You might want to resize it to around 300x400 or so. Right now it's 467x861...a bit too big for posting usually. (Resize using percentages to keep the proportions right.)

Just copy the code from the box labeled "HTML Code". An example:

Are the cabinets the original ones (i.e., 33 years old)? What condition are they in structurally? If it's just a matter of an old or disliked finish, then fine. However, if your cabinets are starting to fall apart or look like they won't last another 5 - 8 years, then I would rethink the idea of putting a stone counter on them (granite, quartz, soapstone, etc.).

You need to have structurally sound cabinets not only to be able to hold the weight of stone, but also so you're not forced to replace them in a few short years when they start to fall apart (if they're not structurally sound)...b/c you will probably have to replace the counters as well. Granite, even "inexpensive" granite isn't cheap...I doubt you'll want to spend thousands now on counters & later do it again.

Second, how does your kitchen function in day-to-day use? Does it have a good workflow? Adequate counterspace? Adequate cabinet storage? Adequate aisles? If it doesn't function all that well, I would also reconsider the idea of doing a remodel using any expensive material (stone, appliances) that doesn't solve issues with the kitchen as a workplace. It might be better to save your $$$ now and wait 3 or 4 years until you can save up enough to fix issues as well as have structurally sound cabinets.

If everything is fine...cabinets, workflow, etc., then go ahead and do a reface rather than a full remodel...if that's all it needs, then I would definitely only do the reface.

It's up to you, of course, but I wanted to bring up possible issues with doing everything except the cabinets (which it sounds like you're doing).

If the floorplan you have works for you and the cabinets are in good shape - great!

I'm kinda torn between advising beating them up more before painting or replacing the doors and drawer fronts. Further distressing - including cutting out for glass or chicken wire - would sorta leave you with french (or italian) country while replacing lets you have any style.

Choose wisely grasshopper.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Our cabinets are sound, so don't think granite will be a problem. The cabinets are original. We custom built our house back in 1977. Due to the fact that I became disabled in 1996, we haven't gotten around to updating.
We plan to improve the countertop space by removing a wall oven and replacing with a countertop and range oven instead of a cooktop.
As I mentioned, the kitchen is really small, only 10ft counters on each side.

My husband are I seniors and with my health issues may not live too much longer. Just don't know for sure, just want to make our place sellable in case we have to move to nursing center.

Thanks so much for instructions on including photos.
I resized, but still may be a little too large.

Two other ideas--both ultimately involving painting. First, are the backs of the doors plain? If so, you might be able to flip the doors over and expose the plain side. Second, if they're not plain, could you cover the design with strips of wood on all four edges to make a shaker-style door?

What sort of budget are you working with? Assuming its a limited one, I have three possible suggestions: one is simply to paint the doors (or have them painted). That's the easiest, down-and-dirty way to update a bit. But if the routed design still bothers you, it won't help that...

Second, look into refacing. I actually have no idea what that costs, but I am sure a google search will yield results. The house we bought last year had original 1950's cabinets that had been refaced by the seller (unfortunately in a door style I loathed, though...). The company faces the frames with a thin veneer and replaces the doors and drawer fronts, but leaves the bodies alone (you can paint those.)

Third, if you want to replace the cabs altogether, chic-ly but cheaply, look at Ikea's cabinets. They're well-built and very affordable, but do require you put them together, as they are sold flat-pack. (www.ikea.com)

I'm sorry to hear about your health issues and hope that your kitchen renovation will be a fun project yielding a happy kitchen for you to cook in for many years :)

What about replacing the doors with something solid slab that would take paint? If the original cabs are in good shape, solid doors shouldn't be too expensive, although a bit more than just turning the doors over would cost.

Here's hoping you get to enjoy your new kitchen for a long time!

