Do-it-yourself plasterboard wall decoration in the kitchen

Finishing the ceiling in the kitchen with plasterboard is done in much the same way as on the walls. That is, a frame is filled according to the level, onto which slabs of material are attached. I do not recommend using adhesive joints on ceiling structures due to its insufficient strength. If you decide to attach the slabs with glue, cut the material into small fragments (no more than 1 × 1 m) and be sure to secure them with self-tapping screws around the perimeter.

Now you know what are the features of using plasterboard as a material for covering building surfaces. If you have any questions about the use of this material, ask them in the comments. I also recommend watching the video in this article.

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When it comes to renovating the room for cooking and eating, there are many concerns. Plasterboard on kitchen walls is a fairly popular and frequently encountered solution. And this is not surprising, because a variety of structures are constructed from plasterboard, differing in pricing, design and installation complexity.

Drywall is a material that has a lot of advantages, which you should learn about if the owners of a private house or apartment have relied on a plasterboard wall. Many people prefer moisture-resistant drywall to carry out kitchen renovations. Both options have high quality indicators and are ideal for renovation work in the kitchen area. The positive aspects of the material are:

Excellent sound insulation.
Tolerance to temperature changes.
Drywall does not deteriorate when there is high humidity in the room, which is typical in the kitchen.
Simple and fairly quick installation (if you don’t have the skills to carry out such work, the process may take a little longer).
Many people are attracted by the fact that the material is durable.
Using plasterboard walls, you can ensure a normal indoor climate. If there is excess moisture, the material absorbs it, and if the air is dry, it releases the moisture inside the plasterboard sheet.
The material has a safety certificate and is made from environmentally friendly components.
You can bring the most extraordinary and daring design solutions to reality.
Working with drywall is a pleasure because it leaves no construction debris, dust or other unpleasant consequences of repairs.
With the help of plasterboard sheets, any surface, even irregularly shaped, can be transformed.
Plasterboard sheets will reliably hide all communications, wires, pipes, ventilation. And this allows you to make a cozy and beautiful renovation in the kitchen.

These are just some of the advantages due to which the emphasis is increasingly placed on finishing walls with plasterboard. Return to contents

Required tools and materials

In order to make what is planned a reality, you should take a responsible approach to the issue of preparing for the process. Namely, you should first purchase all the materials and tools that will help you get the job done quickly and efficiently. It is better to select good materials and tools to carry out repairs. This will improve the quality of the walls, as well as make the transformation durable. The following materials are needed:

profile from the selected material, it can be metal or wood;
fastening elements (self-tapping screws, self-tapping screws);
tape measure for measuring and marking;
plumb line and level to understand differences in height in the surface;
a screwdriver that will help securely fix the frame and sheets of drywall to the wall;
a knife for metal and drywall, they can be replaced with scissors;
plasterboard sheets (universal or moisture-resistant);
putty material for finishing work;
you need to purchase a finishing material that will give the wall a finished look (wallpaper or paint).

By pre-preparing all the necessary materials, you can ensure high speed of work and ease of installation.

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Selection of drywall and tiles

The kitchen is a room with high humidity. However, material with a moisture-proof layer is not always required. Why:

Modern kitchen units are equipped with hoods, which prevents steam or condensation from reaching the material.
Drywall is never left without finishing - paint, tiles, film, waterproof wallpaper. Through them, moisture will not reach the cardboard - the volume is too small.

As for thickness, the function of the shelf is taken into account. If it is intended for storing crystal sets, cast iron frying pans or pots, then a significant thickness is natural - from 10 mm + metal frame. For pencil cases, plasma TVs and designer inserts, even less will do.

Furniture in a light-dark tone looks ideal with lighting

Stages of installing plasterboard walls in the kitchen

Before covering the walls with plasterboard, you should study the procedure. The correct order of work during the installation process will help to update the interior at a high level.

