Right now we have built in cabinets in our kitchen. I like them but my wife said they are "old school". I really think that they give us more "livable" room but she hates them. How much work would it be to put other cabinets in and make the built in cabinets a wall?
Oh no - is she crazy? I would love to have built in cabinets. Think of the room you would be saving. I imagine you would have to insulate and then add wood studs before you put drywall up. You would want to finish the whole wall - not just the area where the cabinets were. Then again if you just put new cabinets in front of the built in ones you would not have to worry about the look.
Just mount the new cabinets to the built in cabinet doors. Then your wife can have nice new cabinets and then you can just swing the whole cabinet out and use the built in cabinets for yourself. You get the best of both worlds. Just kidding of course. Without seeing them I would say you would probably have to take off the old cabinet doors and rip out the old face frames. Then you would need to stud it in and drywall and texture the wall. It would be a good idea to add some backing in the wall to mount the new cabinets to. Then mount your new cabinets and make your wife happy again.
I you could/would post some pics of the existing cabinets, it would be easier to possibly guide you to a proper solution.
Oh man when I first started to read your post buster - I was excited. That would be a cool idea but obviously would not work. I wish I could post a picture... Not tech savvy! I would imagine I would need to put insulation in the walls and then drywall up. Something sturdy to anchor the new cabinets to.
Matty that would have been funny. Of course it won't work - the cupboards when you swung them out would break! I still want to say that I would love built in cupboards.
Wow - I would love built in cabinets too. Think of the room you are saving. I also think it gives kitchens a "country look". I don't really know what you would do to changes these. I'm thinking you would have to finish the wall and then put up new cabinets.