I had some awful looking painted brown cabinet doors in my kitchen. I repainted them white and then edged them with blue spray paint. Here's how I did it. After painting the doors all white, use a piece of wood or cardboard to shield all of the door except about 2-inches of one edge, spray with one or two passes with a long even stroke. A light coat with a lot of white still showing through looks best I think. Next, let that edge dry so as not to smear it and then do another edge. Repeat until all four edges have a blue border. Since the corners wind up with more coats overlapping, they will be darker and it makes a nice effect. Here is a picture of the finished product. For me it was a temporary fix until I could get around to a full remodel but I think it looked great.

Great suggestions. I like the cheap parts...lol
Keep the suggestions coming please.
Going to start investigating refacing. Hope that would take care of the ugly routed design.

You have no idea on how much I will enjoy the re-do! Tired of living in the 70s..lol Going to work on the rest of the house a little later,but for now it is the kitchen.

You all have given some great tips!

Thinking about doing the wood strips and edges of cabs. That might be the cheapest...I think. Wonder if that would make the door too thick. Also, reversing the doors to the plain side would still leave the routed section showing when the door is opened.

jewel-our house was built in 1978 and we decided to keep the original oak cabinets that were in great shape. In our case my husband refused to consider painting over the wood so he refinished them going from "golden" oak to a medium dark oak stain. Changed out the hardware which is inexpensive and can make a big difference. We also are going with stainless appliances and did put in granite countertops. Think your ss appliances and blue pearl granite are going to be awesome together! Painting the cabinets a white that would work well with the granite is a possible fix or if budget allows replacing the fronts would be nice also. Think you're going to end up with a fantastic kitchen. Please post more pics to show us your kitchen space.

Sorry to hear about your health problems and sending good thoughts for better times ahead and lots of fun with your kitchen remodel.

We were on limited budget. Looked into refacing our painted white cabinets with similar routing (so very dated!) and found that a local craftsman/cabinet maker was nearly $4,000 cheaper than the local refacing company. We got so much more out of the cabinet maker too, for the money. Ask around - I found my guy when my friend did a $100K remodel and he did her enormous kitchen island and bathroom cabinets as a subcontractor of her GC. I used him directly. Anyone who's been to my kitchen since the re-do can't tell we refaced.

Also - I've seen in the Lowe's design idea magazine where thin moulding is applied to and over that dated kind of routing. You could also do wide wood strips - kind of a Shaker cabinet look, as another GW'r suggested above. Then paint it all white or a color of your choice.

Good luck!

Refacing is usually more than new!! I am a cabinet dealer and I know that you can do a whole kitchen brand new in a lower line for a few thousand (nice maple, stained, etc.)- refacing is usually a lot more than my lower line that includes new everything!! Do your homework...get prices!

"Also - I've seen in the Lowe's design idea magazine where thin moulding is applied to and over that dated kind of routing. You could also do wide wood strips - kind of a Shaker cabinet look, as another GW'r suggested above. Then paint it all white or a color of your choice."

Three_Daisies.

I thought about trying to cover the routed line with moulding. The routing line on my cabinets are difficult to cover. Would need something that is flexible enough to go around the curves.
The moulding sure would help update the old, tired,outdated,ugly cabinets.

Did the magazine contain pictures?

I don't know if this will help you. I had old 80s melamine cabinets. When I replaced them in my kitchen remodel, I moved some of these into the utility room and put on the wood strips. My wood strips were narrow; yours would need to be wider to cover the routing.

I don't understand your comment about needing something flexible to go around the curves. Maybe you are thinking about a different type of trim.

Original cabinets:

Refaced cabinet doors:

You could repaint them, I don't think the routing is too horrible - what are the lower cabinets and drawer fronts like? I think they could work with a French country look with some cut outs for glass (glass can be opaque so you can't see through it) Another option is to order doors and paint the frames to match. When I was redoing my kitchen I found a site that had doors for about $30-40 each, $30 for paintable doors. I ended up keeping my cathedral arch doors and I like the way they turned out (as much as I like the price).

There are a few threads on painting cabinets and the results can be fantastic for not a lot of money.