Before hanging the frame on the surface, you need to prepare the wall and ceiling for the start of work.
The next step is to mark the wall for proper installation of the plasterboard structure.
Assembling the frame is the next step. Regardless of how much the ceiling and wall height fluctuates, the process is quite simple, the main thing is to properly prepare for the process.
Covering the sheathing with plasterboard is the next item on the action plan.
Finishing, which is the final action.

The order of actions cannot be interchanged in order to increase the chances of a high-quality and durable design.

Preparatory work

Considering that the kitchen is a fairly exposed room to various influences, you need to pre-prepare the walls. A properly prepared surface will help both strengthen the wall and extend the service life of the material.

Preparation consists of freeing the surface from the remnants of past repair work. Wash the wall covering from plaque and grease. This will avoid rotting and will also prevent the appearance of fungus on the structure.

Marking

Kitchen renovations in themselves are not an easy task. Particular attention must be paid to the issue that concerns markup. In the kitchen, moisture evaporation levels are normal. Therefore, we strengthen the frame and sheets of drywall more firmly so that the structure can withstand the constantly changing weight of the material, which is formed due to the absorption of moisture. This nuance is very important to take into account when applying markings to the surface. Profiles made of metal or wooden materials in this room should be installed densely in order to form a reliable and durable structure.

The marking is done using a plumb line and a level; these devices will help to clearly measure the fluctuation in heights and outline in detail the surface for the future sheathing design.

Frame assembly

The lathing can be assembled directly on the wall, or you can first connect all the elements and then hang the structure on the wall surface.
In the first option, the ceiling is the starting point for placing the profiles. First, the guide beams are fixed with self-tapping screws, and then the rack beams are installed. The guide beams are fastened with self-tapping screws in increments of 10 centimeters, this will allow the beams to be fixed as firmly as possible on the wall surface.
When making a frame for kitchen walls, it is best to build lintels into the structure. This will help make a reinforced foundation for the plasterboard wall. Jumpers, despite their apparent simplicity, provide maximum strength and durability to the sheathing.

Frame assembly

Covering the frame with plasterboard

Not every inexperienced person knows how to properly sheathe gypsum board sheathing. This process is no less important than marking the wall and installing the frame.

When sheathing the sheathing with plasterboard sheets, you should act clearly and carefully. In this case, it is better to measure several times, so as not to correct flaws on the finished structure later.
It is necessary to fix the gypsum board on the surface of the frame sequentially and slowly. This will help make the surface perfectly flat and securely secure the gypsum board. When setting up space in the kitchen, it is better to keep the minimum distance between the screws.
Fastening should be done by screwing self-tapping screws to a depth of 1-2 millimeters.

Drywall installation

Finishing

When the plasterboard sheets are already fixed on the wall, you should begin finishing. The process is carried out using putty. The first layer must be applied thick, because it hides all the gaps between the sheets and masks the recesses from self-tapping screws. When the mixture dries, it needs to be leveled with a spatula or sandpaper. The second layer can be applied thinly, as long as it looks neat.

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Installation of plasterboard shelving with shelves

Photo of kitchen rack

We will make a cabinet near the wall, and for work we will need the following tools and materials:

guide and supporting profile for partitions;
plasterboard sheets;
self-tapping screws and quick installation;
hammer drill and screwdriver;
metal scissors;
plumb line, rule and possibly water level;
pencil and upholstery cord with paint;
hammer and knife with replaceable blades.

Our shelves will be located on two racks from floor to ceiling; let the shelves be 50 centimeters deep and one and a half meters wide. In principle, such homemade kitchens made of plasterboard can be made with doors, but let’s consider a simpler solution for now.

First we make markings for the racks.

We put a mark in the corner between the floor and the wall - the right post will be located here.
We retreat from the set point from the wall along the floor 50 cm - this will be the outer edge of the rack.

Please note that for this operation you will need a square! If you do not use it, it will be very difficult to determine the correct angle for the racks in relation to the wall.

