by R. Renee Bembry

Created on: August 29, 2011   Last Updated: August 30, 2011

Trimming kitchen cabinets is a great way to add new life to old doors; and yet, new cabinetry can benefit from a bit of embellishment as well. Personalizing with trim is a great way to set the look and feel of your kitchen cabinets apart from your neighbors' when residing in a housing tract. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Door removal

Although door removal is not a requirement, removing cabinet doors from their hinges could make the trimming process easier because you will not have to stand on a ladder to measure or to attach the trim. In addition, trim adhering glue needs ample drying time to assure the trimming strips do not slip out of place. When removing doors, be certain to put hinge screws in a safe place.

Measure the doors

Begin the door trimming process by marking the cabinet doors (unless you plan to trim the full length and width of the doors). Use a pencil to trace the area on which you want to apply the trim. After completing the pencil tracings, measure the lines. If you did not need lines, measure the door lengths and widths.

When taking the measurements, it is not necessary to measure every single line on every single door or the full length and width of every single door. If your kitchen only has one door size you can simply measure the lines or full length and width on one door. If you have two or more cabinet sizes, measure the lines or full length and width on one door for each different sized cabinet.

As an example: Beginning with the first door, measure the line 'length', then double that number, and write it on a piece of paper. Now measure the line 'width' of the same door, double its number, and write it on the paper as well. After you have the lengths and widths doubled on a sheet of paper, add the numbers together. This gives you the total length of trim you will need for that sized cabinet door. If you have more than one sized kitchen cabinet, repeat the measuring process for each different sized door. If you are not using pencil marks because you plan to trim the full length and width of the cabinet doors, use the same process to measure the full length and width of the doors.

Once you measure all the different sized doors, figure out the total length of trim you will need to decorate all of the doors. For example, if you have four doors that are the same size and your measurements told you that one of that door size totaled 72 inches, multiply 72 times four to get the grand total of length. In this case, the grand total

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>