You could also take some cabinet doors out for open shelving and put some beadboard in the back.

Please post a picture of the whole space and I can photoshop some ideas. Hopefully this will be a fun project to help distract you from those not-fun medical issues!

Here is a budget renovation with cabinets like yours. Pommy girl definately wanted a more funky style with mismatched handles and black bottom cabinets, but this will show you what a beadboard facing and paint could do for your cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: budget renovation

If you're up for some work, you could fill the routed out design with Bondo (Plastic automotive body filler) and sand it smooth. You'd then have a smooth slab door that you could paint, or apply wood strips to to mimic a shaker style door. It IS a lot of work, but it's cheap, and when you're on a budget, the sweat equity is what pulls you through.

Here is the article referenced above from the Lowe's Creative ideas magazine. Pictures aren't great but they do describe what to do. This is the 3000 version of the makeover (includes new appliances). You can also see the 1000 version by clicking on the link on the right sidebar. As you can see, white paint will make a world of difference, even without the flat craft moulding strips.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Update

Apparently, to cover up the molding on what look like exactly the same cabinets you have they used "craft molding", 1/4 inch thick by 3 inches wide by 2 feet long and attached it to the door. The 3 inches would be wide enough to cover the routing it looks like.

I think this is what they used, although you can get other woods as well (walnut, mahogany, etc.). So for about 6.00 a door and some adhesive you could get a great, new looking, shaker style kitchen :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Basswood sheets

Careful adding trim to the face...I did that once. Beautiful cabs when I was done (and adding it was a PAIN because the first glue recommended didn't work after all the cutting and clamping, blah blah, then the nail gun split the trim, then the next glue worked but was hell to work with...where was I?) Oh so I finally got them all done with epoxy and pin nails and hung them...only to find that the trim added (gorgeous stuff) was just thick enough that when you opened it the trim hit the trim on the door next to it, reducing the ability to open the doors beyond about 2/3 open....if you like to put your dishes in sideways and have no bowls, that's fine, but if you're normal, at this point in the remodel you begin cursing like a young sailor rejected by his latest love...

And then you begin hunting for fixes. For me it meant two different hinge types on each set of doors. It showed when open but not when closed and the house sold quickly because of the kitchen, but my darling...it was HELL!!! So umm be careful LOL

I don't acutually dislike your door. But you have to embrace the style it is and work within that style to update it to something that works today.

You have heard a couple of folks mention old world...keep that in mind. Those doors work with an old world feel. I'd' have them repainted with a creamy white paint and consider a crackle finish with an antiqued glaze. Keep your granite simple and your other finishes like knobs, in the old style, ie black with black iron knobs would really work well. And I think you'd find it will really make a lovely difference.

athensmomof3 - that's exactly the article I was thinking of!! I was in a hurry and didn't try to find it on the web...thanks for doing that for the OP.

WOW! Some more wonderful suggestions.
Attaching some thin molding sounds good. I wonder if they had to do anything to the edges so that the molding edges would not be visible.

To annes_arbor: I just meant that it would take something wide enough to cover the routing or be flexible so that it would mold to the shape of the routed part. Hope this makes sense. I just noticed your picture again, and you had the shaker style trim. Did you do anything to the edges of your cabinets?

Let me add that I would post some picture of my kitchen as it is now. But, it would scare the wits out of all of you!
Being handicapped, my hubby has to do the housework. He is a terrible housekeeper...lol I love him, but it is the truth. Does a wonderful job caring for me, but I have to tell the truth. You probably won't see any shots of the kitchen until he gets it cleaned up...lol
So, I will try to describe it. Medium oak cabs,harvest gold laminate countertops,harvest gold sink,sheet laminate floors, and white walls. See, I told you it would scare you.

I want to thank everyone for their best wishes for my health. I'm doing great so far. Looking forward to the upgrades.

