When we built this house, using a mass production builder, we knew I would be adding our own customizations over time. However, I never planned on redoing the floating shelves in the kitchen nook. This little space is primarily used by Jeremy to make his morning coffee, and we all store stuff in the base cabinets. After decorating the two enormous floating shelves a few times, I realized what a waste of space this was, especially after I built several floating shelves on each side of our fireplace to display decor. Our family needed more kitchen cabinet space, and I knew I could easily transform this space with a dreamy custom built in China cabinet. The idea was to add some storage space and incorporate some decorative space as well so that it didn’t look like another bank of wall cabinets. See the before photo below.

Dreamy Custom Built in China Cabinet

To save time and peace of mind, I used Shelf Help Now to design the upper cabinets and then I ordered their gorgeous wood to create them. The Shelf Help Now site explains how to measure your space, what to keep in mind, etc. and I thought I followed the instructions, but apparently not quite enough. I measured the space and left enough room at the top – this space is covered by the front face boards, and this was my experience when I built the drop zone in our hallway. My mistake was not leaving enough space at each end, and our walls are seriously not square so the three cabinet pieces wouldn’t fit. Luckily, my smart hubby helped me to figure out the best way to disassemble one cabinet to make it fit and then I reassembled it in place. Jeremy saved me big time here and the hassle was minimal. Thank the heavens for engineering minds, right!? I didn’t record this portion of the project, it was too stressful, but I will say that I won’t make the same mistake twice. Shorten both the height and width of your built-in pieces to make sure they will fit in imperfect spaces – the face front boards will cover the space and finish the cabinet.

Our home is entirely white inside, and Jeremy loves the clean open look, but I enjoy some contrast and interest. So, I’ve been slowly adding some accent color to various spaces, while trying to keep the flow of Alabaster white throughout for that open and fresh look Jeremy prefers. I’ve been going towards green tones, no surprise there as it’s my favorite color, but this green is exceptionally rich, and the high-quality Magnolia Home paint just makes any project look better. This green is more earthy, it has a brown undertone without being an Army green. It works well with the green-black accent wall in the dining room, in fact some people would probably assume they’re the same color without closer inspection. But I didn’t want such a dark green in the bright kitchen nook and the black green has a navy undertone which I didn’t want to show in the kitchen. I plan on adding some warmer wood tones to the kitchen someday, so I wanted a warmer green in the nook. Anyway, I love the green color with our Sherwin Williams Repose Grey cabinets and brass hardware – I think it works and we love it.

Dreamy Custom Built in China Cabinet

The steps to this project are very straight forward, but I want to list them out and include the online resources that I used to complete this chinet makeover. This is not a sponsored post, but I would use these vendors again and had a good experience with them.

• Demo the space – I only removed the upper floating shelf because we like the space between the bottom shelf and countertop, and I figured it would add extra strength to the new built ins.
• Measure the width, length, and depth of the space – be sure to subtract about one inch from the width and length to ensure it fitting.
• Design and order the cabinets using Shelf Help Now.
• Assemble the cabinets following the diagram included.
• Paint: Magnolia Locally Grown green – I painted the back wall of the space and then I painted the cabinets after they were installed. I also stained the adjustable shelves using Rove and Dwell’s Farmhouse stain.
• Install the cabinets, screw into wall studs.
• Install the support boards for the middle cabinet floating shelves. These boards were also painted green to blend in with the cabinets and wall.
• Paint and install the front face boards and attach.
• Order gallery railing from VanDyke’s and install.
• Order cabinet doors from Fast Cabinet Doors, paint, and add brass knobs that match the other kitchen doors.
• Order glass inserts for doors and install using silicone caulk. I ordered this custom cut glass from Amazon, but the listing is no longer available.
• Hang doors and admire~

Dreamy Custom Built in China Cabinet – How To Video

Dreamy Custom Built in China Cabinet – Shop this space

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Dreamy Custom Built in China Cabinet

Dreamy Custom Built in China Cabinet

This dreamy custom built in China cabinet project was a fun project to complete. I learned how to install a glass insert into a cabinet door, and how to hang a cabinet door. This project had some minor frustrations along the way, but every DIY project has some issues to overcome. When I look back at photos of the original floating shelves, I do really like them, but I love this new cabinet with its details and the added storage space it now offers. Our builder-grade home is very nice and I’m very grateful to call it home, but it is a wonderful thing to be able to make each space work best for our family’s needs. I hope this post inspires you to look at your spaces in a new way and know that you can create a home that you love. If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment below, I’m happy to help~