Updating oak kitchen cabinets before and after might be the type of inspiration that you are looking for right now. If that is so, it seems you face a situation in which the existing oak cabinets you have at home are outdated.
Another possible cause of why you want to update the kitchen furniture’s appearance is because you do not like the look. That is why updating it can be an excellent alternative to get new-looking furniture without getting rid of the old one, which also means that you can save money to achieve what you want.
Thankfully, there are some effective ways you can do to give your old oak cabinets a brand new look. This post will show you some most interesting examples that we found to get you inspired to do your next projects. There are 11 of them, so hopefully, you can find the one that applies to your situation.
- Painting Honey Oak Kitchen Cabinets in White
- Honey Oak Cabinets Update with New Black Paint
- Grey Color to Create a New Look on Honey Oak Cabinets
- New Custom Addition to Old Honey Oak Kitchen Cabinets
- Outdated Oak Cabinets Get a New Look from a Glazing Method
- Create a Richer Look on Honey Oak Cabinets with Dark Granite Cabinets
- New White Paint for a Classic Look on Oak Cabinets with Black Countertops
- Open White-Washed Oak Cabinets to Stained Raised Panel Cabinets with Doors
- New Black Paint for Yellow Oak Cabinets
- Ordinary to Special Update on Yellow Oak Kitchen Cabinets
- Black Accents for Existing Oak Cabinets
- Closing
1. Painting Honey Oak Kitchen Cabinets in White
This first inspiration is suitable to follow if you own a set of honey oak kitchen cabinets at home. It is no longer a secret that many people, including you, maybe, do not like this furniture type’s original appearance.
The case that happens quite often is buying a house with honey oak cabinets included in the purchase. This situation often leads to confusion because removing the furniture is too bad since it can reduce the cost of completing the house. Although so, keeping the original look is also not a good decision.
That is why the best thing to do is updating the appearance of the oak cabinets. One way we want to show you here is by applying new white paint on it, as you can see in the picture above.
We love the before-and-after project because of the final look. As you can see, the honey oak cabinets look more fascinating after it gets a new white paint color.
It even looks more compatible with the existing embossed metal tile backsplash and countertops. The final combination of the three elements excellently brightens up the kitchen area. The color theme that the oak cabinets have is also suitable for various interior styles and is not limited to the traditional type only.
If you look closely, there is one other detail update added in this project. It is none other but replacing the old cabinet hardware with the new one that looks more compatible with the metal tile backsplash.
2. Honey Oak Cabinets Update with New Black Paint
You can update the visual of honey oak cabinets not only by using white paint. For a bolder final result, you can choose a black color instead.
Other than boldness, you can also gain elegance when the idea that you choose to follow for the updating project is this one. Please take a look at the picture above.
Before the project, the honey oak cabinets look ordinary. This furniture does not even look that good being paired with the cream wall tone.
Once it gets the new black color, you can see how it shines better with the background’s cream wall. The yellowish tone of the wall makes the cabinets pop even better.
It seems to prove that you do not have to change many things in the kitchen to refresh the interior look. Changing the cabinet color to black is already enough to change the atmosphere in there.
Just like the previous project, this one also gets an update for the hardware. The new ones chosen here give a stronger modern touch to the kitchen cabinets.
3. Grey Color to Create a New Look on Honey Oak Cabinets
Another update that you can do to honey oak cabinets if you do not like the orangey color is by coloring it with grey paint. From the before-and-after picture above, you can see how the new tone gives a total new impact on the kitchen cabinets’ appearance.
To support the new grey look, some other changes are also applied to the design. The most significant one is none other but the new backsplash that at the same time also reduce the too-plain look in the kitchen design because of the patterns.
Another change is located on the countertop. After getting new paint, the cabinets also get new whiter quartz countertops to replace the old ones, which tend to have more yellow undertones.
For the hardware, which are the items that are attached directly to the cabinets, at a glance, it looks like the pulls are brand new. However, if we look closely, it has the same shape as the old ones. That is why it seems more like the old pulls get a new silver paint for the update. You can get inspired by this simple idea for an easy update if you want to.