Square

From the first point, using the rule with a level, draw a vertical line along the wall from floor to ceiling.

We retreat from the resulting line along the ceiling into the room 50 cm. This will be the upper horizontal part of the rack.

We retreat 1.5 meters from the contour of the right post to the left and repeat the previous operations - as a result, we get the contour of the second post.

Now we take the guide profile and, using a hammer drill, attach it to the wall along all the lines. Then you need to measure the height of the racks and cut two pieces of the supporting profile in accordance with this value - these will be the external vertical racks. We insert them parallel to the wall into the grooves of the guides and connect them.

As a result, we should have two rectangular frames, which we cover with plasterboard.

Example of vertical racks from a profile for shelves

Tip: in order for the racks to have greater rigidity, before screwing drywall to them, insert several horizontal jumpers between the vertical profile. Moreover, it is best to do this at the level where the shelves will be located.

After the racks are covered with sheets, we cut off 50 cm pieces of the guide profile - these will be the right and left edges of the shelves. We screw them to the posts horizontally. At the same time, do not forget to use a water level - so that later it does not turn out that one edge of the shelf is higher than the other.

Now we measure the distance between the racks along the wall, cut off pieces of the guide profile and attach them to the wall horizontally - between the previously installed half-meter pieces.

All that remains is to make the outer horizontal edges of the shelves - cut off the supporting profiles to the required length, insert them into the grooves of the side edges and connect them to each other.

All that remains is to sew up the frame of the shelves with sheets and you can begin finishing the surfaces.

Beautiful plasterboard shelves

If you want to get a full-fledged kitchen made of plasterboard with doors, then this is basically simple to do - you can hang them on standard hinges, just provide fixing points for them in advance so that you have something to screw the screws to. Even in these places, it is advisable to place wooden blocks inside the profiles in advance so that the hinges are held as rigidly as possible and do not “walk.”

By the way, if you are wondering how to hang a kitchen on plasterboard, then know that before hanging anything heavy on such walls, you also need to place wooden blocks behind the sheets at the junction of the wall and the screws. Otherwise, the furniture or the air conditioner will not hold up. The bars themselves need to be screwed either to the wall or to the profile.

Mortgages for framed furniture

Photo selection of plasterboard walls in the kitchen

Drywall is an ideal material for interior decoration. Partitions are made from sheets of plasterboard, they are used to level walls, bend arches and create multi-level ceilings. A plasterboard kitchen demonstrates perfectly smooth walls, interesting ceiling shapes, arches and vaulted passages.

Plasterboard ceiling in the kitchen

In kitchens and other domestic premises, only moisture-resistant types of material or moisture- and fire-resistant panels are used. What is good about drywall for the kitchen of a house or apartment? And what are the features of using gypsum board in the kitchen?

Advantages and disadvantages

Some are sure that a material such as plasterboard is not intended to be used for making kitchen furniture. In principle, this is true. But, at the same time, several arguments can be given in its favor:

The cost of plasterboard sheets and components for them is lower than the price of LMDF and laminated chipboard. And a solid board made of solid natural wood will cost even more.
Cutting sheets of drywall can be done without powerful and expensive equipment. It will be difficult to perform high-quality cutting and edge processing of laminated chipboard at home.
Massive pieces of furniture made from chipboard have a lot of weight. Plasterboard solutions have a hollow structure, so the result is quite lightweight.
If you make a mistake during work or damage some part, you can always replace it or fix it with acrylic putty.
It may happen that some part of the purchased kitchen set does not fit into place or does not fit. In this case, you can make your own cabinet or kitchen cabinet of any size and shape.
If after some time you get tired of the appearance of your kitchen furniture, you can always redo it or repaint it in any other color.

Important! The main disadvantage is that all plasterboard products have a stationary structure and are rigidly fixed to the load-bearing wall during installation. Therefore, before you start making furniture from this material, you need to carefully consider what, where and how exactly it will be located in the kitchen.

Where can drywall be used?

