Repurposing and recycling kitchen cupboards

When I first put my kitchen up on HGTV, I had just mounted some  cupboards on the wall that the neighbor had given me...They were the heart of hearts to me...no more fishing in the pantry for pots and pans and glasses....plus I would have room for groceries in the pantry!

Vintage cupboards

vintage kitchen

The one large cupboard was twice as big as it is now...I originally wanted it to go behind the stove...we hung it up there...ended up conking myself in the noggin a couple of times and demolishing the paint on the wall..just to find out..it fit perfectly on that wall!   IF...you didn't mind that you could not get the doors open, the stove was in the way. Not going to work...We went on to the little one and hung it up, it worked out well...but what to do with the large one? It was midnight by then... I told my Honey that he was going to have to cut it in half...WHAT? Naw...really?  Yep...really! The era was perfect, they were built to last a hundred years and I was so sick of not having any! I was NOT going to give them up...or wait for something else...7 months with no storage in this hut was getting on my nerves! So my Honey went and got his saw and cut it in half...Aaaah...perfection...it fit beautifully!  He took the rest downstairs to use in his work shop...

There was one other thing wrong with the large cupboard, though...It was missing a door..

vintage kitchen

.I thought we could block off the middle and use it as shelves for display...BUT...then I would have to give up that storage space and after cleaning out the pantry, there was no way! What to do?   A plate rack? you know, the ones with the dowels running vertically? Hmmmm....that was an option...but then the dust from the stove would get on my dishes...scratch that....I really wanted a door...I could wait to see if I could find one...what are the chances of that?  Hmmmm.....Honey? Can you MAKE me a door?  Ooooh, Lisa...I could try...but I don't think it would come out right, I don't have the tools...PLEASE? Your uncle has the tools! I have to have a door, Honaaay! What do you think I could make it out of? Plywood is an option, I guess?  Nope...what about the doors on the other half of the cupboard, I said?  They are way to small, Lisa...Yes, I know that Honey, but what about cutting one in half and joining it to the half of another one? He rolled his eyes at me...but, to my advantage? My Honey can deny me nothing! That is why he is the most wonderful guy in the world! That is why he is the most wonderful door making guy in the world! Down to Uncle's we went...I thought while we were down there, we could cut openings in the doors for glass...so I could have doors and see all my pretty dishes too! That's not asking too much, is it? Well, that wasn't going to happen because when they cut the doors in half to make one whole door, the doors were hollow...no glass for me...BUT I did get a door to match the others!

I sanded and painted the cupboards, the inside was this horrible, annoying yellow!

vintage cabinet

vintage cupboard

My original plan had been to have glass in the doors with red insides...black handles and hinges and the outsides white...I got two out of the four...not bad...and we needed molding...I tried out several kinds, we had saved so much molding from the house and had used it in various projects...some of it was so brittle that when I took it off, it splintered and some of it had about 7 coats of lead base paint on it...we finally decided on a small crown molding, it really looked good  with the style of the cupboards...I also thought about not having any as the hoosier didn't have any and it was alright...but the cupboards look so much better with it!

The molding was as filthy as the house was when I got it...

vintage kithen cupboard

I painted the handles and the hinges black but I am still beside myself....I need glass in the doors....maybe someday! At the compost pile, I have been finding really old windows in great shape, there might be doors to my cupboards there someday! I had to switch all the doors around because we never thought of the part where the handles should match up...can you guess which door is the "Honey Made" one?

vintage kitchen cupboard

vintage kitchen

vintage kitchen

Cupboard Undies!

Future plans? I would like to make little red shelves to go along the sides of the cupboards...the round ones that you see in 1940's houses that are built in...we are also in the process of making the counter tops and bottom cupboards...I can't wait for those!  Just awhile longer...

Oh...and by the way...I didn't let my Honey keep the other half of the cupboards for his workshop! they came in really hand here...

New chicken nests....the yellow looks better out there!