Can you move and reuse kitchen cabinets, yes ABSOLUTELY! Sharing our 3 reasons and DIY Ideas for success when re-purposing & reusing kitchen cabinets to get the kitchen layout of your dreams with pictures!
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3 Reasons for Reusing Kitchen Cabinets to get the Kitchen Layout You Want
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3 Reasons to Try Reusing Kitchen Cabinets
Reason ONE – Save Money
The number one reason you might want to try reusing kitchen cabinets is to save Money!
With 4 kids and a very OLD farmhouse, we are always looking for ways to save money on our DIY projects especially during a room remodel!
Reason TWO – It’s Green
If you are able to try reusing kitchen cabinets from a previous kitchen remodel you are saving all of those cabinets from the trash & landfill.
You may also save money on renting a dumpster!
Reason THREE – Your Kitchen Cabinets are in Good Shape & Your Kitchen Just Needs a Facelift… not a Whole Room Remodel
Jason and I love the vintage details, wood pine color & quality craftsmanship of our existing farmhouse kitchen cabinets.
However, we knew that we wanted to change the layout our kitchen as well as make it brighter and more open in our farmhouse kitchen remodel.
So rather than gut everything in our former kitchen…we gave reusing kitchen cabinets a try and we were still able to get the kitchen layout and style we wanted.
Taking Down Existing Upper Kitchen Cabinets
I know its bad when family members are texting me to see if we are still working on our kitchen remodel & if I stopped blogging, ha!
The truth is that the kitchen remodel has been kicking Jason & my butt.
We started by taking down all the upper cabinets on the oven & sink sides of the kitchen.
We wanted to add a vent hood above the stove & tile the walls of the farmhouse kitchen to give it a simple, classic, and clutter free look.
In order to make our farmhouse kitchen feel more open and bright we relocated the refrigerator return & mini fridge to another wall on the other side of the kitchen.
Rearranging, Moving & Reusing Kitchen Cabinets
We then reused & rearranged our existing floor to ceiling pantry cabinets over to make room for our refrigerator & mini fridge as well as our microwave & eventually our toaster oven…. as soon as the marble countertops are installed in less than two weeks, woo hoo!!!
How we Moved our Existing Heavy Kitchen Cabinets
After unscrewing our existing kitchen cabinets from the walls, we were able to pick up and move our upper kitchen cabinets by hand.
However, a hand cart or furniture dolly is very helpful to have if you are moving larger base cabinets, pantry cabinets & large appliances.
Build New Kitchen Cabinets & Shelving with Existing Kitchen Cabinets
One way we were successful in reusing kitchen cabinets was to build new cabinets out of our old kitchen cabinets.
Jason used his table saw to zip down the existing kitchen cabinets we were no longer using so he could use the same wood to make new doors, side panels and trim.
He also used his finish nailer to add back the trim to the top and sides of our new kitchen (repurposed) kitchen cabinets to give them a more finished & professional look!
You can see what we made from using kitchen cabinets from our former kitchen below!
Reusing Kitchen Cabinets to Build a Wine Shelf
Jason used the wood from a few cabinets (mostly upper kitchen cabinets) we decided not to keep in order to make a wine shelf for mostly our sparkling cider collection… if only we had the money to put real wine in it, ha!
Reusing Kitchen Cabinets to Create a Shelf for Baskets over the Refrigerator
By reusing kitchen cabinets we built a basket shelf over our fridge for extra storage.
Reusing Kitchen Cabinets to Build a New Base Cabinet for an Under Counter Oven
By reusing kitchen cabinets from before, we built a new base cabinet for our built in under counter electric oven.
I am very thankful to have a second oven along with my new electric slide in range.
It will definitely come in handy for all those large family gatherings we host!!!
Our Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel & Reveal is DONE.
To see the full reveal & how Reusing Kitchen Cabinets from our old kitchen was successful see it all HERE
I hope this answers all your questions about re-purposing & reusing kitchen cabinets to get the kitchen you want while saving money & staying on budget.
If you are on the fence about whether to try reusing kitchen cabinets I hope this inspires you to give it a try!
by Tara Lehman
Don’t forget to save my 3 reasons to try reusing kitchen cabinets to your favorite DIY projects board on Pinterest!
Refinishing a Stepback Cupboard
How we Brightened Up our Eat in Kitchen
Some More DIY Projects from our Farmhouse Kitchen
You guys are so close to finishing, Tara! Love these updates and so awesome that you guys are doing this renovation on your terms. I know there are work arounds that you guys have to do but I love the creativity and the hard work that shows! Kudos for saving those cabinets! They really don’t make them the way they used to!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our progress with the kitchen cabinets Tee! I can not wait till we are finished with this huge DIY project 🙂
The busiest, most used room in the house. Not sure how you have survived but you did. It’s almost done and looks fab!
Thank you Susan! We are definitely looking forward to finishing this kitchen and getting our life a little more back to normal 🙂