Let's say I don't like it after painting, is it easy to get back the smooth look if we strip the paint? From what I understand the cabinets have to be sanded to paint and I am wondering if the original look can be reclaimed?

Anonymous wrote:I had maple cabinets painted white. I used a professional cabinet painting service, and it looked okay after painting. The painting service didn't strip, but sanded every surface, applied a primer, and sprayed on several coats of the new paint. The cost was about half the cost of replacing the cabinets, but I felt guilty replacing perfectly nice cabinets that had a bad color. The paint lasted about 10 years before it started chipping.

In retrospect, do you think you would be happier if you hadn't painted it? Or are you happy in spite of the chopping?

Is this what you mean by “saddle” finish?

https://images.app.goo.gl/iNEp8frND5X2C9HS8

I had maple cabinets painted white. I used a professional cabinet painting service, and it looked okay after painting. The painting service didn't strip, but sanded every surface, applied a primer, and sprayed on several coats of the new paint. The cost was about half the cost of replacing the cabinets, but I felt guilty replacing perfectly nice cabinets that had a bad color. The paint lasted about 10 years before it started chipping.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. The cabinets are 10 years old. New build. We had oak in previous house and I wanted to get far away from the oak color and chose the saddle color. Now I completely regret the color choice. Cabinets look beautiful and modern except for the dang color which makes everything look outdated. They are the long cabinets. That's why I am afraid we will ruin them. The maple look is sleek, smooth and nice.

I will look at reddit. If I can get away with changing the hardware and adding different rugs or something it would be even better. My granite is beige to match the saddle cabinets.

If you want them to remain smooth, you need to have them professionally stripped and sprayed with a durable finish. Do not trust anyone that says they can do this with a brush or rollers. It will be expensive, but the spray is the only way to keep them smooth.

Anonymous wrote:Can you strip the stain instead?

Box is MDF. I read that it won't work well on that?

Anonymous wrote:Cabinets need durable paint given the amount of use, it’s a difficult diy. The process is clean/strip any existing paint, sand, clean with tac cloth, prime, then sand/clean for 2-3 coats. You really need a spray gun to get an even coating, foam rollers can lead to an “orange peel” texture. To get a factory durable finish you need to use a 2k poly product like Milessi or Renner. If you are painting oak you need to fill grains. Restraining is even harder because you’ll have to strip the existing stain. Depending how old the cabinets are it may be cheaper to buy new or just get new doors, it is an expensive process to do correctly.

Cabinets are maple. The doors at least. The box is MDF.

Op here. The cabinets are 10 years old. New build. We had oak in previous house and I wanted to get far away from the oak color and chose the saddle color. Now I completely regret the color choice. Cabinets look beautiful and modern except for the dang color which makes everything look outdated. They are the long cabinets. That's why I am afraid we will ruin them. The maple look is sleek, smooth and nice.

I will look at reddit. If I can get away with changing the hardware and adding different rugs or something it would be even better. My granite is beige to match the saddle cabinets.

The doors should be taken away to be stripped and sprayed.

Cabinets need durable paint given the amount of use, it’s a difficult diy. The process is clean/strip any existing paint, sand, clean with tac cloth, prime, then sand/clean for 2-3 coats. You really need a spray gun to get an even coating, foam rollers can lead to an “orange peel” texture. To get a factory durable finish you need to use a 2k poly product like Milessi or Renner. If you are painting oak you need to fill grains. Restraining is even harder because you’ll have to strip the existing stain. Depending how old the cabinets are it may be cheaper to buy new or just get new doors, it is an expensive process to do correctly.

Years ago I painted old 80s or 90s orangey oak cabinets in a prior house. I did it myself. It was time consuming, and while I loved the transformation, I have to admit I did just an okay job. When I went to sell, it had chipped so I paid a professional to repaint on site. I don't know how the factory spray option looks but if I had it to do all over I'd look into that.

But FWIW I am somewhat horrified at the idea of painting maple cabinets. I do realize that sounds hypocritical. 😉

It's your house, you should do what you want. But since you sound open to it, maybe first find a home design forum on reddit or houzz, and post pix and see if you can get ideas on how to update the look without painting them? I think you might get more ideas there.

Anonymous wrote:If yes, did you do it yourself or professionally? Factory finish spray paint or foam rollers? How is it holding up? Any peeling paint? Cost?

If you did yourself, how much time and effort and was it worth it to DIY?

I love the smooth look of maple and am afraid that painting it would ruin them. Any way to update the kitchen to look modern by keeping them as is with their saddle stain? We have redone the floors to havana brown from mirage.

I haven’t done this, but I totally would if I were you, because it makes the home look dated. I’m going to repaint my wood kitchen cabinets too, although they are already painted so I don’t know what type wood they are. I am having a professional strip and paint them with their spray. We had the same contractors do the french doors a couple years ago and it looks ok. It did bubble up on the outside a tiny bit, mainly in spots that weren’t stripped correctly. The contractors came back to redo those sections and it’s better. I wouldn’t do this by myself, because I worry that it won’t look professional, because I don’t have the tools or the know-how to strip the paint. Plus these guys do this all the time and I can hold them accountable. I think we paid $5000 for the French doors - we have 5 sets of double doors all along the back of the house and they have window panes, so the job was a bit complicated. I expect the kitchen to cost about the same.

Can you strip the stain instead?

Wow. Why ?

If yes, did you do it yourself or professionally? Factory finish spray paint or foam rollers? How is it holding up? Any peeling paint? Cost?

If you did yourself, how much time and effort and was it worth it to DIY?

I love the smooth look of maple and am afraid that painting it would ruin them. Any way to update the kitchen to look modern by keeping them as is with their saddle stain? We have redone the floors to havana brown from mirage.