4. New Custom Addition to Old Honey Oak Kitchen Cabinets
When you want to update the oak cabinets in your kitchen, it does not mean that you must always update the whole parts of the furniture. If you wish, you can do a partial remodeling to get the new look that you want.
An example of this is available in this inspiration that we want to show you. You can take a look at the outdated look of the furniture before the update. It looks like a long custom cabinet located in a narrow kitchen.
While it is true that this furniture has plenty of storage space to store various items in it, we cannot lie that it lacks when it comes to the visual. It does not look that good to make the kitchen looks attractive.
However, when you see how the oak kitchen cabinets look after getting the update, we are sure that you will think differently about it. The cause is none other but the very different visual resulted after the project.
As we already told you earlier, the oak kitchen cabinets’ update is not a full remodeling but partial. As you can see in the picture, the furniture’s original look is still there, while some other parts of it get a dark green tone that excellently enhances its richness and changes the entire look of the cabinets.
Another thing that you must know is that this furniture does not only get a new color for the update. The designer removed some parts of it and replaced it with a new custom addition. That is the reason why some details of the cabinets look different after the update.
Another thing to notice is the new countertops and backsplash chosen as the pairing for the updated cabinets. These are also the elements that make the furniture looks rich and elegant in the end.
5. Outdated Oak Cabinets Get a New Look from a Glazing Method
There are quite many ways you can choose to update the look of your oak kitchen cabinets. The one that we want to show you here is just a simple painting method. It is glazing.
When we talk about glazing oak cabinets, it means that there will at least two-step must be done. The first is painting or staining, and the second is the glazing process itself.
As an example, you can see the picture of oak cabinets in a rather small kitchen above. Before the update, it looks ordinary.
Here is the look after the update. As you can see, in the final result, the cabinets look white. The furniture gets a new white paint before getting glazed, which also makes the small kitchen area look brighter.
The type of glaze applied to the white-painted cabinets is chocolate glazing. It enhances the kitchen furniture’s beauty by creating some darkened highlights, particularly on the recessed parts.
Something like this can create accents to make the cabinets looks more attractive. It also erases the too uniform white look of the furniture. It becomes a better choice for some people.
6. Create a Richer Look on Honey Oak Cabinets with Dark Granite Cabinets
An updated look is something that you can obtain, not only by changing the oak cabinets’ appearance. Sometimes, you can leave the furniture be, but change some elements that are connected to it.
As an example, you can make honey oak cabinets looks richer by replacing the countertops. You can create an even richer look by also changing the backsplash.
The actual example of this idea is available in the picture. Before the update, the raised-panel honey oak cabinets have white countertops. Other than that, there is also no backsplash on the wall behind it.
After the update, you can see how different the cabinets look. The first thing you may notice first is maybe the dark Verde Peacock granite with hints of gold.
The color of the new countertops looks highly compatible with the oak wood tone. Together they create not only rich but also elegant visuals.
Another thing that we cannot skip is the new backsplash. It is Glass & Slate Mosiac from Glazzio. Other than the unique visual, we also love how the multi-tone look matched the new countertops’ black color.
7. New White Paint for a Classic Look on Oak Cabinets with Black Countertops
If, by any chance, you already have oak kitchen cabinets with black countertops, but you still want an update to be done, here is another idea you can get inspired from. It is by coloring the cabinets with white paint but leaving the black countertops as they are.
The honey oak cabinets in the picture are an example that we can see. At first, it did not look bad at all, actually. The pairing between the cabinets and the black cabinets and the black appliances was simply great and elegant.
Although so, again and again, a kitchen update is a matter of preference. That is why it is totally fine if you want to do it.
The excellent idea that we want you to notice from this update inspiration is the fact that white is the paint chosen to create the new look. When paired with the black countertops, both of them make the ultimate black and white classic combination.
It gets even better because the existing kitchen appliances are also in black. They excellently fit in the new classic design.
To perfect the new look, there is still something changed in the cabinets’ design. It is none other but the handles.
At first, it is chrome. After the update, it is black. If we see the handles’ slightly different shape, it seems that the updated cabinets get new handles instead of the painted old ones.
8. Open White-Washed Oak Cabinets to Stained Raised Panel Cabinets with Doors
Here is another interesting oak cabinets update that you can get inspired from. As shown in the picture, the kitchen furniture is in an open style, meaning it does not come with any doors.
