Who: Kelly Toole

Where: Circleville, OH

What: Kitchen Cabinet Refacing

Products: Refacing of kitchen cabinets in Peppercorn with matching doors and drawers in our Norwood style. Accessories include pull-out shelving added to lower cabinets for easy access, and standard soft-close cabinet hinges and drawer glides throughout.

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Black Kitchen Cabinets Anchor this Modern Farmhouse Aesthetic

Cabinet refacing helped the Tooles get the black kitchen cabinet look they wanted.

When Kelly Toole and his wife built their modern farmhouse in rural Circleville, Ohio, they were putting an updated spin on a family legacy. The house sits on the same property where Kelly grew up. While it no longer made sense to repair the original 1880s farmhouse, Kelly salvaged a great deal of material and memories from his childhood home, incorporating them into the new house he designed and built himself. The result is an open-concept home modern farmhouse featuring a striking mix of black, white, natural wood, and stone finishes.

Achieving Beautiful Black Kitchen CAbinets

While the Tooles built the home themselves, including the handcrafted wood countertops Kelly designed and made, they struggled with getting the kitchen cabinets just right. Black cabinets were always part of the plan, but Kelly admits that getting them just right was a challenge. They began by painting stock cabinetry from a hardware store, but found that the painted finishes were uneven, and the cabinet quality was lower than they wanted.

It wasn’t until he met an Improveit Community Engagement team member that Kelly learned about the benefits of cabinet refacing and how the easy process could be the right solution for getting the kitchen exactly how they wanted it. He scheduled an in-home design consultation, and learned that the cabinet refacing process would update the kitchen with quality materials that would create the black kitchen cabinets he and his wife wanted, without the uneven finishes they didn’t.

Upgrading Their Black Kitchen Cabinets with Cabinet Refacing

Improveit’s skilled installers made sure the Toole’s kitchen came out just right. They began by removing the existing doors and drawers, refinishing the cabinet surfaces, and refaced the cabinet boxes in Peppercorn, a rich black finish. New Peppercorn doors and drawers in the modern Norwood door style were installed throughout the kitchen, complete with soft-close hinges.

The dramatic black cabinetry is paired with a white subway tile wall featuring contrasting black grout. Open shelving keeps the kitchen from becoming too dark, and keeps the space bright and welcoming. Compelete with Kelly’s handmade countertops, the result is a polished, high-end look that complements the home’s modern farmhouse style.

A Kitchen Finished the Right Way

Because black finishes can highlight imperfections, quality was especially important on this project. When some refacing materials arrived damaged, Improveit’s team reordered the materials to ensure the finished product met expectations. Although the additional time extended the project schedule, Kelly appreciated the team’s commitment to getting the job done right.

“We’re all human,” he said. “Mistakes happen. It’s how you respond to those mistakes that makes the difference.”

Today, the Tooles are enjoying a kitchen that brings their vision to life, along with an Improveit lifetime warranty so they know any concerns in the future will be taken care of by a team that loves their kitchen as much as they do!