If you’re looking to spruce up or replace your kitchen cabinets, we’ve assembled a list of 16 blueprints below.
Scroll through and click on the ‘View Plans’ button to access the free, step-by-step instructions if you want to learn how to build a DIY kitchen cabinet.
There are some interesting options on this list: #2 is a sleek, gun-metal gray; #4 is an antique-inspired design; #5 is upcycled from wood pallets; and #11 are kitchen island cabinets painted a farmhouse red.
16 DIY Kitchen Cabinet Plans
1. Reviving Old Cabinets Blueprint
If your kitchen cabinets are good quality but could use a touchup, follow this DIY project. You’ll need to unscrew and remove the doors to clean everything well.
You can then prime the surfaces, paint them, add new handles and hinges, and then reassemble.
Painting everything white this like builder did makes the kitchen feel a lot more spacious and open while adding sleek handles gives a more modern feel.
Of course, the doors and cabinets need to dry before you handle them and screw everything back together.
VIEW PLANS2. Made to Order Kitchen Plan
Unsatisfied with everything on the market, this couple ordered cabinets made out of solid wood and assembled them themselves.
This is a lot cheaper than paying for a custom kitchen from IKEA or Home Depot. Although a lot of work, the cabinets should come with clear and specific assembly instructions.
This builder suggests installing the upper cabinets and then the lower ones. You also can’t forget to drill holes on the bottom for plumbing.
You can also buy or order countertops, a sink, and backsplashes to completely transform your whole kitchen. Consider adding your own homemade spice rack to organize your seasonings!
VIEW PLANS3. Handmade Kitchen Cabinets Idea
Crafted out of 2x4s, these cabinets are simple and cost-effective.
Once the basic frame is made out of 2x4s and 1x4s, you can connect the frames and cover the bottom of the cabinets.
Then, work on the trim and paint them the color of your choice. Don’t forget to add a few coats of polish before assembling the doors to the shelves – it would also be a good idea to prep the wood before you paint it.
You can also specially craft cabinet space above the fridge or in any awkward spaces regular cabinets wouldn’t fit.
VIEW PLANS4. Antique Looking Cabinets Blueprint
If you love vintage looking cabinets, you can make your own in a few easy steps. You should paint them whatever color you like and then distress them.
To distress them, you can do anything from scratching them to rubbing them with sandpapers of varying grits.
Then, carefully glaze them and seal with a good quality polish or protectant.
This DIY idea also has an accompanying video, making this a perfect DIY project for visual learners. In the end, your cabinets will look old and antique but be easy to clean and add a rustic touch to your home.
5. Turning Wood Pallets into Cabinets Plan
If you would love another cabinet or two, follow this DIY idea and the pdf to make an open and rustic kitchen cabinet out of old wood pallets.
After disassembling, measure and cut the pallets before sanding and painting them.
Good blueprints or 3D layouts will ensure that you know how much wood you need and cut it accordingly. After painting and polishing, you can affix the cabinets to the wall with hooks or brackets.
Staining the wood will allow the natural grain to shine and adding hooks on the underside will allow you to easily hang mugs and pans.
VIEW PLANS6. Cabinets with LED Lights Project
For a sleek and modern look, you can attach LED light strips to the underside of your cabinets.
Not only do they look cool, but they provide much-needed light at night that allows you to not turn on overhead lights and disturb others.
Simply connect the strip with the connector, join another strip with it, attach the jumper, and fix the adapter. You can mount this to the wall by using tape or screws.
To go a step further, you can buy a light strip with motion sensors that will only turn on when you’re working on the counters.
VIEW PLANS7. Kitchen Cabinet Makeover Idea
If you’re not satisfied with your kitchen, don’t settle for less! Follow this DIY idea and give your kitchen a proper clear out.
After cleaning, remove the doors and sand everything. Then you can start applying primer and begin painting.
You’ll likely need a variety of brushes and tools to get into the corners and get an even coat across little nooks and crannies.
Depending on the size of your kitchen, you should wait 24-36 hours for the paint to dry before adding a polishing layer.
For a minimalist and open concept, you can replace your doors with glass for exposed cabinets.
VIEW PLANS8. Chic Kitchen Storage Upgrade Plan
This builder had an old and industrial looking storage cabinet that they transformed into a fun and inviting storage unit.
You’ll need bright-colored paint, primer, sandpaper, and stencils or templates.
After the surface is sanded, prime it with a few coatings — if your cabinet is black, for example, and you’re painting it a light blue, multiple coats of primer will be needed.
