G reat shakes

A HIGH-COLOUR, HI-SHEEN KITCHEN IS TRANSFORMED WITH TIMELESS DETAILING

As the hub of the home, the kitchen is where many homeowners would like to stamp their personal style – keeping time and budget in hand. If your kitchen has good bones but isn’t quite your dream space, the solution could be a DIY cosmetic treatment.

This kitchen was light, bright and a great size however Bunnings Workshop community member Elisabeth (@LizzieCro) coveted Shaker-style cabinetry – without the price tag. She did it with timber and paint.

Fabulous faux

To prepare for painting, the cabinet doors, drawer faces and end panels were removed, along with hardware, and cleaned thoroughly. A primer formulated for glossy, non-porous surfaces was applied with a roller over the high-gloss polyurethane, then two coats of a water-based enamel paint. The cabinetry trim was cut from 3mm plywood, painted to match and glued onto doors. These strips were also used to ‘divide’ large drawers to create the illusion of more – but faux – drawers.

To ‘age up’ the stove area, the two side overhead wall cabinets were removed and the central cabinet converted into a custom rangehood cover using plywood, pine and MDF.

Finishing touches

New black knobs and pull handles completed the look on doors and drawers. The standard, stainless steel double-bowl with draining board was replaced with a ceramic butler’s sink, more in keeping with Shaker style. The cupboard doors below were cut down to accommodate the extra depth. New architraves were added to the modern bay window, along with horizontal lining boards on the walls, to give the whole room a more classic look. Colonial skirting now dresses the base and end panel of the breakfast bar, while lengths of 18mm pine add a profile to the cabinet kickboards.

To see more of Elisabeth’s kitchen makeover, go to workshop.bunnings. com.au/Shaker-style-kitchen.

ABOVE Simple timber furniture with clean lines characterises Shaker style, which comes from late 1800s east coast America. LEFT Strips of ply achieve the classic panelling effect

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1 Flood ‘ESP Easy Surface Preparation’ paint, $24.90/500ml, I/N: 1566526.

2 Prestige ‘Shell’ 92mm pull knob in Black, $9.80, I/N: 4021705. 3 Hume Doors & Timber ‘Colonial’ 140mm x 18mm primed MDF moulding in White, $34/5.4m, I/N: 8470078• . 4 Taskmaster 34mm cabinet knob in Matt Black, $3.56, I/N: 0132793.

5 Alpine MDF 2440mm x 1220mm x 9mm standard MDF panel, $45, I/N: 0590056• Some products are not available at all Bunnings stores, but may be ordered.