Painting Wood Cabinets

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Our kitchen is so tired and old looking. We would love new cabinets but the expense is keeping us from doing that right now. Plus we want to move in about a year. I know you get your money back with kitchens but here in NJ the real estate is so high to start with I am sure we wouldn't get that much more.

I live in a split level (ugh) but it is as country as I can get it. I would like to just paint what we have. My husband just added a new wood floor so anything will go with it. And then we can just add a new counter top.

Does anyone have suggestions for painting cabinets. I don't want shiny paint, my husband suggested lacquer. I really do not like that look. I love the old look, sanding areas to look worn and all. He does not like that. We need a compromise. Ideas anyone?

Valery

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RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Since you are planning on moving, you need to have as neutral an appearance as possible to please the lookers. Why don't you have a real estate agent come take a look at your house, discuss improvements and see what is suggested. (08/02/2005)

By cookwie

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

We sanded down our cabinet doors and stained them with an oak stain. Then we changed the handles to real country looking handles. They turned out great. My friend updated her cabinets with a really cute idea. They removed the cabinet doors, cut out most of the door and replaced it with glass. On the bottom cabinets (where pots and unattractive kitchen wares were kept)she added a very small cafe rod on the inside of the cabinet door and hung cute curtains. On the top shelves she just arranged the dishes pretty. Good luck (08/03/2005)

By klr2080

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I painted mine with the best semi gloss paint that I could get from Sears and that was 20 years ago and they still look good. Sanded the doors and the front of cabinets. Put on 2 coats of paint, the very best. (08/03/2005)

By LissiMeme

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

How about a semi-gloss paint in a solid color with no wear, like he likes, but in a country color that you like, maybe an antique blue?

Or what do you guys think about stenciling? Or decoupage?

Or paint the doors and drawer fronts one color and the rest another color. Or paint the rest a neutral color and the doors and drawer fronts in different colors that go together.

Or how about some solid color with a metallic color rubbed on in spots?

Or what about some kind of faux paint technique?

Or what about painting it the way he likes, and then replacing the knobs with some that you like?

Removing the doors to expose the shelves can also give you a beautiful country look, but note that your dishes will have to be neatly organized and they will get dustier and greasier than if kept behind doors. (Keep the doors in case the next owners want to replace them.) (08/03/2005)

By Debbie

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

i painted my cabinets all white and then sponge painted the doors a light sandy peach color. I get lots of compliments on them! (08/07/2005)

By kimmcg

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

We recently redid our cabinets from a dark wood shellac-type finish to a soft green -- not a pastel, but the color of leaves in spring. First we used something called "Liquid Sandpaper" to strip the cabinets, then an application of bonder (ask the guy in the paint department), then the semi-gloss paint. I don't like shiny paint, and thought I wanted flat, but the paint department guy explained that flat paint would show every splatter and fingerprint, whereas with semi-gloss it's only a little bit shiny, and you can wipe it off to keep it clean -- makes sense for a kitchen paint job! The process of going from a shellac-type finish to a regular paint was why we needed the bonder in between steps -- our neighbor recommended it, after he had painted their cabinets and skipped that step, and ended up with paint flaking and peeling.

The part I was proudest of -- the hardware was a copper-toned color, the shapes/designs themselves were OK, but I thought silver or pewter would go better with the new, lighter cabinets -- and then I freaked out when I saw how expensive the hardware was! The fancy pewter handles were $1.39 each, and I needed almost 3 dozen -- plus the hinges. Again, our brilliant neighbor to the rescue! We removed the hardware, spread it out on newspaper, and spray painted it with Rustoleum "hammered finish" spray paint in a silver tone, $2.25 a can. It looks SO GOOD! We even wedged the screws into cardboard so the heads were facing up, and spray painted them. We figured, what did we have to lose? If it looked awful, we would go ahead and replace the hardware -- but it looks great! And it saved us a BUNCH of money! The kitchen looks bigger now with the lighter colors, too! (08/08/2005)

By Becki in Indiana

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

This is something that I did in my bathroom I am sure it would work for your kitchen cabinets as well. I purchase inexpensive material. I then cut the material to be just bigger than the cabinet doors and used a hot glue gun around the edge to secure the fabric (on the inside of the door). I then glued netting at the top and bottom of the door and gathered in the center with a bow. As for the actual cabinet I just painted to match my wall color. It has been up for over 5 years with no problems yet. (09/29/2005)

By Pattie

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Whoa! I hope you haven't invested in a lot of frills and unconventional cabin et appearances since you posted. Rethink your idea that those cabinets won't improve your value!

