Anyone Ever Paint Their Kitchen Cabinets

Google "cabinet transformations" by Rustoleum. It is a kit you buy at Lowes or Home Depot. I think it was $80, depends on how much you have to paint. It is time consuming, but worth it. I updated my old, melamine 80's cabinets from an oak look to a white-wash look. Changed the handles to a brushed bronze. I did it over a year ago, and no chips or problems with the finish thus far. On the website, they have tons of before and after pics that give you an idea of what can be done. My kitchen is so small, I opted to go lighter, and am very happy I did. The dark espresso looks great too in the before and after pics.. I took all my cabinets down and set up tables in my garage. It is not hard to do, but time consuming because of all the dry time in between coats. There is no sanding which is great.

This is actually a project that I've researched pretty extensively. I was considering painting some cabinets (and still haven't gotten around to it), but I don't want it to look like a hack job that makes them look cheap. I want it to look like I went and got new cabinets.

So I found this link. It outlines exactly how do paint your cabinets like a pro cabinet shop would. Yes, you will need to take down your doors, but otherwise, it's a job you could probably do over a weekend.

http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/2012/08/how-to-paint-your...

We painted our crappy cabinets white. They look soooo much better. It is a little work though. They haven't chipped and are easy to clean since we primed, sanded, and used the right paint.

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/repainting-kitchen-cabin...

:)

We did the Rustoleum Kit from lowe's.
Our cabinets were builder grade, honey oak. Never liked them. We went darker, cocoa i think. and they look GREAT!!!!
it is time consuming, but everyone says it looks like the cabinets came that way! We also added hardware.
We bought the bigger kit at $150 and have a decent amount left over, but are planning on doing the cabinets in our bathrooms as well.
They really came out great! They have not chipped at all because there is a protective glaze you put on in the end. Again, time consuming but so worth it!!

A friend of mine did it six months ago. My god they are beautiful!! Granted it seems to be a process that takes a bit of talent to make it look good. They haven't chipped or anything. Really if I didn't know they did it I would have thought that was how the cabinets came.

We painted our dark cabinets white last summer. For the most part is still looks wonderful, but we will need to do some touch ups where some of the paint has chipped off. This is especially true where the drawers and doors close, as the paint can get tacky and stick, even though we let it dry a few days before closing any of the doors/drawers.

My recommendation, whether you do white or darker, use a paint sprayer. It coats more evenly, and it much faster than a brush or roller.

ETA: If you DO go with white, keep some Magic Erasers handy for quick clean ups of splatters. My kids decided to have a spaghetti noodle fight last week when I went to the bathroom, and I had red sauce all over my cabinets. Magic Eraser to the rescue!

You may want to look into "refreshing" your cabinets. Basically what that means is that a company that specializes in this exact project will come in and make all new doors/drawer fronts for your cabinets/drawers. They will then come in and paint the frame of your existing cabinetry, and install the new doors/drawer fronts and put on new hardware. It will look like you completely remodeled your kitchen, but it's WAY cheaper. I have several friends who have done this, and it has turned out very well, and the entire process is really quick.

In terms of dark or white, it's really a style preference, but I would go on Houzz.com and just take a look through the kitchens on there. See what styles are the most appealing to you. My personal preference would be white, BUT that's the style of house I live in, and that would go with the way I have the rest of the house decorated. Your house may be totally different! Good luck with your project!

PS: Here's a link that shows what I mean. http://www.kitchencabinetrefresh.com/index.jsp

We "refreshed" our kitchen about 6 years ago by adding a set of cabinets (upper/lower) on a blank wall, changing the countertops, putting in a new wall oven & stovetop & laying down a linoleum floor.

In order to match the cabinets to our existing, we decided to paint them, & hired a family friend to do it for us. They removed the cabinet doors & hardware, painted the boxes & doors, & put them back on with updated hardware. They look fantastic! (btw, the doors of the new cabinets & our existing were the same, so the style matched already)

We went with a dusty cocoa wall color, & painted the cabinets a creamy white. Our appliances are white, & the linoleum & countertops matched the color scheme. The entire kitchen is bright & inviting as a result.

Couple things I would do differently, hindsight being what it is.
1. The linoleum floor hasn't held up well - we didn't get the most expensive, stupid mistake on our part. So we will be redoing that.

2. The base cabinets are also painted a creamy white. With 5 dogs coming in & out of the backyard through the kitchen, you can just imagine what the base cabinets look like after all the muddy tails have attacked them!!

3. The cabinet doors we had were just a basic piece of wood - no moulding or routing for dimension. Considering they were circa 1965, the paint helped, but they aren't as "updated" looking as they could be.

Our costs, as best I can remember:
Extra cabinets for blank wall (8' upper & lower) - Craigslist $200
Paint - about $200 for the walls & cabinets. We went with a high-grade semi-gloss on the cabinets, to withstand wear. We probably overspent on paint, I know we have a few cans in the basement that didn't get fully used
Linoleum - I think $250 for a 12x12 roll of mid-grade gluedown, & cut to size.
Oven & Stovetop - Craigslist finds! Oven was used, for $200 & stovetop (5 burner) was new for $50, but we needed to buy the flat difuser for each of the gas burners at)
Counters - $150 (we bought the stock 8' laminate counters in a pattern we didn't hate & cut to size)
Sink - (enamel cast iron) also a Craigslist find, used in great condition for $45
Faucet - New, $50
Cabinet Hardware - we found a nice brushed nickel design on sale @ Menards, even still we spent $150!

