No Money for a Kitchen Make-Over?  No Problem…It's All About the Knobs.

Kitchens and bathroom upgrades cost crazy money no matter how much of a savvy shopper you think you are or how small your kitchen might be.  I overheard one promising solution at the local kitchen cabinet dealer (okay, it wasn’t so much “local” as much as the orange and blue big box home-improvement stores can be classified as "local").  As the salesman (*ahem*, kitchen design consultant) condescendingly pitched a high-dollar estimate to a couple looking for a bargain, he eventually relented and told them they could save lot of money by just replacing the faces of the cabinet doors and drawers.  But he warned them “they’d get what they paid for” and that “a fully upgraded kitchen would bring a huge return on their investment.”  Still, I was intrigued by the idea of cabinet and drawer replacement. 

“It makes sense,” I thought, “I’ve discovered a way to upgrade my kitchen at a low cost!”  The sky opened, birds started chirping, choirs started singing, and Aaron Rodger’s did his “double-check” move.

Then the design consultant gave them the estimate for custom-door and drawer replacement.   Hah! 

The Refs penalized Rodgers for excessive display, the choirs were silenced as their lip-syncing came to an end, the birds' chirping turned to evil cawing, and thunder clouds appeared. 

Should have known better than to expect a discount at a home improvement store where even a fit guy  needs a sports drink and some rest to get from one end of the store to the other.  The couple looked at each other and left.  I thought about going to the “bad” side of town to see if one of those “storage-place” shops might be able to offer me a deal on my newfound cabinet upgrade idea.  I chickened out.  Then, I thought, "I can do this myself."  I quickly gave up when my “jig saw” was out of commission and when I realized cutting frosted glass was not something I was interested in doing.

My “Meantime” Solution:   I changed the handles and knobs, or in cabinet-speak, the hardware.  And I have to say it worked more than I expected.

Rather than going to the big-box home improvement stores to look for hardware, I went to a flea market on a weekend.  I found some quirky, ceramic knobs that were great, but they were not my style.   Some were too “country-fied” while others were in the shape of chili-peppers.

 “No thanks, but I’m on the right track,” I thought.  

Say "NO" to chili pepper knobs and hardware!

Then a chance shopping trip to the Hobby Lobby with my sister brought me nirvana.  They had an entire section of custom hardware.  And on that day, it was heavily discounted!  I scooped several of them at my nearby store but had to go to another location to fulfill my quantity requirements.  I was ecstatic.  Each piece was 50 cents.  And the upgrade of the kitchen was soon complete. 

I picked out a Royal Florentine iron design which I white-washed and distressed a bit with the back of a scrubbing sponge.

For the bottom cabinets, I picked out ceramic knobs in the shape of a clock-face with French text and Roman Numerals. (I have no problem with mixing and matching so long as you use one style for lower cabinet drawers and another for everything else).

The work was minimal as you can reuse existing holes (which are usually pre-drilled in a fairly standard method ).  All I used was a wrench and a screwdriver (the wrench to prevent movement from the opposite side as you tighten the new knob).  You may encounter some issues with the non-functional drawer "faces" by the sink, but they are easy to fix (usually, you just remove a backside wood-covering to reveal the drilled hole and bolt).   

The difference was astounding.  And for me, the hardware replacement is now a permanent solution and not a temporary one.  Frankly, the hardware makes the cabinets look exceptionally unique and is superior to an expensive, standard packaged design.  As for the old hardware, I re-used one for a dog house screen door and the rest went to Goodwill.  An extra "new" knob was used for a bathroom closet door.  The cabinets look great and I can't believe I delayed changing the hardware for as long as I did.  As Brini Maxwell might say, "Now why didn't I think of that?"