When you choose something like this, you must realize that it comes with a consequence to keep everything you store inside it neat or else it will only create an unpleasant view in the kitchen area.
It is quite tricky, actually. The reason is that there must be a moment when you do not have time to tidy up everything.
Instead of risking everything, you can update the oak cabinets by adding doors to them. This project is exactly the one that you can see in this picture.
As you can see, the oak cabinets are no longer doorless. Most parts of this furniture get solid doors. Although so, on the left side, you can see that some of the cabinets get glass doors with open sensation because everything inside it is still visible from the outside. It is a variation that you can choose too.
Other than the door additions, you must already notice another significant change after the update. If at first, the cabinets have a white-washed appearance, this time, it is stained.
The dark color that it has now creates richness and elegance at the same time. Besides, the tone option also looks compatible with both of the existing backsplash and countertops. It even looks nice being paired with the tile floor.
9. New Black Paint for Yellow Oak Cabinets
We already talk about the use of black paint to update oak kitchen cabinets. However, we also found this very attractive example that you can use as inspiration. So let us talk about it a bit more here.
The cabinets that you see here are yellow oak. Again we say here that nothing looks wrong about it.
Although so, you must again realize that an oak cabinet update is not about right or wrong because basically, each looks just fine. It is more about refreshing the kitchen interior to make it a better place for cooking or some other related activities.
Particularly, we love the look of this kitchen interior after the yellow oak cabinets are updated. The new black paint does not only make the cabinets more prominent and modern. It even makes other elements in the kitchen look better.
The first examples are the backsplash, countertops, and floor, which, by any chance, have a similarity that is warm white visual. All these items look better after being paired with updated oak cabinets.
There is also the grey wall tone, which seems to not experience any change even after the update. Honestly, the grey color looks more attractive with black instead of the yellow oak color.
10. Ordinary to Special Update on Yellow Oak Kitchen Cabinets
We found another attractive inspiration that you should not miss. The update done on the oak cabinet in this project gives a quite different look.
First, please take a look at these yellow oak cabinets before the update is done. There is nothing special about the appearance.
However, you can see in this picture how the kitchen furniture looks different. The main idea brought here is to make the cabinets get a weathered look, which is special and very beautiful.
The color chosen here is greyish white. This hue does not simply look different from the original color of the cabinets. The most important thing you must notice is that it seems highly compatible with stone backsplash.
If you are curious about how the cabinets’ weathered effect looks like, you can check out this picture. Here, you can get a clearer view that some parts of the cabinets seem like the furniture is old stuff, even if it is just something resulted from a certain coloring method.
11. Black Accents for Existing Oak Cabinets
This last but least inspiration is attractive and contains an amazing idea that you can copy. It is particularly suitable to follow if, by any chance, you have a similar design at home.
The old oak cabinets you see here seem to function as a divider between the kitchen area and the room next to it. As you can see, it has an open design.
Here is how the cabinets look like after the update. As you can see, there are some major changes applied to this furniture, although you can also see that quite a large portion of the original cabinets is still there.
The first change that we meant is the black cabinets’ additions that you can see on the four sides of the updated furniture. This detail does not only compliment the interior design but also gives fabulous accents to cabinets.
Another change is the new granite countertop. This element is better than the old one. It makes the entire cabinet appearance more beautiful.
Last but not least, change in this updating project is the backsplash addition. It perfectly closes the kitchen area and makes it a separate room.
12. Closing
Those are all the 11 attractive inspirations about updating oak kitchen cabinets before and after that have gathered, especially for you. From all the ideas above, we can say that there are at least three types of updates that you can use to make the furniture get a new and refreshed appearance.
First is giving a new color to the cabinets by painting, staining, glazing, and other possible coloring methods. Second, you can provide custom cabinet additions that will refresh the look and give extra storage space.
The third type is by replacing the elements that are also parts of the cabinets. In this case, we are talking about countertops and backsplash.
Using those three types as the guides, you can think about the kind of update you need the most for the oak cabinets. FYI, you can use more than one option here if you feel that it is necessary or make the kitchen furniture look even better.