your kitchen island. Use reproductions of cast iron door hinges, pulls and knobs. Choose porcelain coated cast iron sinks with apron fronts and countertop or wall mounted old West style kitchen faucets. Use wrought iron chandeliers and black, Western style track lights. How about a heavy iron rope footrest and similar support brackets for your breakfast bar?

Sure, create a space for a genuine antique or two–a butter churn, old branding or clothes irons, spurs and bits, scrub boards, or a pie safe cabinet. Add a life-size cardboard stand-up figure of  The Duke. Keep walls, curtains, and linens in earthy hues, and add small bright red, blue, or gold touches for some pop. When it’s all finished, invite your neighbors in for steak, beans, and Dutch oven apple cobbler. You’ll get that warm, expansive Texas feeling, even if you’re in upstate New York.

Well, okay, semi-custom kitchen cabinets may only seem to have endless choices, but your head will spin when you investigate your options. Yes, we’re talking high-end cabinet lines here, from manufacturers like Medallion, Thomasville, Omega, and others. Here’s what sets them apart:

1. Construction details: Hardwood cabinet case frames, plywood cabinet case panels versus fiberboard, thicker woods, dovetailed hardwood drawer boxes, sturdy hinges and hardware, and size increments to the fraction of an inch are among features you’d expect in semi-custom cabinets.
2. Styles: Architectural styles for cabinetry don’t end at Country, Craftsman, Contemporary, Euro-style and Traditional. Take a look at Medallion’s door styles which include those standard styles plus unique options like Fiji, Gable, Trinity, Yukon, and many others. Look at Dynasty/Omega’s Half Milford or Rothshire Rodenberg doors. You’ll notice in website photos that companies sometimes mix and match a simple style with a more ornamental one, or stained cabinets with painted ones.
3. Wood embellishments: You’ll weep for joy at the corbels, rosettes, turned and boxed columns, arches, shaped feet, glass door woodwork, wood appliance-front panels, crown moldings and other trim pieces to complement your Celtic or rustic leanings. Look at Thomasville’s custom accents, if you dare.
4. Woods and finishes: The woods run the full gamut of cabinet quality woods, but the finishes can be anything from a clear or oiled, unstained finish to a hand-rubbed, aged looking ebony, to “natural with frost glaze,” to a speckled Appaloosa.
5. Organizers: Slide out drawers and bins for everything from pots, lids, dinnerware, cutlery, silverware, canned goods, dry goods, waste baskets, and more are available. Study swing-out and pop-up appliance storage. Also pantry units in every size from under-counter to closet-size units that hide behind your beautiful door style. Enjoy the easy access of upper and lower lazy Susan corner units or deep-bin swing-out corner units. They’ve thought of everything.
6. Glass and other door options: Drool over (but preferably not on) more art and textured glass door inserts than you can imagine. Repeat your kitchen window swag fabric in door panels. Divide the glass door with ornamental leading or with wood mullions of various layouts and shapes.

There really isn’t much you can imagine in kitchen cabinets that isn’t available from finer national cabinet brands. Yes, your local cabinet shop can do much of the above, but there are economies in buying power, production facilities, and even experience when producing cabinets for a national market that (according to Pinocchio) may not be possible at Geppetto’s wood shop. Sure, compare prices and options. But give brand name cabinets an opportunity to customize your new kitchen to your heart’s (and your pocketbook’s) content.

“Hate this!” you grumble as you scrub away. “Why did I decorate my kitchen backsplash with these  #%~*&! sea shells? I’m always scrubbing them!”

Ditto many other kitchen wall decor items–your plate collection, cake molds, and even those very popular mesh-backed, mastic-installed stone or tile backsplashes. If they have rough, irregular, and or protruding surfaces, they’re grease traps. True, grime builds up on all kitchen surfaces. Yet there are many beautiful ways to express creativity on your walls while minimizing cleaning chores.