When we painted our cabinets we moved handles that had been placed directly in the middle of the doors. My husband put putty in the holes, but I can still tell where they used to be because of the overhead lighting. So, I'm not sure that filling in the existing design would work the way you want it to. The idea about turning the doors over is the one that I would consider.

What really worked well for us was to knock down the existing soffits (free but dirty), and add molding to the top of the cabinets. After painting this changed the look drastically!!

In my experience, refacing was extremely expensive. I wouldn't go with that. A few years ago I had it priced out and it was $10k for my kitchen. Instead, I had a local custom cabinet maker make me new door and drawer fronts for my 1970's kitchen that were more appropriate for my 1920's home. I painted the doors/drawers/and cabinet boxes. She measured, made, and hung the cabinets all for $1100. I think I paid $200 for paint and cabinet hardware and I loved the results.

If I were you in your situation, I would either just paint the cabinets (I think they'll look MUCH better painted white) or have the door fronts redone and pain it all out. Then I'd either choose a) whatever counter top choice you LOVE or b) an inexpensive neutral option (especially if your are keeping the cabinets and just painting them).

Here's my rationale. I am currently looking for a home. I hate when I walk into a house and they've done a recent kitchen remodel with expensive upgrades that I dislike because I feel like I'm paying for those upgrades, but I don't like them. I'd rather pay for and rip out formica than pay for and rip out granite. So either choose what you love because you want it and plan to enjoy it for a while. Or choose something inexpensive and neutral knowing that whoever buys your house in the future is going to do a remodel.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Jewel,
In answer to your question, I did not do anything to the edges of my cabinets. When I painted the trim and the cabinets themselves, everything sort of blended in. The trim is very very thin. Igloochic raises a good point that regardless of how thin the trim is, it may be too thick when you open the doors. My doors curved ever so slightly on the edges, so the trim was placed to not extend beyond the point where the curve began. For your cabinets, I think it's worth getting some trim and doing a little test on one door. It is such an easy and cheap transformation if it would work.

Also, I'm with Missmuffet. The very easiest and cheapest fix is to flip the doors. You said earlier that you would still see the routing when you opened the doors. This is true, but no one leaves their kitchen cabinet doors open, do they? And if you paint both sides, the routing will be that much less noticeable.

AA

Just don't know for sure, just want to make our place sellable in case we have to move to nursing center.

If that is the only reason for renovating, STOP! Don't waste your money on it.

I just had a serious talk with the local realtor (20+ years in the business, sells a lot of houses) and she recommended that we do minimal upgrades and repairs to get rid of the truly non-functional or ugly stuff, like the shower enclosure, but to spend very little money on updating the kitchen because it's probably going to be ripped out by the buyer anyway. We're going to refinish the cabinets with gel stain, but that's all.

If you like the doors, even if they are outdated, leave them alone.

Just a thought on flipping the doors and seeing the routing on the insides.... I agree don't worry about that, you'll never notice it.

Here's how I know: I personally do not like raised panel doors at all. We wanted a nice flat-panel, square sticking, plain shaker door style in our new kitchen. The cabinetmaker we bought the cabinets from builds solid doors. Some shaker doors use a thin plywood panel for the middle part, these are solid wood. But to make them sturdy enough as solid wood, they need some thickness. This place uses a raised panel but turns it around, so the flat side faces out. Does that make sense? On the inside of my doors is the raised panel part. I wondered if this would bug me... but it does not in the least.

If you turn your doors around, add the shaker trim to the flat side, and paint both sides, I think you'll never notice the routing on the inside at all.

I received some depressing news today from our contractor.
It seems that he inspected our cabinets and base cabinets, they are not as stable as I had thought. He is recommending replacing them. According to a quote he gave me a few weeks ago, his cost is a about the same as what he was going to do for us anyway.

So, this will mean I will not need to do anything with my old cabinet doors.

We just have to step back and see what we can do at this time.

I want to thank each and every one who has offered suggestions and comments. They have really been very,very helpful.

You will be hearing from me as we continue our quest for an updated kitchen.

Happy New Year to all.