Oh, dear. How did this happen?

I bet that looked trendy 30 years ago. Filling the holes is going to be a pretty obvious aesthetic distraction as there is no way you are going to make them visually disappear. If it were me, I'd talk with a company that specializes in refacing cabinets. I suspect those are pretty decent quality boxes and the layout is not bad. Refacing could be the most economical way to go without the expense of all-new cabinets, and you'd end up with a very nice, updated-looking kitchen.

You'll never notice the filled holes if you paint them. The would look pretty snazzy painted 1920's jadeite green or a soft yellow.

If your only complaint with the kitchen is the location of the door and drawer pulls, I'd just hire someone to paint the doors, drawer fronts and frame faces.

If you're up for simple remodel... to improve the layout (leaving the sink and dishwasher in place and not changing electrical) you could move the fridge to the right side of the U and scoot the range to the left as far as it's electrical outlet will let you. There might be room for a small peninsula where the fridge presently is, to add a couple counter seats.

I can't imagine why anyone would put handles in that position!

Thanks for the comments! Oh heck no! That's not the only issue I have with the kitchen! LOL! The boxes are good. I think they're overkill though. They are so tall, The top shelf is pretty useless for anything except occasional use items and I'm trying to be more minimalistic. I am considering opening up the kitchen by removing the wall that the fridge and stove are on. Have to leave a column on the corner or pay for the header.

If you can draw up the room dimensions and door and window locations, we'd be happy to play around with your floor plan.

I can't imagine why anyone would do it but I've seen it before....in my garage.

Of course we picked these up from Habitat or a garage sale years ago just to have cheap storage.

The handles have always made me laugh.

Also, this thread just gave me an idea for using up some leftover paint!! Thanks!

Oh, sjhockeyfan, I beg to differ. I can tell you exactly when that handle placement was trendy. 1971. The year my mom put in her kitchen. Mediterranean, dark wood cabinets with center handles were all the rage.

Being a shorty, I'm not even sure I could reach some of those handles...one of those things where we look and and wonder "what were they thinking?"

1971 was a wonderful year.....lava lamps and shag carpet were still going strong.

Hmmmm, if you're going to try to save the cabinets, perhaps you could cut out the center panel and the offending handle and insert opaque glass, there are many different types of not clear glass and some are quite beautiful. (I would not opt for clear glass, no one needs to see what I actually have in the cupboards.) Then the handles could be put on the outside frame....

My friend did that a couple of years ago with her expensive remodel. She's 5'2". I won't even go into the wall color.

Dear God! I knew I shouldn't get started with you guys! It's all over now. I was apparently

What are you going to do with it now that it's apart?

(Linelle, at least those handles were on the frames, not in the middle of the actual door!)

SJ, yes, at least there's that.

Well, I have two more days of vacation so I guess I'll clean it, sand it, prime it and then go buy a paint sprayer! I think I'll go with gray. Darker gray for the bottom cabinets. Soooo, I guess I'm doing this. I should have gone somewhere for vacation! Too much time spent looking at the kitchen! (On a side note, I did scrape the popcorn off of the guest room bedroom.)

So here's another issue. That cabinet insert n the middle of each door is laminate.

Have you considered just getting new doors from someone like Barker Door or Conestoga?

if you are going to paint you could replace the center with plywood??? then paint it all. some of them could be glass to mix it up.

A couple of options:

Get General Finishes gel stain or GF milk paint. Never tried the milk paint, but my woodworker club experts swear by it.

I've used gel stain several times, and that stuff is addictive :)

For starters you could go two tone, i.e. just paint the top cabinets if the bottom cabinets are in ok shape.

milk paint for cabinets

It's ok if the middle part is laminate. Try BIN Shellac primer or the Zinzzer special primer that sticks to everything. They chemically bond with the surface so you don't have to worry about peeling. I'm not at home so I can't give you the actual Zinzzer type. I plan on painting my thermafoil laundry room cabinets and those two primers are my special weapons.

Look up online about painting thermafoil or Ikea laminate so you can check out the primer. Many people have done so successfully.

I don't think those doors are worth your effort. But it will take a while to save up enough money to replace them properly. Good luck.

Like beachem said, BIN will stick to laminate. It has to be very very clean though. Zinnser also says not to clean with TSP or TSP substitute before using their primers. You can use Dirtex or ammonia and water.

If I were going to try to paint laminate, I would not only clean it, but I would sand with a fine grade paper, or coarse grade of steel wool.

So I decided that I'm going to get what I want. A whole new kitchen. Not sure how or when I can afford it but that's the deal! I'm strongly considering IKEA for cabinets. Opening it up to the living room, Window on the blank wall, moving everything! Whoo Hoo!!!

Good luck. You've come a long way from considering fixing this with wood putty!

Oooohhhhh exciting!!!

Yeah!

That would certainly work. But I would price that out in your area before I got too excited about it.