Some people love to have rustic kitchen cabinets in their homes because they are antique in their look and style.
These are rough, raw, distressed, and weathered storing compartments with a warm, natural, and welcoming presentation.
Hickory, maple, cherry, and oak are the most suitable types of wood for these cupboards, but their colors and design depend on your choice.
How to Make Kitchen Cabinets Look Rustic? You can make your kitchen cabinets look rustic by sanding with sandpaper and exposing them to sunlight for a longer time. You can paint them with successive coatings of light and dark colors with rubbing by a cloth to have a rough look. Some oxidizing agents like potassium dichromate can increase the natural aging process in wood. The wood grain rocking tool and crackle medium are also helpful to create fine and dramatic cracks on the surface of the painted wood. Finally, using wax, glaze over the paint, vinegar, and black tea solution help make the cabinets look more antique and natural.
You do not need to buy them from the market because you can alter the existing ones with simple techniques.
Many people want to know the methods which help make these compartments look rustic and like something old.
By sanding
You can renovate your kitchen by simply renovating your cabinets which are the storehouses for the utensils and condiments jars.
Even if you do not buy new cabinets, you can give your existing ones a rustic look that is currently popular.
The old painted wood is perfectly suitable for sanding, which means scratching the paint from the surface to make it better for new paint.
In this situation, you will not sand the surface to prepare it for painting while you are interested in making it rough.
The sanding will create patches on the wooden doors of cupboards, and these patches are the symbols that you are on the way to the natural look in your area.
Sanding in excess can create a difficult situation for you, and you will need to repaint the wooden surface.
Make a layout in your mind for some specific design or be simple and efficient in your work for having a rough appearance without any particular plan.
Sand the edges because sharp edges can create a balanced look which is not the desired one for this purpose.
Using paint
Painting is a simple way to mark your target, but you should follow some requirements and preventive measures.
To begin, remove the hardware, such as hinges and latches, then separate the doors from the frames.
The next step is to sand the wooden doors of kitchen cabinets with sandpaper, but you can also use an orbital sander that makes the work faster.
Try to do this work in a well-lighted and ventilated place which will help the paint to increase its adhesive capacity.
You should sand them lightly for having the same base color and avoid a thorough sanding that is a prerequisite for a different paint.
You have to remove this sanded material by using a duster or a fine cloth because this material can reduce the ability of the primer to attach to the surface.
Apply a sticky primer to present a clean and sticky surface for the paint that will last a long time.
Allow the primer to dry because its proper attachment is crucial for binding the paint on the cabinets.
You can select the paint of your choice, but many people want to buy a light color base coating paint for having dark color smears above the base coat.
Paint by brush and rollers are equally important because they can give the wood surface a texture helping you reach your goal.
Use a cloth to distress the paint from certain places to give it a rough look that will look like old cabinets are there in your kitchen.
Application of the dark stain on the corners and edges proves helpful because there is no need for rubbing by a cloth.
By using beeswax, you can have a distressed antique texture for your kitchen cabinets because it will
You can select dark color above the light color base, but you have to apply it in patches or make a second coat and disturb it in patches.
You can sand the sharp edges with a dark color coating of paint to have a rough and natural look that must be eye-catching.
Exposure to sunlight
Exposure to sunlight dries the paint, but if you keep the cabinets in the sunlight for a long time, you can make them look rustic.
Wooden articles exposed to sunlight start to lose their original color because wood is photosensitive by nature.
These painted cabinets become darker due to sun rays, but ultraviolet rays make light-colored areas darker and darker areas lighter.
Direct exposure to sunlight leads cracks to the newly painted surfaces, and the paint starts to peel off.
It actually creates a thin upper layer on the painted surface, and this layer stores the inner layer’s paint content that is still moist.
After heating, this wet paint layer produces fumes that cause cracks on the painted wood and blisters on the paint.
Some paints are not resistant to heat, and they start losing their original shine and texture when you keep them in sunlight to dry.
Their non-resistance proves to be beneficial in achieving your aim to make your kitchen look antique and elegant.
You have to be careful for the time because a finished look should also be your desire, and keep in mind that extreme sunburns lower the quality of the product.
Use Oxidizing chemicals on cabinets
When wooden cabinets are in contact with certain oxidizing chemicals and air, they lose their originality due to oxidation.
An oxidizing agent like potassium dichromate reacts chemically with the tannin in the wood.
Some types of wood like walnut and oak are more prone to oxidation because they are consist of high tannin contents.
Oxidation increases the process of aging, and as a result, cabinets start to become darker in the color that is helpful for a rustic look.
By using a wood grain rocker
It is a rubber device and helpful to create wood grain texture on cabinets that do not have this texture naturally.
You have to select a good quality paint, apply it to the wooden doors of the cabinets, and allow them to dry for a few hours.
Apply the next coat of dark color stain and allow the rocking tool to run along the width or length of the product.
A gentle run will create a more significant and natural look to your cabinets, and as a result, you will get the wood grain texture on their painted surface.
The rocking tools vary in their sizes and the presence of knots, but you have to select this tool according to the design you want for your cabinets.
Use crackle medium
Crackle medium helps increase the aging rate of the paint as it starts to flake off and cracks appear on the surface.
The crackle medium is basically applied on the painted surface, with one more coat of paint above it, allowing the paint to crack.
You should select different shades of paint to have visible cracks because this color difference will give a different look to your kitchen interior.
You can use this technique for your already stained doors by applying this material on the painted surface with a coat of another paint and observing the results.
Distressing kitchen cabinets
Random impact marking by hammer and nail proves to help achieve an antique, rustic, and natural look for your cabinets.
Remove the wooden doors from their frame, place them on the flat floor, and keep the sharp edges of the nails on the surface of the cupboards.
Give a sharp blow of the hammer on the nail that will make some dents on the wood giving an image as these kitchen cabinets are old.
The simulated holes in a specific pattern with a drill machine can help you create a rough yet beautiful look for your wooden items.
The edges which are more prone to general wear and tear can easily be distressed with the help of an orbital sander.
By increasing the aging of wood
The old homes contain old wood items that appear dark in color as the wood undergoes polymerization of polyphenols.
You can have an old look for your kitchen by making its wooden cabinets look rustic and old, and for this situation, old wood can help you.
Make a solution of vinegar and steel wool in a container and allow it to stand for 20 hours before its application.
Mix the solution thoroughly, apply it to the wood with a brush and wait for two to three hours for sufficient drying.
After drying, you can see the results as dark color patches will start to appear because of aging.
The application of black tea solution on the cabinets also brings a chemical reaction between the tannin and tea that leads to the darkening of wood.
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