Using spray paint or regular liquid paint, apply a few coats of the primary color. Then paint your design using your stencils and guides. Once dry, you can over areas you’re not painting to keep the lines crisp.
VIEW PLANS9. Colorful Kitchen Cabinets Idea
Using pallets or 2x4s, you can easily make a frame for your cabinets. Using medium density fiberboard and tiles, this builder constructed the work surface.
Then, paint some wooden planks a rainbow of bright wood dyes and stains.
After the doors are crafted, you can put everything together. You can get very creative with this – painting small sections different colors, using the same color but different shades, painting the doors a solid color or leaving them unfinished, etc.
This DIY project took around four days to complete, but that’s including the drying time for the paint.
VIEW PLANS10. Laundry Cabinets Project
Although built for the laundry room, this cabinet design can be used in any room of the house. Costing only $200 to construct, you’ll be able to have more storage for a small price.
You can also customize the depth of these, though the builder made theirs 13 inches deep.
After putting up support strips, fit the shelves, add the face frame, and make and attach the doors. This builder recommends using pocket screws to keep the joints together and covering up any gaps you have with molding.
VIEW PLANS11. Simple Kitchen Cabinets Plan
For this DIY project, you’ll need cabinet plywood, pocket hole screws, and lots of pine or plywood to make the face frames, bottom and top supports, and backs. Tools required also include a circular saw, sander, kreg jig, and tape measure.
This tutorial is super clear, giving step by step instructions, blueprints, and exact dimensions with a cut list. If you don’t have power tools or don’t want to make the cuts yourself, you can get the wood cut at Home Depot or wherever you purchase it.
VIEW PLANS12. Basic Kitchen Cabinets Blueprint
This is a simple and inexpensive DIY idea that only requires a few materials. You’ll need a table saw, router, poplar boards, pre-finished plywood, and hinges and handles. Using pre-finished plywood will save you some time and make the inside of your cabinets look as good and polished as the outside.
To make this, simply build the cabinet frame, then make the face frame, build drawers and doors, and paint everything. Once everything is dry and ready to go, you can begin to assemble everything into one.
13. Rustic Barn Door Cabinet Project
Rustic meets chic in this DIY project – the barn door slides to easily allow access to either side of the cabinet. One side will always be exposed, allowing you to display certain items while having unorganized and unappealing food items behind closed doors.
To make this at home, you will need a lot of wood, plywood panels, groove boards, finishing nails, wood filler, and power tools such as a miter saw and kreg jig. The dimensions given are for a tall pantry, though they can be adjusted for a shorter and wider cabinet.
14. Vegetable and Fruit Cabinet Idea
These small cabinets allow you to easily store fresh fruit and produce or regular canned goods. The mesh wire allows light and air to circulate so your food won’t go bad.
Required materials include clasps, wire mesh, finishing nails, pocket hole screws, base molding, and 1x2s. You can make a few of these and line them up together or alter the design to make them shorter and wider. These bins can be stored inside or outside, making a perfect place for easily storing things in the summer or winter.
VIEW PLANS15. Easy Reach Kitchen Cabinet Idea
If you’re tired of struggling to get items out from the very back of your cabinets, this is the perfect DIY plan for you to follow. Using plywood, wood glue, sandpaper, 2x4s, a table saw, brad nailer, and kreg jig, you can make this yourself at home.
While the measurements may need to be adjusted to the exact dimensions of your own kitchen, this is a great design for a corner base cabinet. This only costs about $75 to make and it should last for years if you sand and polish it properly.
VIEW PLANS16. Apothecary Style Kitchen Cabinets Idea
These small drawers allow everything to have a place and no excuse for a lack of organization. You can craft this unit to have small drawers with the same dimensions or make certain bottom drawers larger for storing things like pots and kitchen appliances.
You can also get very creative with the colors, with this builder painting the body grey, handles black, and the countertop beige. This design fits seamlessly into a rustic, country home-style kitchen. To make things easier on yourself, try and find pre-finished plywood.
VIEW PLANSWhat’s Reddit Saying?
Over in the Reddit DIY Community, a user submitted a remodeled kitchen cabinet area.
Users were highly impressed – one metal cabinet maker commended the nice work and the original poster was pleased to get credit from a professional.
The original poster also suggested some educational resources if you’re looking to learn how to remodel your cabinetry, as well.
In particular, he recommended the New Yankee Workshop which has a video series.
Another resource that he recommended, this time a book, was the book authored by Bob Lang – it provides a thorough overview of the different types of materials and cabinets you can build.