Drywall in the kitchen can be mounted on any interior surface - walls, ceilings, arched vaults. When remodeling, internal partitions are erected from gypsum plasterboards. Plasterboard walls in the kitchen isolate the living space from neighboring rooms and absorb noise and vibrations from the street.

Ceilings and plasterboard partition between kitchen and living room

When replacing a door with an arch, the drywall creates a smooth, curved arch. To arrange arches, special types of gypsum board sheets of small thickness are used - arched ones. If there is no arched plasterboard, the vault is made from thicker slabs (first cuts are made on the back side).

Drywall in the kitchen is indispensable for leveling crooked walls. With the advent of gypsum boards, this work lost its colossal complexity.

With the help of plasterboard, they make chic multi-level ceilings with various lighting - hidden, spot, decorative. Gypsum material provides unlimited design and the embodiment of any interior fantasies.

Multi-level ceiling and plasterboard partition

Design options

Modern man has the widest possibilities in the matter of design. A plasterboard wall in the kitchen can be covered with wallpaper of different colors or painted. As an option, you can rely on a combined surface design; a variety of design ideas are used for this.

Plasterboard material gives ample opportunities to owners of apartments and houses. The main thing is that the walls in the kitchen, finished with plasterboard, are durable and strong.

Kitchen made of plasterboard: advantages

Environmental friendliness. GCR is a natural material. It consists of a gypsum core and an outer cardboard layer. Thick cardboard protects plaster from mechanical damage and at the same time is the basis for wallpaper or painting, plaster;
GCR is easy to install. The main thing is to install a high-quality frame for fastening gypsum plasterboards. Attaching sheets to the installed sheathing is easier and more accessible;
The presence of sheathing makes it possible to lay electrical wires, pipes and other communication elements under the gypsum board sheets. In the ceiling decoration, a dozen spotlights are placed in gypsum board sheets and an electric wire is laid to each of them;
Possibility of any design. Drywall allows you to bring to life any unusual ideas of designers and architects: vaults, arches, multi-level ceilings and their combination in the kitchen interior. In addition, spotlight elements can be successfully installed into the thickness of the plasterboard walls and ceiling. The use of different locations of spotlights and different directions of light allows you to change the design of the kitchen beyond recognition;
Absence of large amounts of construction dust and debris. Drywall is called “dry plaster”, and this corresponds to its technological qualities;
High speed of construction of walls and internal partitions. Installation of drywall allows you to “dryly” remodel the room in the shortest possible time;
Availability of special properties. For example, in kitchens only moisture-resistant GKLV sheets or moisture- and fire-resistant GKLVO boards are installed (on the wall and ceiling in the area of the stove and oven);
Affordability. This is one of the most affordable types of finishes. The most popular manufacturers of drywall are KNAUF, Giproka and Volna. At the same time, KNAUF provides 70% of sales of plasterboard boards in the post-Soviet space.

Pros and cons of shelving

The advantages of using this piece of furniture include:

convenience of arrangement of objects;
ease of maintaining order;
affordable cost due to the use of a minimum of materials;
the ability to create a beautiful interior using dishes and other original little things;
absence of doors (saves space in small rooms);
You can choose designs of any configuration.

Essentially, these are storage systems for jars for seasonings, bottles, cereals, dishes, towels and cleaning items.

Disadvantages of use include:

the capacity of the shelves is less than that of closed cabinets;
the shelves of the structures will be decorated only with presentable sets; old dishes will have to be hidden;
no protection against dust;
children and animals can easily reach all the things that are located on the open shelving.

Initially, shelving was conceived as furniture for unloading work surfaces.

Options for interior finishing with plasterboard

The cardboard surface of the gypsum board represents an ideal building basis for any finishing. In addition, drywall in the kitchen must be covered with a decorative layer to prevent it from getting wet (when absorbing moisture from the kitchen area). How can you decorate cardboard in a gypsum board sheet?