Kitchens are the MOST important room in a house as far as home sales go, and what occupies most of the space in a kitchen?

However, replacing them isn't the only option. Provided the cabinets themselves are in good shape, why not REFACE them? It's much cheaper and the results of a well-done refacing are nothing less than spectacular!

I can't emphasize enough -- tired cabinets, strange decorating schemes, these things lose a LOT of sales and devalue houses dramatically. As the poster before me advised, get a real estate agent's or broker's advice -- and be sure the person is NOT a friend. You need brutal frankness if you're planning to sell your house any time soon.

Good luck! (10/10/2005)

By Teri

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Painting Kitchen Cabinets

We had our Kitchen cabinets painted white 8 years ago. Needless to say, they need painted again. I would like to do something different. Maybe, black with yellow walls accented with my red pieces? Any ideas or pictures would be helpful. Also, could I strip the existing paint off and get back to wood and stain? How?

LoLo from TX

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RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I put a post up here a while ago regarding painting my own kitchen cabinets. The doors were originally a bland, pale blue colour (we had bought the units second hand as it was all we could afford and adapted them to fit our kitchen). At a large hardware store I bought laminate primer and two tins of laminate paint, each tinted a different colour. I removed the doors, taking off the hinges and handles, then gave each a light sand and applied one coat of laminate primer. Then I gave them another light sand and applied two coats of laminate paint (with a light sand between each coat). They are now much easier to clean, look totally different & I'm much happier with this look until we can afford a new kitchen, if we decide to go that way, but we'll probably just replace doors. We did retile also but even that was done as cheaply as possible. You can have the laminate paints tinted to a wide range of colours....so many colour schemes can be chosen depending on individual styles and likes. All up, our revamp probably cost approx $250...definitely no more than $300 (Aus dollars). (09/09/2006)

By jojo

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

To try out different colors, Google for "Color-A-Room" + "Better Homes and Gardens." They have photos of rooms (kitchen, bedroom, etc) and you can click on different colors to color the various elements in the rooms. (09/09/2006)

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Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Any suggestions on painting kitchen cabinets?

Cathy from Thurmont, MD

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RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I understand! - When I moved in, the kitchen cabinets were hot pink! No kidding! Not everyone has nice wood cabinets! HERE'S HOW YOU DO IT:

• You'll need to prime them first with a high adhesive primer (like Zinsser 123). It's best to sand them a bit first to give them a bit of "'tooth". But if you use the high adhesive primer you can sometimes get away without sanding first (just make sure to clean with TSP). If you do sand, use a fine grit sandpaper, then make sure to use a tack cloth to get of the fine dust or your paint will not stick
• Next: use a high quality semi-gloss or gloss latex paint or even better, instead use a 100% acrylic paint. This is usually sold in paint stores and it's sometimes sold for painting masonry. 100% ACRYLIC is a super high quality paint! It's not just for artists, it also comes in gallons at paint stores. OR
• You can skip the whole priming thing altogether if you want to use Melamine paint. Melamine is that cheap (usually white) coating on less-expensive furniture that looks like white Formica. It's glossy and hard to paint, so they came out with a super-adhesive paint that will stick to anything. It's pricey and it's oil based, so you should wait until the weather warms up so you can open the windows to air out you home if you use it. It gives a lovely, hard finish. You can even buy a melamine primer, although you don't really have to prime if you are using melamine paint. Sand the shelves to roughen them up, prime (if you choose to) and paint. You'll have to wait about 15-24 hours between coats, and a week or two before you can put anything back on the shelves. The smell isn't as bad as oil paints of old. The mineral spirits used for clean up is much worse.
• One more option, I had a friend who painted her kitchen cabinets and she swore by Marine paint. You'd have to call a boat or marine store to see where to buy it. It's made to withstand that harsh salt air, so it's super tough! My friend said she had painted her cabinets with Marine Paint and after 15 years they were still in perfect shape!

