Looking For an Elegant, Quick Change For Your Kitchen? How About Glass Inserts?
By Scott Hanson
Your kitchen may be looking a little boring. There's nothing wrong with the cabinets or the cabinet doors. They're just all the same. Consider having a carpenter route out the center panel of a few doors and have glass inserted. Glass insert doors tend to open up a room and make it appear larger. Just make sure that the carpenter, or whoever is creating the opening, understands exactly the look you are trying to achieve. Written proposals with drawings can be very helpful. There are dozens of options for the glass.
Art safety glass not only comes in clear and frosted, but a whole variety of interesting patterns. You can also have custom leaded glass designs made and inserted in the doors. If you feel skilled enough you can buy and insert the glass your self. If not, you can take the doors to the local glass shop and let them cut and install the glass. Some glass shops can even sandblast custom patterns on the glass.
You will want to choose what doors you are going to put glass inserts into carefully. Where would a splash of color make the most difference? What will you display behind the glass? With clear glass you can display favorite, sentimental, or special items. Glass with a pattern will give the normal contents of a cabinet a kaleidoscope effect. Be sure that there isn't a vent for the microwave hood in the cabinet that you are planning to modify. There are options for the cut-out in the door.
The cutout could be one large opening, or depending upon the size of the door, mullions could be installed to create lites or panels that could hold two to eight smaller pieces of glass. Larger doors will allow more lites to be installed. Another touch that will add a lot of pop to the newly modified cabinet is replacing the wood shelves with glass shelves. Combine glass shelves with lights installed in the top of the cabinet and suddenly a standard cabinet becomes an elegant display case.
You can always hire a licensed electrician if you do not feel comfortable working with electricity. For a project like this you may have to live a few weeks with an open cabinet or two while the door is modified and the glass inserted, however be patient. The end result is worth the wait. A new look and updated kitchen for just a few hundred dollars. Good luck with your project!
Scott Hanson is the owner of Kitchen Tune-Up, an award winning kitchen and bath remodeling company in Chicago. You can find more helpful hints at http://www.kitchentuneup.com
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