So, your kitchen cabinets are a mess, and you dread forking out all that cash for new ones. Well, maybe new ones are not what you need. The first place to start, may be with a thorough cleaning of the ones you have. A good amount of elbow grease may be just what you need to get rid of all that cooking grease and accumulation of muck from over the years. Particularly if all the drawers, hinges and hardware are still in good working order. A simple solution of soapy water and effort may do the trick. Make sure to wipe all the soap off before drying and replacing the cabinets. Removing hardware handles and pulls first, gives you a chance to clean them separately and an opportunity to remove any gunk that may have built up between the hardware and the cabinets themselves.

Maybe you still like the look of your cabinets, but their just a little grungy. If your cabinets are made of solid wood and need a little more cleaning than just soap and water, then there is another approach you can try. It's a bit more of a caustic approach, but will do the job when something a little tougher is required. You'll need a combination of 3 tablespoons turpentine, 3 tablespoons boiled linseed oil, and 1 quart of boiling water. You have to be very careful with this recipe, as it is a somewhat flammable mixture. Any brushes or rags that come in contact with this stuff will be somewhat flammable as well. Be sure to dispose of them per your local city ordinances.

Once you've got your little concoction ready, it's time to get to work. Either cover or remove anything around the cabinets that you don't plan on cleaning. This includes cabinet hardware, countertops, floors, walls, and small appliances. If you can empty the cabinets as much as possible, it will facilitate cleaning inside as well as out. Be sure to wear gloves while doing this job, as to avoid any damage to your skin. Removing cabinet doors may be helpful as well, depending on how flexible you are, when it comes to reaching inside to the deepest recesses of your cabinets. As before, removing the hardware and washing it separately is a good idea, plus you get better access to the small sections of cabinet that were underneath the hardware pulls and hinges. Wipe all the cabinet clean with a rag dipped in your cleaning solution. Use a different clean rag to dry the surface, once all the old gunk has been removed. Once everything is clean and dry, replace all the hardware, and put the kitchen cabinet doors back on.

Hopefully your cabinets look just like new, and you've saved yourself a few thousand bucks in replacement costs. If your still not to keen on how they look, then maybe it's time to consider a fresh coat of paint or varnish to brighten things up. We repainted our dark old cabinets with a fresh coat of while melamine paint and new updated hardware. While we did eventually replace them, the paint and new hardware made them bearable for a few more years.