Tuesday, August 30, 2011

To paint, or not to paint...

Everyone is painting kitchen cabinets as a quick facelift project for the kitchen. I can 100% say that our kitchen needs a facelift. We are currently trying to decide how much of a facelift it needs - some really good concealer and blush? Or more of the plastic-surgery-full-facelift variety? We're hoping the good concealer and blush approach can tide us over a year or two until a larger reno...

Have any of you out there in blogland personally painted your kitchen cabinets? If so - how did you do it (brush/roller, or spray paint, or did you have them sprayed)? What kind of paint worked best? Glossy? Flat? Dark? Light? Do they look good up close (or just in pictures?) I know that there is no shorage of great examples online of painted kitchen cabinets (see below for a wee snippit), but I need some real life proof to get comfortable with this project!

In the meantime...here are some examples of painted kitchens done well (at least in photos....)
refinished-repainted-kitchen-cabinets1
This is my EXACT kitchen layout - just pop a window over the sink...via Young House Love

I don't think I want dark cabinets, but these are done nicely - via We're THAT Family
 


And....just as a reminder - my ever so stylish-oak-cabineted-white-counter-topped-white-applianced-kitchen (with dishes...this was a file pic, not a style pic!):


10 comments:

Erica M. said...

I am very interested in everyone’s response to this. My husband and I were just looking at some cabinet paint kits at Home Depot today. We are looking into the Martha Stewart brand. Love to hear what others think.

Katie said...

we painted our cabinets, it made a huge difference in our kitchen. here is an old post with photos: http://five2eight.blogspot.com/2008/12/every-weekend-should-be-3-day-weekend.html

we sanded, cleaned, primed, and then painted. i used one of those little foam rollers to get a nice even coat. i believe i used a satin finish, and used oil based paint. 2 coats of primer and paint, and i used a good quality sherwin williams paint. so far we've had good luck with the painted finish and it's been 2.5+ years and they still look good.

i actually just bought new cabinet doors and drawer fronts that will require painting (got a good deal on them but they are an oak color), so we'll be doing it all over again soon!

painting the cabinets could be a way to update without spending a lot of money. let me know if you have any questions about our process!

Carol-Anne said...

Sanded, washed and primed and then painted my oak cupboards with BM's Ivory White paint in Melamine with a satin finish.

Lasted 10 years with very few little spots needing touch ups! Loved it!

Carol-Anne said...

BTW, keep getting notice that you've done a post on Joe Fresh sweaters....but when I click on the link, I get a message saying the post isn't there. Huh?

Lonely Wife Project said...

We painted our kitchen cabinets and it made a HUGE difference. It wasn't easy though, but if you're patient than go for it! We removed all the cabinet doors, sanded both sides, primed and did two coats of an oil based paint which takes days to dry (both sides of the doors). We also added new hardware. It doesn't look perfect, but vast improvement from before and it'll hold us over until we can afford to replace them! In retrospect, I would go with a lighter color. White or gray. At the time (4 years ago) we went dark so not so crazy about it anymore.

Frank said...

I painted my condo cabinets using BIN paint as a sealer, worked great (no need to sand down the cabinets, it sticks to anything). Alternatively you can scratch the surface and use the BEHR purple can sealer. I recommend sanding with sponge between all coats to get a smooth finish. I used a melamine paint from HD. Spray paint is ideal, but no one is going to rip down their entire kitchen to do it so a good roller is fine.
The other approach I would recommend considering is to sand and apply a darker stain to them. I had melamine doors so paint was my only option. Any solid wood I have, I always try to restore with stain.
The downside with painting is that your doors are not 1 piece, the middle panel is a floating panel and can cause the paint to crack in the seems.

Either painting or sanding will look good, but if your plan is to redo kitchen in a couple of years then I would recommend painting and using the BIN, no mess. I think Sonia posted some pics of my condo cabinets on her facebook account, check them out.

The Vintique Object said...

I just recently painted our oak kitchen cabinets. I wanted it to really stay, so I didn't take any chances.

1. Took doors off and labeled which hinges went where and with which door. (Super, super important, or you've never get them back on the right way.)

2. Cleaned everything with TSP.

3. Sanded and wiped clean.

4. Zinnser Bin primer. Two coats since it dries faster than normal paint.

5. One coat Behr Premium Plus latex paint. But if you do a darker color, get the primer tinted to match so you don't need to do two coats of the latex.

So far, everything's holding up beautifully. I just need to get off my duff and install hardware.

http://thevintiqueobject.blogspot.com/2011/08/kitchen-is-painted-but-hardware-hasnt.html

Camille

lisaroy said...

We painted our pine cabinets in Muskoka.
I took the doors off, gave everything a light sanding and cleaning.
Used 2 light coats of Zinnser primer which sticks to anything and does a good job of hiding knots in the wood without them bleeding through later.
Used 2 coats of Benjamin Moore cloud white latex satin with a small sponge roller and it worked great. The satin makes it easier to wipe clean later on and gives a nice sheen without being too shiny.

I've also painted melamine cabinets and shelf units in the past with Benjamin Moore melamine paint - no need to sand or prime (it sticks to anything). It's a bit thinner though so it took 3 good coats and because it's oil based, it's smelly but it's pretty indestructible. :)

christine, just bella said...

I wish i had some advice for you, I've always wanted to do this myself. I can say I think it would LOOK fabulous! Good luck and I hope it's as easy as it sounds :)

Naomi@DesignManifest said...

You have a lot of potential here! I've painted my own (foam roller and brush where needed) and had them professionally sprayed for clients. The spray job looks much better in person, for sure. But if you are willing to put in the sweat equity, you can have a lovely looking kitchen for cheap.

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