When it comes to kitchen doors, the usual advice is to never mix and match and to keep everything in one colour and in one material. However, there is one very big exception to that rule and that is mixing cream doors with woodgrain units. In fact, you can update your kitchen easily by adding new cream kitchen doors to your existing woodgrain cabinets. This will give your kitchen an immediate lift in no time and for a very reasonable price.

Woodgrain kitchen doors, whether they are oak, beech or walnut can start to look a little dated as they age. This is especially true it they are matched with traditional style tiling and worktops. The room can often feel dark and boring due to the way that woodgrain can absorb the light. However all is not lost.

You may love your woodgrain, but feel that your kitchen needs to be brightened up. You can achieve this by simply adding cream kitchen doors to your existing units, by replacing some of the woodgrain doors.

Why cream?

Cream is the one colour which will match well with nearly all woods. It also has the effect of brightening the room and casting light while blending in. Cream has a traditional feel to it, as does woodgrain. It is a clean colour and will help makd your kitchen look new again.

Which style to choose?

One of the ways to make a mistake when mixing and matching is to mix and match styles and colours. You cannot have flat doors with country style doors – it simply doesn't work. You need to choose cream doors which match your existing style doors. Most replacement kitchen door companies have a huge range of doors for you to choose from, so it shouldn't be a problem finding the right one.

Which doors to replace?

Working out where to put your new doors can be a huge dilemma. You want to break up the expanse of woodgrain. However, you don't want your kitchen to look like a huge checker board.

When it comes to positioning different coloured cabinets, the best idea is to choose certain areas to highlight. So it might be one bank or wall of cupboard which are set apart from the rest. You may also choose to install cream cupboards entirely on the lower units or the wall cabinets – but not both.

You could highlight the cooking area with cream cupboards on the surrounding cabinets. Or you could keep cream to the island cabinets. You may need to think about this for some time before you decide as the options are endless. But you need to blend the cream in with the woodgrain.

Plinths and pelmets

If you add cream plinths and pelmets to your woodgrain cupboard doors, as well as a few cupboard doors, you'll find that the effect is much more coherent. This will bring the cream into the scheme, relating it to the entire kitchen design, rather than it looking like the doors have been added as an afterthought.

What if the woodgrain needs replacing too?

This makes things even easier. If you are replacing all of your kitchen cupboard doors and want to mix and match woodgrain with cream you will easily be able to get the same style so they match each other perfectly. They will also both look brand new and will last as long as the other.

If your kitchen needs a lift and you are on a tight budget, replacing just some of the doors, rather an all of them can be a great idea. This is even  easier if you have traditional woodgrain doors. Add some cream doors to break up the darkness and see how your kitchen can look with just a small amount of effort and outlay.