Dress Up Kitchen Cabinet Doors with Wood Molding

If your flat-fronted kitchen cabinet doors are looking drab and out-of-date, adding wood moulding to their fronts will make your whole kitchen look like it has been renovated. Follow these steps to create interest on your cabinet doors with any of dozens of wood moulding styles.

Step 1 - Decide on the Moulding Style You Prefer

Look through magazines, visit interior design and building supply centers and gather ideas for the kind of kitchen cabinet doors you would like. Work out which kind of molding was used to create the particular effect you want, and then decide on a style that will be elegant, easy for you to do, and affordable within your budget. Choose replacement hardware and buy it when you get the molding.

Step 2 - Measure Your Door Fronts Carefully for Moulding Installation

Buy a sample of the mouding you are going to use. Measure the outside length and width of the door face if you are going to install molding that is flush with the door edges. Measure precisely all the way around the door face for molding that you will attach at a certain distance from the door edges. Make allowance for the width and height of the door molding above the door face so that the new doors will not bump into appliances or range hoods.

Step 3 - Buy the Moulding and Supplies

Try to purchase all your molding and supplies in one trip. If you need to go back to buy additional moulding, it may be temporarily out of stock, or the style may be discontinued.

Step 4 - Practice Cutting Angled Corners with the Miter Saw

Rent a miter saw for the weekend and use your sample molding piece to practice cutting mitered corners if you have never done this before. Precisely matched corners add quality to your molding accents.

Step 5 - Cut and Lay Out the Moulding

Cut the molding for each door and set it aside in a matched group. Mark the sides, tops and bottoms on the back with a permanent marker to ensure correct placement later. Apply paint or stain to the molding to match the existing door surface after the doors are cleaned and refinished.

Step 6 - Remove, Degrease and Wash Down the Door Fronts

Use a degreasing cleaner such as Pine-Sol to degrease and wash off the cabinet door fronts, to remove stains, grease marks, dirt and oil from your hands. Detach the doors from the cabinets, and remove all the hardware if you are replacing both handles and hinges. Leave the hinges attached if you are going to reuse them. Refinish the door faces with paint or wood stain as needed before attaching the moulding.

Step 7 - Attach the Moulding

Lay the doors front side up on your work surface, and attach the molding with the wood adhesive. Allow the glue to dry completely before rehanging the doors.