by Jessica Ackerman
When creating a custom kitchen that reflects your own personal style, adding custom hardware can add the perfect finishing touch. While there are many different varieties of custom hardware designs already available, such as artistic hand-crafted drawer pulls and handles for kitchen cabinets, these can often be expensive. Designing your own custom hardware is an economical and fun alternative that can add even more personalization to the kitchen.
Designing Kitchen Hardware with Polymer Clay

Knowing cabinet door catch basics will help you choose the best cabinet hardware for your cabinets.
Why do you Need a Cabinet Catch?
You'll use cabinet door catches on doors that don't have self-closing hinges. They are easy to install and there are three main types.

Magnetic Catch

With this style there is a metal plate that mounts on the door and a magnetic part that mounts on the frame. There are a variety of sizes to choose from. They open and close easily.
Friction Cabinet Door Catch

When you buy cabinets to upgrade your kitchen, you increase the value of your home. Here is how to buy cabinets:
Before you Buy
Decide what type of storage you need.

Determine the type of cabinets that would meet those needs.
Draw a diagram of the area and where each cabinet will be installed.
Take your measurements for the area where you will install the cabinets.
Measure height, width, and depth, then measure again to ensure no errors.

Transfer the measurements onto the drawing and label each cabinet too.

Choose Styles, Quality, and Price Options

Ready to assemble kitchen cabinets are usually sturdy and easy to install.
Benefits
Ready to assemble kitchen cabinets ship in a flat pack, which reduces shipping costs significantly. When your cabinets arrive, they can be installed in no time.
Just use the quick attach fasteners that come with your cabinets, follow the simple instructions and you are on your way to having a refreshing new look in your kitchen.

You can paint kitchen cabinets to update a tired kitchen quickly.
Before you Paint
Remove the doors.
Remove all the hardware from the doors and the cabinets.
Clean cabinets thoroughly - use orange oil to remove grease.
Allow the surface to dry completely.
Sand any rough areas and wipe away the dust
Prime Before you Paint
Once the kitchen cabinets and doors are clean and completely dry, you need to apply a coat of primer-sealer. Follow the grain and make sure it is even. Priming saves you having to sand down and remove the gloss before you paint.

By Brian Simkins
Your kitchen cabinets take more abuse than any other piece of woodwork in your home. They are opened and closed innumerable times a day, and they are located in the room where the air conditions would be destructive to any kind of woodwork. In one moment the room can be very dry - like when your oven is on a high temperature for a long period of time - and a few minutes later the room can be near 100 percent humidity when you start steaming vegetables or boil a large pot of water.

Painting over a cabinet door is a quick way to do a major renovation of a kitchen without spending a lot of money. You may only just change some simple aspects of the door such as give it a new color or finish, or even add some new hardware. This will alter the look and feel of your entire kitchen.
Many kitchen cabinet doors are made out of Formica. Painting over these Formica cabinet doors requires a little extra work to make sure the paint sticks. Here is a step by step process to painting over your Formica cabinet doors.
Tools and Materials You Will Need
Sponge Roller
Latex Paint

A cabinet door has a lot of power in transforming your kitchen from drab to fab. By simply changing out your kitchen cabinet doors, you can make a big change in the overall look without having to do a complete remodel. You do a variety of different things to your cabinet doors from refinishing them to adding wallpaper as a covering. One of the ways that you can change your cabinet door look is by using fabric as a covering.
What You Will Need
Screwdriver
Fabric of Choice/Curtain
Curtain Rod
Sewing Machine/Thread
Paint/Paint Brushes
Putty/Scraper
Sander
Sandpaper

One of the pieces that will add some added character to your kitchen is the kitchen cabinet doors. These simple, but very necessary, parts of your cabinet, and overall look of you kitchen. Adding a glaze to your kitchen cabinet doors will create an old world look, or an antique feel. They are usually used in combination when attempting to recreate a European feel or Old French look. Adding glaze to your kitchen cabinet doors is not a hard project. It does take some time and attention to details. Here are a few steps to take when glazing your kitchen cabinet doors.
What You Will Need

You can add a distinctive look to your home by creating faux finish cabinets. You don’t need a lot of money or materials for this kind of project, and you can probably find everything that you need for under $50. Adding a faux finish to your cabinets can completely change the look of the room. This project is inexpensive but produces big results.
Tools and Materials Needed
Faux finish glaze
Faux finish brush
Blending Brush
Lent-free rag
Clear top coat
Paint
Primer
Step 1—Prepare the Cabinets