Easy-care tricks for decorating kitchen walls

1. Visual balance: Decide what the major visual focus will be and downplay other decor elements. If you have cabinets or countertops of your dreams, don’t have the floors or walls vie for attention. Choose a somewhat monochromatic backsplash tile that picks up the cabinet grain color along with some neutral or subtly contrasting hues. Easy-to-clean smooth stone or tiles, or subtle wallpaper abstract patterns can add interest without competing visually.
2. Paint: Go monochromatic, or choose a kitchen paint color that lets  cabinets “star.” Add a faux finish. Stencil a pattern in the backsplash or along the wall tops. Hand paint the backsplash area.
3. 3-D objects: To displaying your shells, wine corks, or framed produce art prints, place them where they’ll collect the least grime. Hang them above the wall cabinets. Create a grouping of them in the breakfast nook or family room.
4. Tile & stone: If you choose relatively flat, relatively smooth tile or stone for backsplashes, you can create extra focal-point interest by installing them on the diagonal or adding a row or insets of contrasting color, texture, or material.
5. Wallpaper: Select a wallpaperlabeled “scrubbable.” Keep designs simple. Even if you love country, update with a fabulous stylized floral design. If you choose a large or intricate pattern, use it on one wall. Paint the other walls. (Remember that all traces of paste must be scrubbed off if you eventually go back to paint.)
6. Alternate surfaces: Richly textured or patterned metals, reclaimed lumber, brick pavers, and your countertop material (granite, laminate) all make handsome kitchen backsplash decor that can blend or contrast with wall paint color. Go up to cabinet top height for drama. For cost control, paint walls and backsplashes but make a big, dramatic, easily-cleaned tile or graphic accent area on the wall behind your stove top. Put a band of narrow edging tile around it as a frame .

Tempted by these ideas but not confident? You’re not alone. Have an interior or kitchen designer consult with you. The fees are worth the expert advice, and you’ll love the results for years.

Today many homeowners sing the praises of kitchen cabinet refacing. Savings of 50% or more over new cabinets are not unusual. Often new doors are ordered and the existing cabinet cases get veneered to match. To save even more, apply the cabinet case veneer or laminate yourself. It isn’t rocket science, as this overview will show.

Preparing for DIY kitchen cabinet case refacing

·        Easy surfaces: Cabinet cases are usually rectangular with flat surfaces.  Doors, by contrast, have moldings, curves, and recesses require some finishing expertise.

·       Tools: Most are probably on hand. You’ll need a sturdy metal straight edge, a utility knife and blades, wood patching compound, a putty knife, wood glue, 150 grit sandpaper,  a small hand-sanding block, finishing nails, a short ladder, and a veneer smoothing blade (not a roller.)  The door refacing company will supply veneer or laminate to match your new doors.

·        Work in place: Remove existing doors and hardware. Gently pry off moldings. All cabinet cases can stay in place–yippee!

Steps for refacing kitchen cabinet cases yourself

1.      Prep: Wash surfaces with a very mild dish detergent and water solution. Don’t saturate cases or use solvents. Fill dings and hardware holes with wood putty. Dry, sand lightly. Gently hand sand all surfaces.

2.      End panels: The refacing supplier will send thin plywood end panels. Apply wood glue in broad squiggles on the back side. Fit them to the sanded cabinet ends, press them flat, and secure with finish nails.

3.      Stiles and rails: Cut peel-off veneer strips an inch wider than the vertical stiles, with the top and bottom ends extending two inches beyond the horizontal rails. Spray with rubber cement and set veneer in place.  Let the utility knife blade run flat against the stile sides as you carefully cut downwards. Score lightly behind the top and bottom overhanging tabs, fold tab away from you, and trim the crack line. Do the same with the horizontal stiles, letting the tab ends protrude right over the new vertical veneer strip. Using the metal straight edge, t   rim the overlapping rail and style ends by cutting through both at once in line with the stile edges.  Remove the cut-off ends and press down the “keepers.” 

4.      Finishing:  Use the smooth polycarbonate scraper to firmly press down all the new veneer/laminate.  With a small sanding block, sand all cut edges making gentle one-way strokes toward the inside or back of the cabinet. Hang your new doors and hardware.

Yes, it may take two or three days to do all this. Your time will not only greatly enhance your kitchen’s beauty–it’s truly money in the bank. Your bank.