Cabinet Door Refinish – Adding Trim

In the never-ending quest to convert the house from brass fixtures to satin-nickel fixtures, I knew someday, I’d have to replace the brass cabinet door hinges in the laundry room. Well, I never liked how the doors looked in the first place, so, I decided to add some molding and new hardware to liven them up.

Time: 5 hours
Cost: $20 (depending on how many you are doing)
Difficulty: 3 out of 5
Tools required: Drill, screwdriver, jig saw, paint brush, tape measure

1. The cabinet doors were removed and lightly sanded to remove the some of the visible, sloppy brush strokes.

2. Hobby wood can be bought from Lowes and the Home Depot. They are pre-cut sizes, ranging from ¼” to ½” thick. I bought ¼” thick popular, in 3 in by 48 in sections. The wood was laid out on the cabinet door.

3. Tick marks were made at the edges of the molding and they were cut using a hand held jig saw.

4. On the back side of the board, screw holes were drilled, and countersunk. The screws will be used to keep the molding flush with the cabinet door and will prevent warping.

5. Using Liquid Nail, the border trim was glued on, the door flipped over, and a heavy load was applied (I used two 60 lb bag of concrete and my toolbox.) The screws are then added.

6. The doors were let to dry for about 30 minutes. Then, I check to make sure there were no noticeable gaps. Finally, the screws were covered using wood putty.

7. Now, the gaps between the moldings were filled with the wood putty and sanded flush to help soften the appearance of a seam.

8. The doors were painted, new hardware was added, and then the doors were re-installed. I used new satin-nickel door hinges, but they were the same style as the old brass hinges, so they fit the hinge install holes. You may have to do some searching to find where your hinges came from, but most likely, they are from Home Depot or Lowes.  My hinges came from Home Depot.

After all of that work, here is the before and after pictures: