Making Oak Kitchen Cabinets Look Modern

If you have traditional oak kitchen cabinets in your home, you may be wondering how to make oak kitchen cabinets look modern. Although oak kitchen cabinets are usually considered to be old-fashioned, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. If you make certain customizations to your oak kitchen cabinets, you can give them a modern appearance and the characteristics of contemporary kitchen cabinets. Doing so will make them a much better fit for your modern kitchen design. Here, we’ll take a look at simple solutions for how to make oak kitchen cabinets look modern.

Add a New Finish

One of the easiest and most effective ways to make oak kitchen cabinets look modern is to introduce a new finish. Part of what tends to make oak cabinets look traditional is the classic honey-brown color. So, by adding a new stain finish with a darker or more vibrant color, you can give the oak cabinets a much more contemporary aesthetic. One good option is to go with a matte finish, which will make the oak cabinet look significantly sleeker.

Clean Them Frequently

Over time, your traditional kitchen cabinets tend to accumulate a lot of dust, dirt, and other grime. Oak cabinets tend to look more old-fashioned as they get dirtier and dustier. You may be surprised at how much of a difference it can make to thoroughly clean the kitchen cabinets once per month. Make sure to clean in between all the different nooks and crannies of the cabinets to make them look much newer and more stylish.

Replace Doors With Glass

Usually, the traditional doors on oak kitchen cabinets are a large part of what makes the cabinets appear out of date and old-fashioned. However, if you replace some or all of those doors with clear glass doors, you can make your oak kitchen cabinets look significantly more modern. Plus, using glass doors allows you to display whatever you want inside the cabinets, which will distract from any parts of the cabinet that still look traditional.

Introduce Modern Trends

The current trends are frequently changing when it comes to kitchen cabinets. However, if you make an effort to implement one or more of the most popular modern kitchen cabinet trends, you can transform your oak kitchen cabinets into something contemporary. The top kitchen cabinet trends in 2023 include things like oversized cabinet handles and utilizing eye-catching colors like mint green or even black.

Change the Hardware

In many cases, the hardware on traditional oak kitchen cabinets can look a bit outdated. Fortunately, this is something that’s easy to change, and you have plenty of great options for doing so. For example, you could add something as straightforward as a stainless steel bar cabinet pull or sleek matte black cabinet handles. Although it may seem like the hardware is a relatively small aspect of the cabinet, its appearance can have a massive impact on the cabinet’s overall appearance. With clean, stylish hardware, old-fashioned oak kitchen cabinets can suddenly look much more modern and fresher.

Conclusion

If you have traditional oak kitchen cabinets, you may think that you need to either replace them or accept them how they are. However, that typically isn’t the case. As you can see, it often only takes one or two small changes to make your oak cabinets look modern. Before you give up on your oak kitchen cabinets, give these tips a try. If you’re looking for quality cabinets at affordable prices, be sure to check out New Cabinet Company.