How to turn an old stove into a custom high-end colored stove
Unique colored stoves are so in style right now. Just look at the famous Cafe appliance series or google “colored stove” and a variety of beautiful unique high-end stoves show up in the search results. I touched the subject already when I transformed my dishwasher with car wrap vinyl. For my stove, I wanted to add some more details besides a color and also add custom wooden drawer pulls for the drawer and door.
some of my favorite colored stoves
This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. View my full disclosure policy.
As you can see some of those stoves have mixed metallics which I think looks fabulous. I now wish I had a stainless steel top as well but since my gas range is all white, I had to compromise and be ok with not having mixed metallics.
I also really love the vintage-looking range styles and wanted to make sure I included thinner-looking handles in my oven makeover.
Hallman, GE Cafe commercial-style gas ranges, Ilve, Kitchenaid, Viking, ZLINE, Kucht, Big Chill retro line and Bluestar are some of the brands that offer beautiful but pricey gas and electric ovens with different color options which cost several thousand dollars.
How to update your old stove to make it look like a custom high-end colored stove
We have this GE gas stove and while I’m happy with its features and how it functions, I was rather bored with the look of it.
When I was in the market for a new stove, I wish they would have had this Kucht gas stove. It is actually similarly priced to our white stove but the green doesn’t go with our cabinets at all. The way I customized our old stove would have worked beautifully with the plain stainless version though.
Most colored stoves are so expensive and would have never been in our budget, that is for certain.
Items needed for stove transformation
- sheet of car vinyl wrap (high-heat resistant car vinyl to wrap your stove )
- sharp crafting knife
- 70% alcohol and lint-free wipes (degreaser like Krud Kutter if oven is dirty)
- tack clothes
- lint-free gloves (optional because I’ve seen folks on YouTube apply wraps to cars without them)
- felt squeegee tool for vinyl applications, if you are doing something more intricate than a flat-paneled dishwasher, then you will need more different tools to get into the crevices.
- screwdrivers
- a blow dryer or heat gun
- appliance owners manuals
Also, consider these items:
- add unique appliance or furniture handles or make your own like I did.
- if you don’t want to use car vinyl, you could use heat-resistant paint
- buy upgraded parts like knobs (I haven’t found any yet, but if I do, I’ll update this post)
- search for additional parts options like griddles
- update the burners if they look old and overused
Instructions for colored stove
I took the stove door and drawer apart according to the owners manual. It wasn’t difficult at all and only required me to remove a bunch of screws. I don’t have step-by-step instructions for this because every appliance brand is different and you need to research what you have first. It really shouldn’t be difficult though.
My first step was to try out ways to make new handles since the old ones were boring and the hardware for sale is just way too expensive and doesn’t match up with the existing holes.
Below I have the DIY drawer pulls tutorial for you. Use the triangle on the image to watch the video, and if it doesn’t load, then you can watch it on my YouTube channel.
Before I started the makeover, I tested out my custom hardware on the oven drawer.
The car vinyl wrapping part is the same procedure that I explain in my blog post about how to vinyl wrap appliances where I wrapped my dishwasher. So make sure you watch the video below. Again, if it doesn’t load, you can watch it on my YouTube channel.
I slightly slid the oven out so I could wrap part of the sides too.
The only issue I haD
I do have to address the fact that our white 30-inch 5-burner GE gas range has a major flaw, in my opinion, which is the fact that the door is mainly made out of glass and the handle is attached to that glass. Nothing should ever be drilled into the glass. The glass on our door is also painted white, so why not make it white metal to begin with?!?! Baffles me!
I have heard from several people (friends and followers on Instagram) that they have had issues with this as well. Whether it was a frozen chicken nugget falling on the open door, a knee banging into the door, or simply tightening the loose oven door handle to the stove.
With that said, right after I finished wrapping my mostly glass oven door, it burst into a million tiny little glass pieces, as you can see in the below photo. The glass pieces stuck to the vinyl, and thankfully I only had to clean up the middle section. Unfortunately, this was a very pricey accident, and I had to buy another piece of vinyl and a $150 oven door, which upset me quite a bit, as you can imagine. So depending on your style of gas stove (or electric), you have to be super careful.
My finished customized colored stove
The occasion called for a matching green dress LOL! I’m just so darn happy with it.
Also, check out how to install a marble backsplash. We’ve had it for years and still love it so much.
If green kitchen cabinets aren’t your cup of tea then check out my best friend’s gray and white kitchen blog post where I’m also showing her kitchen island pendant lighting ideas.
I also recently added a DIY utensil holder above the stove. It adds another unique touch to our kitchen that was once builder-grade.
In case you are wondering what I did with the leftover vinyl pieces, I came up with a crockpot makeover idea. Such a great use for small scrap pieces of vinyl.
Our kitchen has come such a long way. I have blog posts for you about what I did with the peeling laminate cabinets, how I gave our kitchen a white and green kitchen makeover, how I made the wood bead pendant, and how I cut down the half wall kitchen counter to create a kitchen island.