This helps to provide the novice carpenter with a high-level overview of the different options available. He does make a note that he constructed the upper cabinets to be a lot deeper than the ones recommended in the books. Another metal cabinet builder suggested that while you are doing the woodworking project, sometimes you should take time to pause and reevaluate your progress.
Refacing
Over in the Subreddit for Home Improvement a user posted a question about performing a do it yourself kitchen cabinet refacing.
He says that back in the 1990’s they had had their kitchen cabinets refaced with a melamine European slab.
He really doesn’t like how they look, and because they’re looking to sell it within 4 to 5 years, he thought it would make sense to do an overhaul now and potentially cash in because the home would look better and would invite a higher purchase price.
His particular question was how difficult and costly it would be to buy cabinet doors and paint them to match the different cabinet boxes he has.
One home improvement specialist suggested buying paint grade Shaker door panels and bringing them to a local cabinetry shop- they can do some precision cutting and install hinges and overlays in the right area.
A Gorgeous Refinish
Another Reddit user submitted an Imgur gallery demonstrating kitchen cabinets that he refinished.
He kicked it off with the finished product – saying that, initially, his home had dark cabinets, which had the unfortunate effect of making his home interior look a lot darker and sadder than he wanted it to.
They had actually been installed in the early 1960s, original to the home, but the new cabinetry that he installed ended up brightening the kitchen area and having a positive effect on the mood of people cooking and eating in the dining area.
Users were fairly impressed – one said that, in terms of his own personal preference, he prefers a clean, white and primed look- and the finish that the original poster used was a yellow that reminded of a home in which there’s a chronic cigarette smoker staining the wood and ceilings.
Over in the Home Improvement subreddit, a user solicited advice because he was looking to undertake a complex built-in corner kitchen renovation and was wondering which product line he should choose.
Kitchen Cabinet Recommendation
He was deciding between white and tall Kraftmaid and Thomasville options- but he was a little bit skeptical of the unfinished Thomasville cabinets, and placing an order for them on Home Depot or Menard’s because they had received some negative reviews.
One of the top responses came from a custom rustic cabinetry and cupboard professional based in Seattle who said that the price quote they had received for the kitchen of that size was excessive, compared with the price that a local retail company would likely be able to offer.
Another user concurred, saying that they ended up going with a custom, two-tone, dark installation from DeWils Interiors.
Their requirements were fairly complex – they were looking for a U-shaped design that would incorporate a big pantry set up sitting on either side of the refrigerator. Home Depot and Lowe’s had similar price quotes, but going with the local provider ended up being cheaper and supplied a higher quality end product.
Another user said that for their own custom, red, antique build, which included solid cherry wood doors and drawer fronts, it ended up costing less than 20,000 for a kitchen that measures 10 ft by 16 ft, including an island, wooden flooring, as well as Cabinetry that had a floor-to-ceiling pantry.
Yet another user suggested going with Ikea – they ended up dropping about $20,000 and they were pleasantly surprised with the quality of Ikea Hardware.
The only thing you have to worry about is finding the right Style.
Economy Options
A different theme emerged in another thread – the user was looking for the cheapest, most economical kitchen cabinets he could buy, rather than make.
While many people promoted Ikea over and above Home Depot and Lowe’s, he found to his own investigation that the prices weren’t that much different for assembled cabinets. The top response came from a user who suggested RTA (ready-to-assemble) cabinetry.
This is where the DIY plays in – this commenter says that if you’re good with woodworking tools you can actually save yourself thousands and thousands of dollars instead of buying everything pre-assembled.
Ikea is certainly one of the more well-known providers in the specialized field – but you can also Source it from local manufacturers.
Another woodworker chimed in, explaining that Ikea does use high-quality wood and though you can find cheaper options from a variety of RTA companies, Ikea generally provides a more diverse range of options.
A knowledgeable woodworker suggested that regarding the RTA you’ll want at least half inch plywood that has solid wood doors and frames – you don’t want to deal with MDF boxes.
You don’t also want to end up with any options that include plastic pin or cog connections – you’ll want to be using metal clips and screws for a tighter and more secure assembly. In his own case, he assembled it using a brad nailer, some construction glue and a variety of metal screws and clips.
Pro Tip: If you need even more design inspiration- you can check out ready to assemble cabinets (Source).
A Countertop Complement
If you’ve overhauled your cabinetry, you might also be interested in installing some attractive new countertops or an under cabinet toaster oven. HouseBuyFast has an excellent article explaining why your kitchen sells your home if you need convincing.
Below, we’ve analyzed some different types of kitchen cabinetry.
