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Giving builder grade cabinets a custom look with crown molding, hardware and paint is a project that's worth tackling to transform your kitchen. We're really happy with the new look of our old builder grade cabinets. See the complete tutorial below.

This post originally appeared over on my friend, Allison's blog, House of Hepworths in July of 2013. Since I've been sharing lots of posts regarding our kitchen makeover lately, I thought this would be a fun one to include over here, as well. You can see it on House of Hepworths here, too.

Upgrading Builder Grade Cabinets

While our kitchen makeovers tend to wear me out (both mentally and physically), I am happy with the direction this one is heading. Here's a tutorial on one of the very first things we transformed...the original builder grade cabinets.

While we love this home, we know it's not our forever place. We wanted to make it more custom while we do live here, but not completely blow out the budget. So, instead of new cabinetry or a full-on kitchen makeover by a team of professionals, we've done lots of little projects over time that we could manage ourselves. This route has taken a bit of time, but given us a space we're really happy with...and one that I love cooking in!

How We Transformed Our Builder Grade Cabinets

Pictured above is the before version of our cabinets. We had smaller molding on the cabinet tops, oak stain (that had drastically lost its sheen over the six years we've lived here) and no hardware. It was fine and functional, but we wanted to just take it a step further.

This tutorial of sorts, is basically what we did in this project. Each kitchen/space will require different skills, measurements, materials, and time. But, you can see our overview below.

Supplies

• crown molding of your choice for your space's measurements (Buy a bit extra because nobody gets their cuts correctly every time on crown moulding...I'm not even a little bit joking.)
• compound miter saw
• nails/brads
• spackling putty (just a tip: if you don't use this regularly, buy a smaller container; the larger containers will dry out when not used up in a short amount of time)
• Liquid Nails (construction adhesive)
• If you're doing several cabinets, like we did, you'll want the bigger tube, in which case, you'll also need a caulk gun to use it.
• painters' tape

Directions

• We started by ripping off the old molding...which, literally, ripped right off. Not much effort needed in our particular kitchen.
• If you have issues in your kitchen, gently place an old towel against the cabinets and use a crow bar on top of the towel to pry off the moulding (the towel is to prevent damage to your cabinetry). 
• Carefully remove extra nails or brads with needle-nosed pliers.

Making the Cuts

Let me preface this by saying it took us three entire eight-foot lengths of crown to figure out what we were doing (like I said, buy extra!). But, once we finally got it...we got it. Cutting crown can vary from project to project and I by no means feel qualified to give an entire tutorial on it. But, I'll let you know a few tips that really helped us. I'm also listing out several YouTube videos we found helpful in our own project.

Ideas to keep in mind when cutting cabinet crown molding:

• You'll be making outside cuts only, for the most part (we had one weird angle where we had to make an inside cut, but the other several dozen cuts were all outside angle cuts).
• As referenced in the photo above, adding tape guides to your saw for cutting is the only way to do this...it took us three lengths of molding to finally figure that one out. Some compound miter saws come with crown molding guides, but ours didn't. You want tape on both ends to ensure that you line your molding the exact same way every time. Even being off by a millimeter can make a big difference.
• Crown molding is cut upside down on the saw. 
• Crown molding is also cut "standing up" on the saw. 

Helpful Crown Molding Cutting Videos:

• How to Cut Crown Molding from This Old House
• How to Cut Crown Molding Outside Corners for Beginners from See Jane Drill
• Never Have Trouble Cutting Crown Molding Again from Gene Lonergan

• This next step we did a bit out of the norm (but there's always several ways to attack a project, in my opinion). We assembled this one "on the ground" before mounting. We did this step differently on every single cabinet. But this particular method seemed to work great for us. I liked "on the ground" assembly because it was easier to match up corners. 
• We connected it all with liquid nails, added painters' tape on the corners to ensure nothing slipped or wiggled, and let it dry overnight.
• We then took it up to the cabinet tops (which, to me, was the scary part).

• A lot of folks recommend an additional board for mounting your molding to. Since our original molding wasn't on a board, we attached ours directly to the tops of the cabinets. 
• We used small finishing nails to attach the molding in place. 

• Then fill, fill, fill. We used DryDex to fill in all corners, nail holes and gaps. I feel like DryDex covers a multitude of mess ups and mistakes. And, I am one of those that applies it with my fingers...I feel like I have more control this way
• Once it was dry, it got a good sanding. Then I wiped it with tackcloth to remove any dust.

Then I primed and painted everything. My basic approach is to use a primer that adheres to any surface (to prevent a ton of sanding), two coats of that; two coats of satin latex paint; and polyurethane (be super careful on the polyurethane, it can turn white cabinets yellow if it's the wrong kind). I use a water-based polyurethane and always test it beforehand. 

• I also added some vintage reproduction hardware to give the cabinets a special touch.

Really enjoying the brightness these upgraded builder grade cabinets have added to the kitchen. 

And I have to be completely up front with all of you...the above photo is staged beyond belief. My husband walked in and said..."oh, we're doing fake kitchen today, huh?" 

I won't lie...my goal is to have this kind of pretty-pretty all over the kitchen and maybe when all this mayhem is said and done, it may happen. But right now, the above is how I do "fake kitchen".

Want to See More of this Space?

• Check out how I created (faux) Varied Height Cabinets over my stove (pictured above) on these same builder grade cabinets. It really took the space to the next level.
• And our DIY Chalkboard Backpack Station has become an absolute workhorse in this space. Our kids use it constantly and I love adding new chalk designs to it.
• We also created a complete Kitchen Island Transformation by expanding the original builder grade island and adding seating at each end. Now, our kids eat their breakfast at the island on barstools every morning.

Other Great Cabinet Upgrade Ideas:

• I love this tutorial from Family Handyman for How to Add Glass to Cabinet Doors. I've always loved that look!
• And these DIY Cabinet End Panels from Domestic Deadline is a clever idea that anyone can duplicate.
• If you have open soffits in your kitchen, this tutorial for How to Enclose the Space Above Cabinets from Simply 2 Moms is a great one to keep on hand.