All these DIY ideas and some of my friends’ ideas are gathered in an extensive blog post about updating a kitchen without replacing the cabinets. I’m sure you can find an idea to use for your kitchen remodel.
I recently wrote a tutorial about how to make a sink skirt without sewing. It changed the look of the kitchen again. I know this look isn’t for everyone but I like the change for now.
I think this project really updated the look of our kitchen and I couldn’t be happier. Let’s just hope that I don’t change my mind any time soon about the green. I’ve had it for several years already and still love it.
This project also made it into HGTV magazine recently.
If you are wondering about the green pan, the “Always Pan”, I have wanted one for a long time and when they had a half-price special on the Today Show, I pulled the trigger. Let me tell you, the hype is justified. I can fry an egg without any grease and it doesn’t stick. It doesn’t just look nice but works super well. I had wanted the salmon color to have a bit of a pop of color but that wasn’t part of the sale, so I settled for the green.
Tschüß,
great job!
Thanks so much Lisa.
Wonderful! Thank you for inspiration!!
Glad you like it Gigi. Thank you!
I am a fellow German citizen living in Central Texas. I love, love, love your ideas!! I hope I’ll be able
to transform my fridge and stove because the stainless steel’s protective coating is coming off and the appliances look as if I never clean them. Keep the ideas coming!!
Sylvia
Oh vielen Dank Sylvia! Good luck with your fridge and stove 🙂
Oops I meant kitchenaid!
Though colored wrap is great, and you should “go for it” On stainless that is losing or lost its protective coat. Windex or glass cleaner with ammonia. Spray down the appliance, rub off with a cotton dishtowel. You may have to repeat the process a few times. Once the coating is completely off, keep a spray bottle of window cleaner handy for your daily cleaning. Works like a charm. I have a kitchenmaid Range and Dishwasher and a blue Big Chill Pro Range ( that I absolutely love because it is not electronic). Best of luck with the appliance wrap!-Jana
I absolutely love your willingness to tackle tricky projects. The finished product looks custom and definitely high-end. I can barely wrap presents, never mind appliances. 😉 You continue to inspire me.
You can do it too 🙂 the nice thing is that you can take the wrap off several times and redo it again 😉
Julia, this looks FANTASTIC! You are so creative!
Thanks Lori! 😉
Wow, Julia!!!! I’m so impressed by your creative solutions to design problems! Your stove looks so nice with the wrap! It really makes your kitchen look custom. It’s sucks that the first attempt didn’t go as planned, but so cool you shared this with readers so they can avoid an accident. Thank you for sharing your beautiful and cool projects!!!
I feel like most projects don’t go as planned 😉 LOL and thanks so much.
Stunning! You are so creative!! Love the change. Not a fan of GE products, but hey, you deal with what ya got. Love it!! Will be looking at your peeling cabinets blog, cause that’s what happening to my cabinets, they are to expensive to replace.
Yes I wish I had a different stove but ours broke during the height of COVID and there was nothing else 🙁 The peeling cabinet post is one of my really old ones and I wish I had taken more photos but I still have the same cabinets, I just keep repainting them and it is working out great. I thought about wrapping them as well 😂 The vinyl wrap is just so great.
This is insanely good and only you would think to do this! LOVE!
What a game changer. I love this so much and I think I’m going to try it after the holidays. I have almost the same stove. Thanks for the detail and transparency in your post, what a bummer about the shattered glass.
Oh I’m glad you like it and good luck!
OH my I’ve always wanted a copper colored metal looking stove….Just wondering how that would look?
Hi Rebecca, I saw there are metal wraps out there and you could try it 🙂 If you do let me know how it went!
Any advice on vinyl wrapping a microwave? Is it safe? I can’t seem to find much about it. Your stove is amazing.
Hi Lila, I’m not sure about a microwave. I’d think that you couldn’t wrap it around the corners. I would definitely keep the material away from the inside of the microwave. And thanks!
Im so excited to try this. But im confused about how you went around the glass. Did you remove the glass and put it back in?
Hi Rena, no I left the door as is with glass and just stuck it to the entire metal and the glass and then cut out the window part. Good luck!
Why did the glass on the oven door break? Just curious before I try this myself. Thanks!
HI Claire, I overtightened the handles that I made myself while attaching them. If your handles are attached to metal then you don’t have to worry at all. If you make your own then watch if they are attached to glass.
Please tell me where you got the hardware for the handles…or the entire handles. I have been searching for months for the stuff to make the kind of handle you made.
Hi Angela, I made them and linked to them in the blog post called DIY drawer pulls. I can also email you the link of you can’t find it.
It’s an amazing job ( I always dreamed of having appliances with the same color), but I do have a question: stove. Paper installation, isn’t the paper direction say max heat 225F?
Please let me know, I need to shop for paper 🥰. Thank you
Hi Ella, the vinyl has been on my stove for several years and is doing great. It is only on the outside of the oven which doesn’t get nearly as hot as 225. I’m not sure how warm the oven gets on the outside but you are able to touch it everywhere so that means it’s fine. Good luck!