Ten DIY updates to customize stock kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
Over the years I've made a BUNCH of different DIY updates to basic kitchen, bathroom and laundry room cabinets that make them look so much more custom.
You don't have to spend a ton on cabinets! I prefer to use inexpensive, unfinished cabinets for my projects and then dress them up.
If you're willing to put the time and effort in, you can completely customize your stock cabinets with some time and sweat equity.
I rounded up my ten favorite ways to update inexpensive cabinets and make them MUCH more functional and high end looking.
1. Paint your cabinets!
OK, this one is the most obvious, but is also the DIY that makes the biggest impact for sure.
If you want to transform your cabinetry by painting them, make sure and take the correct steps. Doing this correctly will make them super durable and looking beautiful for years!
I painted all of our kitchen cabinets in our last house:
Check out my cabinet painting tutorial (with a paint sprayer) to find out how I did it!
Don't underestimate the difference a couple coats of paint will make — this is my number one recommendation for updating your kitchen or bathroom.
2. Extend cabinets to ceiling
I've added this custom cabinetry touch in both of our homes. If your cabinets don't go to the ceiling, closing in that space can make them look more high end.
I first tried this out at our last house by adding open shelving on top of our kitchen cabinets:
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Since we had about 18 inches to work with between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling, I opted to create a thick header, as well as the open decorative shelves at the top of the kitchen cabinets.
Figuring out the balance is important if you want to try this DIY project. I've seen some people fill in a very large opening with just open spaces and no header — this can look off if that open space is too tall.
The cabinets and open shelving end up competing against each other. Adding a header with molding at the top helps to balance everything out.
I've also seen some close in a large space with just a header, and that can feel super heavy.
I recommend doing a combination of additional cabinets and/or open shelving and a header if you have significant empty space over your cabinets.
I used much taller upper cabinets in our basement kitchenette, so we only had a small space to fill in above:
