did you paint kitchen cabinets?

[Anonymous]

Just bought a home with cabinets in good shape, but not to our taste. Painting them off white would improve the kitchen greatly and we might replace some of the doors which have an arch that I do not like. I had someone from a refacing company come out and tell me it would be 10k to reface (yikes, this is not a big kitchen, we could buy new for less than that) and warn away from painting, which will never look good. I am not inclined to believe he is disinterested, but would like to hear experiences from others.

I think we would find a professional spray paint company to do the doors and drawer fronts.

[Anonymous]

We had light oak (from the late 1980s) in a windowless kitchen and had them painted white. It definitely brightened them up and we are happy.. They aren't super-easy to clean, but meet our standards.

[Anonymous]

Paint as long as it's not terribly expensive. It should make a world of difference.

[Anonymous]

We did it, white.

[Anonymous]

We did, we used Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations. Very inexpensive, and my only regret was not doing it sooner! Lived with sturdy yet hideous oak cabinets for years before taking the plunge. They turned out beautifully!

[Anonymous]

Wow, I feel like I could have written this exact post five years ago. Same situation exactly. I did end up painting our cabinets. Used "cabinet coat" paint and they look wonderful to this day. It was a huge, labor intensive project though. I would hire a professional painter of I ever did it again.

[Anonymous]

I painted the oak cabinets in my old condo with high-gloss white and added polished nickel hardware. It looked fantastic and was extremely cheap, though extremely time-consuming, to do myself. I was so broke at the time that hiring a pro was completely out of the question, but next time I do it (if there is a next time), I'll hire a pro to spray them.

[Anonymous]

I painted out cabinets, with primer and advantage paint from BM. It lasted 1 year, then needed regular touch ups around the knobs. I'd do it again though. I'd probably try a different paint.

[Anonymous]

In our last house out of state, we had the peeling cabinets painted by a professional company before we put the house on the market. They took the doors offsite and did all the boxes onsite (the kitchen was out of use and taped off for those couple of days). It looked fabulous and cost maybe $3500 for a medium-sized kitchen. I would look into professional options as well as DIY depending on budget.

[Anonymous]

We had our painters our cabinets but also had a carpenter make new doors for the cabinets b/c we didn't like the style of the old ones (it was a kitchen from the 70's and the doors didn't have hidden hinges, so the carpenter made new door and drawer fronts for us and then painted them to match). The actually cabinets were solid wood and in good condition so it didn't make sense to us to rip then out and start over.

[Anonymous]

Also consider replacing the hinges and pulls for a fresher look. Makes a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

I painted the doors (front and back) and any exposed sides of our IKEA cabinets (I liked the style/didn't like the coloration) 12 years ago and they still look amazing-kitchen get compliments all the time! We are not gentle people and this is a heavily used kitchen and honestly am surprised how well they have held up and still look fresh. Since we were putting the cabinets in I was able to paint them lying flat and I used an oil based paint (harder to find now) sanding in between. I added open shelving later that I painted in place. The time - especially because I used oil-based was a killer and I hope I never have to do again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I painted the doors (front and back) and any exposed sides of our IKEA cabinets (I liked the style/didn't like the coloration) 12 years ago and they still look amazing-kitchen get compliments all the time! We are not gentle people and this is a heavily used kitchen and honestly am surprised how well they have held up and still look fresh. Since we were putting the cabinets in I was able to paint them lying flat and I used an oil based paint (harder to find now) sanding in between. I added open shelving later that I painted in place. The time - especially because I used oil-based was a killer and I hope I never have to do again.

I did this also with new IKEA cabinets. I used BM's Impervo, and it still looked great when we moved ten years later. We had toddlers that were pretty hard on cabinet doors, too. Impervo is also oil based, but it's well worth the extra drying time. It goes on like silk and looks fantastic. We got many compliments over the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had our painters our cabinets but also had a carpenter make new doors for the cabinets b/c we didn't like the style of the old ones (it was a kitchen from the 70's and the doors didn't have hidden hinges, so the carpenter made new door and drawer fronts for us and then painted them to match). The actually cabinets were solid wood and in good condition so it didn't make sense to us to rip then out and start over.

If you're local, can you share the name of your carpenter?

[Anonymous]

Don't do it.

I have seen everything from a DIY job to the best painter/refinisher and they all look crappy. The homeowner always swoons and thinks they look great, but I promise, without the rose colored glasses, it looks terrible.