Sound strategies from Project Director Joelle Belmonte

Joelle’s Freemodel project in San Francisco, CA

When it comes time to sell, you must decide which remodeling projects are worthwhile to attract buyers and maximize your sale price. It is important to reset each room to a modern, neutral palette where buyers can envision their next chapter starting.

You’ll probably be looking at your kitchen and wondering where to begin when it comes to wiping away years of use. As the heart of the home, the importance of a fresh, tidy kitchen cannot be overstated! Kitchen cabinets can go through a lot of wear and tear during their years of use. We are often reaching for them with messy hands while cooking a meal or stacking dishes, causing a few dents and chips along the way. Cabinets can also be home to sticky baking supplies or the crumbs of years of ingredient storage.

When weighing options on how to spruce up their kitchens, sellers are often faced with the decision to reface their cabinets or replace them entirely.

• Refacing or repainting usually involves a less-invasive approach such as resurfacing, sanding or painting existing cabinet doors or adding new handle pulls and knobs. This can often completely transform the look and openness of a kitchen and is often the less disruptive and expensive route to take, as it leads to less mess in the home.
• On the other hand, sometimes the framework of the cabinets are so dated or worn down that they need to be replaced entirely. This option can allow sellers to add more space or completely rethink the layout of the kitchen, all while often increasing the home’s resale value!

Joelle’s Freemodel project in San Francisco, CA

Here to talk to us about all things cabinet redesign is interior designer and project director (and cabinet aficionado) Joelle Belmonte:

How do you decide where to get started when upgrading kitchen cabinets?

“How do I determine whether I’m ripping cabinets out or putting on new doors or just refacing them? It all depends on if the cabinet bodies themselves are in good shape. If the cabinet bodies are peeling, cracking, warping from water stains, or have bad laminate from the 80s, we usually opt to completely replace the cabinets. Also if they’re made of old particleboard, we lean towards totally replacing them. But if the cabinet bodies themselves are in good shape and fairly modern looking, we will just repaint or reface the doors.”

What colors do you typically recommend or use when redoing cabinets?

“Lately, we've been doing a lot of the “tuxedo look”. Meaning white uppers and black, navy, or indigo lowers. This helps to keep a nice clean look throughout the kitchen. We also usually go with white or gray tile backsplashes throughout the kitchen to compliment the cabinet contrast.”

Are you using other textures besides just a solid flat color?

“When working with wood cabinets, one cool thing that we've been doing is refinishing them with a blue wood stain. This allows you to still see the wood grain through the coloring, like an indigo or navy blue stain, and then you put a clear coat over the whole thing!”

What are your favorite kinds of hardware or handles to add as finishing touches to cabinets?

“When I’m working with a dark cabinet or even if it's just dark on the lower half, I'll go with light hardware. Typically gold or silver. And then if it's white cabinets that we’re working with, I go with black if we're going for that kind of modern classic or farmhouse industrial look. I personally really love Crate and Barrel’s selection for pulls and handles. And I like Anthropologie’s hardware for more niche or ornate projects!”

Cabinets are what make a kitchen work, and kitchens are what make a home work. So I think cabinets are pretty important!

Background: Joelle has been in the design space since 2000. She worked as a UX designer for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area and decided to pivot her career from digital towards more physical, hands-on design projects. She has worked in the interior design space for about seven years and has been a Project Manager at Freemodel since April 2021. Joelle manages interior and exterior alterations based on local market trends and is passionate about maximizing her clients’ home value!