Countertops are an essential part of every modern kitchen. The designs and materials used for building worktops have evolved over the years but the truth of the matter is that these cook house installations are a must-have as they provide the best platform for different chores.
There are different types of kitchen worktops and the differences have to do with the materials used, designs and sizes as well.
As you choose a countertop for your cooking area, understanding some of the key details is very important so you are able to choose a shockproof, sturdy, heat resistance and scratch-resistant countertop which will be easy to maintain and clean. Here’s what you need to know about the different types:
Granite countertops
Granite is one of the unique countertop materials in the market today. The granite countertops not only offer a combination of beauty and sturdiness but also have other unique features that make it one of the most popular choices for many homes.
Granite is hard and scratch-resistant and is a natural material. It is naturally formed by the composite of feldspar, mica, and quartz. The only disadvantage with granite table tops is that they are expensive compared to other types of kitchen worktops but this is to be expected considering the quality of the material.
Installing an under cabinet range hood
Today, the installation of an under cabinet range hood is a complex task. It is because there are a lot of things that you need to take into account in order to install the right type of range hood in the right place in your kitchen.
In this section, I will show you how to install an under cabinet range hood.
First, choose the location for your under cabinet range hood. Remember that it should be at least six inches away from any wall or appliance. The next step is cutting a hole in your countertop so it can fit through and then secure it with screws from beneath the countertop using a metal bracket or wood braces. You can also use brackets or wooden braces on your wall if there is no countertop cutting involved. Lastly, just attach the range hood’s venting
Marble worktops
Marble is another popular option when it comes to table tops. The table tops are ideal for adding a polished look to your kitchen and since the material is pulled from the ground, its surface is polished.
You can use marble countertops with any type of kitchen décor and this is one of the advantages for homeowners. It is, however, worth noting that marble is porous thus high maintenance as you have to seal the table top after every few years.
Marble is also prone to staining.
Laminate countertops
Commonly known as Formica, laminate countertops are also popular and among the oldest type of kitchen worktops the world over. The material basically is a combination of resin and paper and these two are bonded together using high pressure and heat to come up with different designs and patterns.
Laminate worktops are cheaper compared to other types but the unfortunate thing is that they do not last long. They are easily chipped and scratched but of course, this is expected considering the price.
Quartz countertops
Quartz is a great man-made material that offers a guarantee of durability and sturdiness. The engineered stone is nonporous and doesn’t require much in terms of maintenance which makes it an ideal option for kitchen countertops.
This type of kitchen table top is also stain-resistance and cleaning can be done using a simple mixture of water and mild dish soap.
Although quartz is scratch and chipping resistant, placing hot pots on top of your countertop could result in permanent discoloration, something you should be aware of.
Butcher block table tops
These worktops are made using thick, fancy wood and come highly recommended especially if you are interested in a renewable resource. Butcher block countertops are sustainable with an amazing rustic, homey feel.
However, butcher block is prone to scratches and requires high maintenance. Another disadvantage with this beautiful type of countertop is that it can easily be overwhelmed by bacteria and mold especially if not sealed regularly. This will eventually make it unhygienic and call for a replacement. Soapstone countertops
These tabletops are very great when you want to add a warm, homey touch to your kitchen. The black or gray stone has a soft “soapy” feel and white-veined look and will make for a great rustic design. The countertops can also be used for contemporary and modern spaces.
However, soapstone kitchen tops do chip easily due to the soft nature of the stone.
Concrete worktops
These custom-poured kitchen tops allow the homeowner to add almost anything ranging from embedded glass to unique stones or tile for any unique kind of look. This type of countertop can work well with different faucets discussed in Village Bakery since they are easy to customize.
Concrete worktops are sturdy and able to resist scratching and chipping and any cracks that develop can easily be repaired. The curing process for concrete countertops is a bit longer and can’t just be used after the installation. However, this might not be a reason to worry. Concrete is porous and could require regular resealing plus they can stain easily.
Stainless-steel
These worktops can be used in any kitchen and the advantage is that they are easy to maintain and also very durable. It is good to confirm the quality of the stainless material when buying the countertop otherwise you might fall for a substandard material.
These are the main types of kitchen countertops that you should consider when designing or redesigning your cookhouse. Based on your preference and needs, you can choose any of these to add value to your home but always consider functionality.
Hi, my name’s Elena Coolidge. I’m a DIY enthusiast who loves building fun woodworking plans. These DIY plans are fun hobby projects for enthusiasts or even more advanced builders that want to build things like bunk beds, end tables or even a duck box!