When I painted my cupboards, they were plain, so I glued on woven chair cane, before gluing I painted the cane and the cupboards, then cut molding to frame them out, painted the molding, then framed the cane on the cupboards. The caning and matting can also be stained with wood stain. Be sure to coat cane and matting with a varnish, like urethane for use in the kitchen. Here's a URL to buy cane, woven mats, bamboo etc. http://www.looseends.com/

Another cool idea that's easy to do is to "Skin" your cabinets with either copper or aluminum. You buy the thin metal as roof flashing in the roofing area of the home center. You just, "skin" the doors, the rest of the cupboards you paint with either an aluminum paint or a copper spray paint, that you spray into a paper-cup then brush on. Or you can use "Hammerite". It looks just like hammered metal, plus you don't need to sand OR prime with Hammerite! This way you can get a stainless steel or a pewter look for a great price! It's really easy.

Cyinda (03/05/2007)

By Cyinda

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Our house has Quakermade cabinets that date back to the 50's. Originally they were painted in what looked like a robin's egg blue baked on enamel. Over 50 years of use the finish had gotten somewhat scruffy. The cabinets however where in excellent condition. So we thought that we should paint them.

After extensive investigation we hit on the idea of taking them to an Automotive Body Shop. We chose the color right from the car colors (Oldsmobile Almond, I think we used). They were done in less than a week and people are asking us where they can buy the cabinets. They came out that well. So if you can take them out of the kitchen this it isn't a bad idea. Cost wise for the entire kitchen 20 cabinets upper an lower was about $1,800 (06/30/2007)

By Mike

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Painting Kitchen Cabinets

How can I remove the decorative raised beading on my kitchen cabinets prior to repainting them?

By Jeri O from Chicago, IL

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RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

My husband is a carpenter, I asked him your question. He said the beading is either nailed on, glued on or both. Place the edge of a putty knife next to the beading, then use a hammer to gently tap the handle end of the putty knife to try and lift the beading so you can determine whether it is nailed, glued or both. If it is nailed, you are in luck. Just continue using the putty knife and hammer to remove the beading. Fill the nail holes with wood putty.

If it is glued or both nailed and glued, it is very difficult to remove. He recommends you use a 50 or 80 grit sandpaper and belt sander. Only sand the beading, not the cabinet door, and only sand until the beading is gone. If the beading is nailed and glued, the sandpaper will also sand the nails down.

After the beading is removed, the doors should be sanded by hand or with a vibrating sander with a fine grit sandpaper. (05/11/2009)

By Anonymous

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Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I am painting my kitchen cabinets. After I prime them can I use spray paint? Or should I stay with regular paint?

By memas from Mountain View, AR

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RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Depends on the look you're going for. If you want the best, take the doors off their hinges, then go outside and spray them with regular latex or acrylic paint and an air compressor. If you don't have one, use a small foam roller, not a fluffy roller. The foam roller will leave less marks. Spray paint is enamel based and if you use it inside you'll need a quality face mask, a respirator, not just a surgical mask! It's better to stick with water based paint and stay away from oil based.

The oil paint will leave a nasty smell for weeks! Be sure to use a high-adhesive primer like Zinsser 123 or Gripper. I'd stay away from "Kilz" brand as I've had bad luck with it. If you decide to use a brush, choose a quality natural brush, it will leave less streaks than a nylon one.

The nicest cupboards I've ever seen were covered with a woven matting. In a natural color, then sealed with a water based varathine. They were really nice! (06/09/2009)

By Cyinda

RE: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Preparation is key with kitchen cabinets, so make sure they are clean and dry. I would use a regular paint instead of a spray paint. You can easily get runs with spray paint and not see them until they are dry. Remove the doors and drawers so they are easier to paint. You can take them to a garage where you don't have to worry about being so neat. (08/16/2009)

By Hawker19