I’m always looking for new and easy things to do to update my kitchen. We have many products that are easy to install, and will make a noticeable improvement in your kitchen. Products like tip-out trays, pull-out baskets, soft-close adapters, and cabinet handles. All are low-cost and can easily be installed in an afternoon. Here’s some ideas of quick and easy DIY kitchen updates.
1.) Tip-Out Trays
In almost every kitchen or bathroom, there are false drawer fronts, which are mainly for decoration, and are fixed in place so they serve no real purpose. To solve this, Rev-A-Shelf offers many front tips out trays of various styles (stainless steel, plastic, etc.) and sizes. Tip Out Trays mount to the back of the drawer and are used to hold sponges, sink supplies, cooking utensils, and other items that you want out of sight.
If you are interested in learning more about selecting tip out trays, you’ll find that our team covered the ins and outs of them earlier this year, on another blog post. Read the article here. If you’d like to know how they’re installed, then continue reading.
Adding Tip-Out Trays to Reclaim Wasted Space (Step By Step)
- First, remove the false drawer front. Don’t try to forcefully remove, locate the plastic clips that hold the drawer front to the cabinet and detach. The drawer front may also be held on by screws drilled in from the back.
- Second, measure the opening in the cabinet to determine what size tip out trays will fit. Measure the opening width, height, and also from the back of the drawer front to the front of the sink (if applicable). You’ll want to make sure whichever tray you purchase will physically fit in the space.
- Third, select your tip-out trays and hinges. We have a variety tip-out trays available in different colors and sizes, as well as side mount and bottom mount hinges. We also have tip-out trays with tab stops, so hinges aren’t needed.
- Fourth, once you have the hardware, install the hinges to the cabinet first, according to the instruction sheet that will be included. It’s very helpful to pre-drill holes before mounting.
- Sixth, mount your desired size tip-out tray on the back of the drawer front with the two screws.
- Seventh—it’s nice to have help on this step—hold the drawer front to the cabinet, or use a scratch-proof spring clamp (if no help is available) to line up with the hinges. Locate the mounting bracket on the hinge that would fasten to the back of the drawer front. Mark those corresponding holes with a pencil.
- Finally, screw the hinges into the back of the drawer front.
Super easy DIY kitchen update! Now you have room for any of those small items, previously taking up space on your counter.
2.) Pull Out Baskets
Pull out baskets are another great DIY kitchen update to eliminate the need of bending over and blindly reaching into lower cabinets. Rev-A-Shelf offers some these already per-assembled and ready to be installed with screws included. All that is needed is a drill, drill bit, and screw gun. The 5WB series is a great option we stock, and they come in various widths. The 5WB2 series are double pullouts which fit in a single cabinet. Before ordering, first measure your opening width and depth and find the correct size unit to fit. If you have questions during this process, we are one message or phone call away! Shop these great baskets here >
Quick and Easy Installation
- Slide basket into the cabinet.
- Mark holes with pencil.
- Screw down to bottom of cabinet.
- (Optional) If you purchased the door mount kit, follow the steps to connect the door to the unit.
3.) Soft Close Hinges and Adapters
Most of us know the pain of listening someone rummage through the kitchen early in the morning, banging cabinets, and driving everyone crazy. Don’t put up with this anymore. Get rid of those people! Or, install soft close adapters. Soft close adapters are and easy, low-cost addition that will make a noticeable improvement to your kitchen. And they take less than a minute per door to install. This easy step by step installation is covered in depth in another blog post done by our team earlier this year. Read the article here.
Replacing the hinges is another option. We have hinges with soft close built into them. In order to determine what hinge you would need as a replacement, follow our easy Hinge Replacement Guide here.
4.) Replacing Cabinet Handles
There’s no easier way to totally revamp your kitchen than by painting cabinets and replacing cabinet handles. You can go about selecting and replacing cabinet hardware a couple of different ways. It mainly depends on the blend of knobs and pulls you want and sizes you need. We covered selecting cabinet hardware in a previous blog if you want to read more on design tips of when to use a knob vs pull, and where to install them on your cabinets.
Cabinet handles are sold in collections that include a variety of different sized pulls, usually from 3″ to 12″ or 18″, as well as different sizes and shapes of knobs. Shopping by collection is the most common way to select cabinet hardware. We’ve made it easier than ever to shop collections by sorting them by style.
Replacing knobs is simple. You just unscrew the nut on the back of the door to remove the cabinet knob. Then install the new knob in it’s place. You can also replace a knob with a pull by drilling a second hole where the pull post will be. Replacing cabinet pulls can be a littler trickier though. It depends on whether you want to stay with the same size pulls, or change sizes.
Matching or Changing Sizes of Cabinet Pulls
The easiest way to replace cabinet pulls is to replace them with pulls of the exact same length. Every cabinet pull collection doesn’t come in every size though, so you’ll need to find a collection that includes the sizes you need. Cabinet pulls, are sized by the distance between the two holes drilled into the cabinet. This is call the center-to-center (c.c) measurement because it is the distance from the center of one screw hole to the center of the other. You’ll need to know this measurement for every pull you want to replace. If the c.c measurement is the same from the old pulls to the new pulls, then you simply unscrew the old pulls from the door by removing the nut behind the pull post, and install the new pulls in their place.
If you choose different sized pulls, you’ll need to drill new screw holes, and fill the existing pulls with wood putty. We have a variety of wood putty in different wood grains available to match the wood species of your cabinet. If you have painted cabinets, or a stain that wood putty does not come in, you’ll need to repaint over the holes left by the old handles.
Start your Saturday DIY Kitchen Updates with us
This just scratches the surface with what you can do to help create your dream kitchen, without having to break the bank. Sweat equity goes a long way in creating value to your home. If you have any questions, please contact us! We would love to help with any of your home projects. Connect with us on Facebook to to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in the hardware industry.
Also, this DIY Kitchen Updates blog is the first of our DIY Home Updates Blog Series, so if you enjoyed reading make sure to check out the rest of the series which will be linked to this blog on 4/10/2020.
