Has anyone had their kitchen cabinet painted?

[aliceinwonderland]

Our kitchen is big but old and dreary--Not the happy place it should be :) I love my living and dinind room but hate my kitchen. It's eat-in, but we never eat in there as we do not like it :(

The cabinets are actually not that ugly, and look like they may have been nice in their day (when we were house-hunting we saw some true nightmares), but are just OLD. I want to paint them and add new hardware. This would be a project DH and I do together, maybe around Thanksgiving.

has anyone done this? Does it look much better after? Any tips on color/brand of color/ process tricks?
Any and all advice is much appreciated :)

e.

[elliput]

About 12 years ago I almost completely stripped my kitchen and re-did it. I even pulled some of the cabinets off the walls and re-hung them at a more appropriate height. To give a quick background of why, the guy we had bought the house from thought himself quite the handyman, but had no clue about finishing work. Woodwork wasn't sanded after being cut, he never taped before painting, didn't know how to hang drywall, etc.

I wanted an aged look to the paint job on my cabinets. I just sanded the tops to rough up the poly finish that was on them so the paint would adhere. I used only one coat and made sure I had streak marks to achieve the look I was after, and replaced all of the hinges and knobs/pulls. I used a forest green kitchen grade latex over dark brown cabinets and was quite please with the result. The most important aspect is making sure the surface is clean and prepped for the type of finish you are after.

I personally loved the look once it was done - don't know if the people who bought the house liked it or not, but they could always paint over!

[psophia17]

It depends on what your cabinets are made of...

If they are wood or metal, you can sand and paint, and they'll look alright. Just be sure to use a paint that is easily cleaned (a satin or gloss, I think?). If they are laminate (which is plastic), sanding and painting is a bad idea. When DH worked for a kitchen refacing guy in NJ, lots of the kitchens they re-did had first been painted by the homeowner, who didn't think about the relationship that latex paint would have on plastic cabinets.

My personal cabinet preference is for real wood all around, painted or stained white (or close to it). All accents would be in primary colors, with an emphasis on blue, and I would have sections of marble and butcher block counters....all I need is the house :)

[mamicka]

We did this in our first house & it turned out really well. But it was a whole lot of work, even though it was a small kitchen (sanding, mainly) & I wouldn't do it again. Isn't there a primer that you can use that will allow you to paint over glossy surfaces without sanding first? I think someone posted about it somewhere, I'll see if I can find the post.

Allison

ETA: I think the primer for glossy surfaces is Zinsser BIN.

[kristine_elen]

We haven't done it but my mom did and I'd recommend it. (Maybe not the peach color that she chose!) New hardware and paint can make all the difference and it's SO much cheaper than buying new -- plus you're not wasting perfectly good cabinets. Good luck! (PS: I'm sure the library or bookstore would have some great books on the best way to tackle the job.)

[brittone2]

Eri-
If you haven't already, check out this site: www.thathomesite.com Lots of good info in their decorating forum. They have a seperate "kitchen" renovation forum but the people on their are big big big budget mostly. The "home decorating" forum is more of a mix of budgets but lots of good info. I've seen some good instructions on how to paint cabinets on there, although for whatever reason they don't have good archives, so old posts fall off into oblivion from what what I can tell. You can always ask someone to give you the low down. Several people have done it there. I know that everyone agrees...you have to definitely be thorough and take your time. Really spend time cleaning them first (there is some chemical cleaning solution that is three letters...starting with a T I think...dont' know what it is and I'm sure it is yucky/toxic but I know it is recommended), sanding them, priming them (I've heard oil based primer works well I think?) and painting them with something washable. There was some discussion recently of some special cabinet paint that can be ordered through privately owned hardware stores (lowe's/home depot doesn't carry it) or ACE hardware I think. I've heard that if you don't go through the necessary steps, they will chip/peel and just won't hold up more than a year or two. But if they are real wood and you take your time, the finish can really hold up well long term and look great :)

Anyway, just thought i'd throw that site out there if you haven't seen it before. I know the topic comes up there pretty often. I'm thinking of doing ours. Our house was built in 97, and I like it for the most part, but the cabinets the builder did himself...he built them. They are nice quality wood, but not my style. I keep debating painting them...maybe I'd like them better. I also thought about doing the whole open shelving thing. Probaby won't but it is fun to dream LOL.

[aliceinwonderland]

Thanks so much--how exactly did you go about achieving this aged look? Is there a book of steps to follow (DH is the handy-person. I just get the crazy ideas and whine a lot :)

thanks so very much.

e.

[aliceinwonderland]

Thanks Petra. I was thinking white too, to brighten up the space, but I've never painted anything white in my life (think foxy red and chocolate brown)
:)

[elliput]

I just kinda winged it. I had an idea of how I wanted it to look in my head and just went for it. It was so long ago too, that I almost forgot about the whole project!

[aliceinwonderland]

wow, I really admire you for that! I must picture it in my head to be able to do somehting...and since my crafty imagination lacks, well, I'll be forwarding this thread to DH...

thanks again!

e.

[crl]

I painted our cabinets white about 3 years ago. They looked a thousand times better and have held up reasonably well. Until DS came home they were holding up quite well, lol.

I took the doors off, degreased with TSP and sanded using a Black and Decker mouse. I used tack cloth to get the sanding dust off. I used Zissner (sp?) primer and gloss paint. I do not recommend a quick drying primer as I had a LOT of trouble getting it on evenly before it dried.

This is a big project--partly because you have to empty out the cabinets and partly because you have to wait for coats to dry. But, it is also a lot of work. I think it took me an entire weekend to do our TINY, TINY kitchen. It was definitely worth it though.

One thought, I have heard you can have a car paint place spray the doors for a reasonable amount of money. This ensures a smooth finish and cuts down on your work as you only have to do the faces of the cabinets.

Good luck!

[HGraceMom]

I painted our entire set of kitchen cabinets the summer after we moved in - 64 doors & frames... ick.

I removed each door, washed them down, sanded, then applied two (I think) coats of paint to each. The cabinet frames were a bit harder, as I couldn't take them down, so was working way up high on a ladder...

70% of the cabinets are painted "Victoriana" color by Ralph Lauren (I color-matched to Glidden glossy paint) and the other 30% (a huge island) are painted straight black.

Our cabinet doors are made to look like bead-board, so on the black cabinet doors, I mixed glaze & the Victoriana and did a really soft once over, which filled in the grooves with the ivory color to lighten them up.

All told, the project probably totaled 3 weeks of working on & off, but the payout is wonderful. You CAN do it yourself if you're patient. I couldn't have lived in a house with dingy grey-whitewashed cabinets, but love the ivory / black combo with new nickel hardware.