All told, kitchen refresh totalled under $1500

The shopping we did was at Menards, which is comparable to a Lowe's or Home Depot (maybe even slightly cheaper cost)

Now, prior to buying the extra cabinets & doing all this work, we did price out what it would cost to have our cabinets refaced or replaced. Century 21 came & gave a refacing quote (keep your existing cabinets, they will recover them to look like new) - $12000. I am NOT joking! I think that included adding the extra cabinets to the blank wall... but still!! (I have heart palpitations just thinking about that much cost)
To replace our cabinets with mid-grade cabinets bought @ Menards & install ourselves I think priced between $2500 - $4500, depending on style & options.

Going forward, this year we have decided to pull up the linoleum & lay tile down. This will involve laying an additional subfloor of plywood (the reason we didn't go this route 6 years ago).

We are also going to buy new cabinet doors with some detail to them. Priced out, they are very affordable @ Cabinet Door World, unfinished & ready for painting! (http://www.cabinetdoorworld.com)

Finally, we are going to repaint the base cabinets to help hide the muddy tail-prints. Keeping with our color scheme, we are going to use a rich brown, making our kitchen 3-tone: Dusty Cocoa for the walls, Creamy White for the upper cabinets, Dark Chocolate for the base cabinets. (tile on the floor will likely be a mid-way brown, not as dark as the base cabinets)

We are hoping to find the tile we like at HOBO (Home Owner Buyers Outlet) for under $500, grab the plywood & paint @ Menards, & all told, be done for under $1000. Labor, we will do ourselves (my husband is quite the handyman)

I know this was a bit more information than you were looking for, but I thought it would be helpful to include other "updates" & associated costs... 5-7 years is a good amount of time to spend enjoying your kitchen, & sometimes updating one area really requires updating another to get the full benefit (such as the hardware to our painted cabinets).

Wishing you the best of luck, whether you DIY or purchase supplies & hire a handyman/contractor to provide the labor. T.

ETA: As Theresa mentions below, make sure you follow proper procedures to having the cabinets painted, so that they are durable. Talk to the salesperson when you buy the paint to make sure you get a brand & type that will hold up to the abuses of cabinet doors. I love the semi-gloss we got, as it wipes easily with a wet cloth to clean up.

Also, depending on how much dimensional detail your existing doors have, there may be more work involved in sanding it down prior to priming/painting. And, you may need to rehang the doors differently, or sand down the inside edges, so that the doors still close flush after the coat of primer/paint/etc.

If you have nice doors & wouldn't mind keeping the wood look, there are also stains available that do a nice job. Some apply like a paint, some require a full sand & restaining. Friends of ours just updated the woodwork in their house using some type of 'miracle' that refreshes existing stainwork. Again, talk to the salesfolks @ your local hardware store.

Just make sure you get someone knowledgeable! (sometimes, going to a mom & pop store will get you someone who knows exactly what you need, vs. the "I know what brands we carry, but it's up to you to buy the right product" floor staff @ the big box stores)

Well, we never repainted, but someone ( a long time ago) put a stain on our 1950s cabinet doors. They are wood; my guess is that the original hue was more of a golden color, but the stain they used (including on the wood grain formica-- yes, someone should have been stopped!) ended up being pretty dark. They are now pretty chipped, ugly and hard to keep looking nice. Places where they have been regularly splashed with water (think the cupboard doors beneath the sink) have lines from where the stain has softened over time.

In the future, (whenever a nice brick of gold drops on our head- or a stack of money) when we refurbish the cupboards and replace the doors, I'm going to go with something lighter,which will show less wear and tear. Still wood, but something with a more golden hue (maybe a pecan?) and some sort of tough-as-nails finish,maybe an outdoor-grade polyurethane.

I love oak!
We have birch cabinets (a very light wood) with black marble counter tops in the kitchen (came with the house) and it's a look we love.
We've never painted our cabinets but when we were house hunting 7 years ago one house we looked at had painted their pine kitchen cabinets a matte black.
I guess there were trying to shoot for chic but the pine knots showed through and the black was just dark and depressing - I've seen brighter funeral parlors.
It wasn't a room I wanted to cook or eat in.

There are companies that can reface/laminate your cupboards.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20406173_208171...

The co-op we bought had a recently re-finished kitchen. The cabinets are a dark stained wood (brown/black). I love the aesthetic, but it is a real PITA. Every drip of water, and smudgy fingerprint shows up.

Just saying.
Best,
F. B.

I have a friend who refinished her cabinets using a kit from Rustoleum. It was super cheap, but very time consuming. The cabinets are beautiful!

Our house was built in the 80s & the cabinets aren't really real wood. But they had an oak tone finish. Real oak might be worth re-finishing, but since ours aren't my husband painted our kitchen cabinets with white--he had to sand them, paint them with KILZ, then used a shiny bright white paint. We looked at adding door knobs, but since the originals didn't have them, we skipped it. I've seen some nice updates in our neighborhood by just painting & adding door pulls that made the kitchen seem all new. It really brightened up our kitchen & are easy to wipe clean with a sponge or a purple FLYLady rag.

It's been 5 or 6 years since he did it & a couple of the drawer tops are starting to wear through, with little bits of the oak showing through but as long as every thing is kept wiped clean it looks like it's that way on purpose, that "distressed" look that some people pay for. Whoo-Hoo, we got ours for free! Since we have a casual, beachy feel to our home, the overall look is good.

I personally prefer white, because the whole room looks bigger & more inviting to me than any dark colors. And I don't have to worry about if something or other will go with the shade.