Painting

The modern construction market offers so many painting compounds that you can get confused in them. When choosing a paint, you need to familiarize yourself with its characteristics on the packaging.

If the paint is suitable for painting plasterboard walls, this is indicated on the metal (plastic) container. Therefore, before purchasing paint, you need to make sure that it can be applied to plasterboards and used inside wet rooms.

Painting drywall in the kitchen is done after preliminary priming. Cardboard absorbs moisture strongly, so without a primer the paint layer goes deep into the paper layer. The paint layer is applied unevenly, with alternating stripes and spots.

The choice of glossy or matte coating option depends on the presence of surface defects. Matte paint hides minor imperfections. The glossy surface highlights the errors of incorrect putty.

Decorative plasterboard ceiling

The choice of paint is determined by its characteristics after drying. The walls and ceiling of the kitchen must be washed periodically and wiped with a damp cloth. Therefore, kitchen paint must be moisture resistant. At the same time, for natural ventilation it is necessary that the walls allow steam and moisture to pass through.

The most popular paint for kitchen ceilings is water emulsion. Latex water emulsions are used for kitchen walls and plasterboard ceilings. In addition to them, plasterboard walls and ceilings are coated with silicone, silicate and alkyd paint solutions.

In the kitchen sink area, drywall is coated with silicate paint. The basis of this paint is liquid glass. It can work for a long time in conditions of regular wetness. In addition, the composition contains antiseptic components and prevents fungus from developing.

Plasterboard ceiling with spotlights

Silicone paint combines the advantages of silicate and acrylic paints. It is very elastic (closes cracks 2-3 mm wide), forms a waterproof film, and does not require antiseptic additives.

It is important to know: drywall cannot be painted with oil paint.

When painting gypsum boards, they are guided by the rule: several thin layers of paint are better than one thick one. Use a brush to paint ceiling plinths and corners. Using a roller, paint a flat ceiling surface.

To apply paint, the roller is completely dipped into liquid paint, after which it is rolled out in a special tray or on a paint grid. Rolling is performed after each dipping of the roller.

If the paint is applied in two layers, then the direction of painting the first layer and the second is perpendicular to each other.

If the painting uses two colors, paper is used to form an even border between them (strips of paper are glued to the wall surface to indicate the color border).

Decorative plaster

Decorative or textured plaster differs from ordinary plaster mixtures by the decorative filler (grains, shells, stone chips). Such decorative components form the texture and relief of the surface. Applying them to the wall requires some skill and artistic taste.

Mixtures for decorative plaster are made based on lime with the addition of cement and polymers. Among the various types of plaster materials, the best choice for kitchen finishing would be plaster based on a silicate binder. Thanks to the silicate base, the composition of the plaster mixture will be moisture resistant.

Coating plasterboard sheet with decorative plaster

To increase water resistance after drying, the plaster is impregnated (glazed) with wax or varnished.

Wallpaper

Drywall is an ideal base for wallpapering. In the kitchen interior, moisture-resistant types of wallpaper coverings are used - glass wallpaper, liquid wallpaper (analogous to decorative plaster - the dry composition is soaked before applying to the wall and after drying it is protected with acrylic varnish).

The term “washable wallpaper” does not indicate the moisture resistance of the surface. This type of finish can be wiped with a well-wrung out damp cloth, but should not be wetted with water or washed with a brush.

Wallpaper on a lined kitchen wall

Installation of drywall in the kitchen: technological sequence

The basis of plasterboard finishing is a lathing frame on the wall or under the ceiling of the kitchen. It is thanks to the frame that you can vary the height of the ceiling, place it higher or lower, make it at the same level, or make one or two or more steps (level differences).

The material of the frame elements is a special metal profile. It is light weight and has good moisture resistance. In addition to the metal profile, you can assemble a frame from a wooden beam, and after installation, coat its surface with varnish (to prevent swelling when wet steam gets under the gypsum plasterboard finish).

