That article was published June 2010 and I think distressed was probably at its height then. I still see it a lot so I don't think it's leaving anytime soon, but will probably be seeing less of it as some new trends gains in popularity. I don't know about crackle though, I don't see much of it anymore except in certain situations.

Crackle has never been "in" as a wholesale treatment for kitchen cabinets! (Unless the "designer" was a sadist!) I can't imagine the nightmare of trying to clean them. At most, it was and is for a lightly used accent piece like a buffet or hall console table.

I do remember seeing crackle in kitchens on decorating shows years ago, maybe 10 years or longer. It looked neat, but they didn't do the whole cabinet, just selected parts, like the flat panel inset on the doors.

Yes, I thought it would be a pain to keep clean in the kitchen too. But I liked it enough to wish I had something to crackle.

"I can't imagine the nightmare of trying to clean them."

THAT!

Plus, the counter overhangs are not wide enough (they are practically "flush" with the raised panel base cabinet doors), so with water driping while doing dishes, food splatter when cooking, and no time to clean, imagine what's happening to them!

The owner was a faux artist who went "wild" with her home, LOL. The entire house was "faux'd". It would have been nice but the color choices were a little "strange", and not only IMO. I had 3 IDs come over to see if I could decorate the house "as is" and all of them told us that the walls had to be re-painted (before DH agreed to it) :-(

I really don't understand the "WOW's" these cabinets get.

"some new trends gains in popularity".

Marti,
Which trends (in a nut shell)?

TX!

Which brings to mind Barbcollins and the infamous REDRUM kitchen!

LOL.

No, mine were done a LOT more skillfully, than that!

"The entire house was "faux'd". "

Wow! I hope you got a screaming deal on it then! I would have had to seriously start reducing the price to be able to handle all of that before I moved in. A little faux goes a loooooooonggg way.

For your cabinets, did she do the faceframes as well as the doors? I can see buying new doors and just using a palm sander to sand the old faceframes down to be able to paint them, but there's no way you'd ever really be able to deal with the doors without completely chemically stripping them. You could probably order replacement doors and DIY the painting of the cabinets for under 2K if you went with paint grade shaker style. To have a pro do it would cost you at least 3-6K to do the labor, so if you're not comfortable painting, I'd practice on garage sale finds until you felt you could handle the cabinets.

Add in the new DIY copper counters that you were thinking of and you have a million dollar look for under 5K.

"I hope you got a screaming deal on it then!"

LOL. No, we actually terribly over-paid (face palm), especially given that all the windows were single-pane but we did not notice. I have to replace all windows and doors right now as several of them have rotten, that is why I am delaying the kitchen remodel. :-(

It is a long story and you don't want to know it, LOL.

Which trends? I have no idea, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Things seem to go in cycles and right now (at least on tv) I'm beginning to see natural wood used in cabinets, finished but not stained, stainless steel counters (never thought I'd see that again), and linoleum (never thought I'd see it again either). But what's next? I dunno, bamboo cabinets, plastic (but by another name) cabinets?

On tv I'm seeing natural wood cabinets. If I've seen them here or other websites, I wasn't paying attention. I've seen stainless steel and linoleum everywhere the last couple of years.

if distressed finishes are "in", i'm pretty confident they will be out again at some point.

Crackle is out of style, but so what? If the cabinets are in good shape, put your thoughts, budget and efforts elsewhere.

My old kitchen had partial overlay, bullnosed laminated slab, knobless, oranage oak from the '80's, with MDF interiors. Nothing to show off there! Lots of frustration with having the wrong kind of cabinets in the wrong places, too few uppers, too few drawers. If it hadn't bee for the awful layout and for the fact that MDF does not stand up to water damage at all well (plywood would probably have been okay--the MDF croaked), I probably would have just replaced the appliances and been done.

Decent quality and not glaringly ugly is sufficient. (I'd call the orange oak non-ugly the way a new pair of coveralls isn't ugly. Not pretty, but functional and not ugly.)

Not-ugly is also saleable. The best thing you can do for your kitchen for resale is clean the heck out of it. Empty all the cupboards and scrub the insides. Let them dry before putting stuff back (do a section at a time), and stage your belongings inside the cupboards to look good, like in a magazine ad. If you have overflow, pack it if you can, or put it in plastic tote boxes that can be put in the gargage during viewings. Get the appliances pristine. Pull out any free standing ones and clean all the area behind and under really well, then clean the backs and sides of the appliances. Wash them thoroughly inside and out. Use baking soda and boiling water (let them set) to get spots off of cooking equipment. And let the cabinets be what they are.

If you hate the crackle, you can take apart the cabinets (remove doors and drawer fronts from all hardware including screws and hinges). Sand lightly, but thoroughly, and clean with TSP. Get a primer recommended at the paint store for covering faux, and prime carefully, then paint. That's a lot of work, however, and if you're really thinking of selling, it's not worth it.