If your kitchen needs an extreme makeover, updating it might seem like an impossible task. The existing cabinets largely determine the overall feel of your kitchen, and replacing them can be enormously expensive. Luckily, there are easier, less expensive options for giving one of the most important rooms in your house the new look it deserves.

If you have an outdated kitchen, one of the simplest and most rewarding fixes is to add new door and drawer fronts and reface your cabinets with veneer. By also adding new knobs and pulls and painting the kitchen walls, you can literally transform your entire kitchen without a lot of hassle and expense.

If you buy new doors and drawer fronts and want a painted finish all that is required is to paint the doors and drawer fronts to match the cabinet boxes. If you want a natural wood finish, you’ll probably want to apply new veneer to the cabinet boxes so they match the new doors and drawer fronts.

The four basic steps:

1. Remove and discard existing door and drawer fronts. They will be replaced with new door and drawer fronts made to your specifications.

2. Resurface cabinet sides with hardwood or veneered plywood in the same species as the new doors that will be installed.

3. After prepping the face frames, apply a flexible peel-and-stick wood veneer and wrap it around the front and edges of the face-frame rails and stiles.

4. Install new doors, hinges, knobs and pulls.