Installation of plasterboard ceiling

The height of the profile above the floor varies with U-shaped elements. They are mounted on the kitchen ceiling and support the load-bearing ceiling profiles. The same elements are used to attach profiles to a vertical wall. The distance from the profile to the wall can be greater or less depending on whether it is necessary to lay additional sound insulation and insulation (mineral wool or isolon) under the gypsum board.

Metal profiles are mounted to the walls and ceiling of the room exclusively at a level, observing horizontal and vertical lines. The evenness or curvature of the ceiling and walls of the kitchen will depend on the quality of their location.

The next technological stage is the installation of gypsum board sheets on the walls and ceiling of the kitchen. Gypsum boards are screwed to the profiles with self-tapping screws, which are recessed into the drywall. The resulting depressions are puttied to obtain a flat, smooth surface.

Decorative ceiling and figured plasterboard partition

After installing the plasterboard on the wall, holes are cut out for sockets, lamps and switches. Their edges are also puttied and sanded.

Upon completion of installation, the joints between the slabs are puttied and glued with reinforcing tape - serpyanka. The sequence of operations is as follows: putty, laying the tape, another layer of putty on top of the tape. After the putty mixture has dried, the joints are sanded.

Plasterboard structures in the kitchen: furniture and what else

Drywall in the kitchen is used not only for cladding walls and ceilings. You can use it to build kitchen furniture - cabinets and shelves. The structure of furniture (as well as plasterboard walls) is supported by a frame (metal profile or wooden beams). The walls of cabinets and shelves are attached to the frame elements. After which the joints are puttied and sanded.

Homemade kitchens made of plasterboard represent an exclusive home interior. Such furniture, as a rule, is mounted close to the wall and forms a single structure with it. It cannot be rearranged, but can be dismantled if necessary.

Partition with window between kitchen and dining room

For the manufacture of kitchen furniture, load-bearing wall sheets with a thickness of 12 mm are used. The installation step of frame profiles inside the furniture is determined by their future load (what will be stored on a shelf or inside a cabinet). The more weight you plan to put on the shelf, the greater the number of metal profiles the design provides.

What can be done in the kitchen using plasterboard?

Hanging shelves;
Shelving of any configuration and size (in the entire wall or partially along its surface);
Cabinets;
Cabinets;
Shelves in a wall niche;
Small table;
Decorative elements: false fireplace, ceiling chandelier (made of heat-resistant materials).

Do-it-yourself kitchen furniture made from plasterboard is a subject of creativity and self-expression of the home owners.

5 reasons to make furniture from gypsum plasterboard

Advantages of gypsum plasterboard furniture

Visually, gypsum plasterboard furniture is a continuation of the walls. This allows you to “hide” kitchen furniture and give storage shelves a built-in look. If you cover furniture surfaces and walls with a material of the same color and texture, they will continue each other, masking kitchen cabinets, shelves and cabinets inside plasterboard niches;
Possibility of useful creativity. We don’t just invent something, we improve everyday life and improve our amenities;
Simple furniture assembly technology. Making furniture from gypsum plasterboard is not difficult. The process of manufacturing and assembling furniture does not require special tools or equipment. The very manufacture of a cabinet or shelving unit from plasterboard boards is a fascinating activity, a kind of hobby for the owner of a living space;
Different designs and style options. Like the walls of the room, gypsum plasterboard furniture can be covered with paint or moisture-resistant wallpaper. The design of plasterboard furniture will support the chosen idea and style of the interior;
Affordable price. The cost of a plasterboard cabinet is significantly lower than cabinets and shelves made of fiberboard or natural wood.

A kitchen made of plasterboard is an option for a budget-friendly and at the same time prestigious finishing of a domestic space. In such a kitchen, most kitchen surfaces are finished with gypsum board sheets: walls, ceilings and kitchen furniture. Decorating drywall adds the finishing touches to the kitchen interior. At the same time, the exquisite decor is made with ordinary plaster.