Painting kitchen cabinets?

[Liberty Belle]

I'm 95% sure I want to paint my kitchen cabinets. They're a medium shade of brown now and I'm just tired of looking at them and really want a different look in my kitchen. There's just that 5% of doubt since it's hard to go back to unpainted/stained.

Any one here paint their cabinets? Did you regret it? Any tips?

Also, I'm pretty sure I want to do tops and bottoms the same color (white), but I'm intrigued with the dual colored cabinets. If I'd go that route, I'd do white on top and a medium grey on the bottom.

 

[pryncess527]

In our old house, when we first bought it I hated the cabinets and so painted them. It was a great way to freshen them up before I could spend the money to replace them all together. It was a lot of work, and took more time than i expected -- but it was also very cost effective and did the job of brightening up my kitchen for several years before we got new cabinets.

I say go for it!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm 95% sure I want to paint my kitchen cabinets. They're a medium shade of brown now and I'm just tired of looking at them and really want a different look in my kitchen. There's just that 5% of doubt since it's hard to go back to unpainted/stained.

Any one here paint their cabinets? Did you regret it? Any tips?

Also, I'm pretty sure I want to do tops and bottoms the same color (white), but I'm intrigued with the dual colored cabinets. If I'd go that route, I'd do white on top and a medium grey on the bottom.

We're going to change the look in our kitchen, also. Already decided to paint white. Currently the cabinets are medium/dark brown stain.

 

[cabanafrau]

I know what you mean about the fear of abandoning the possibility of going back to a stained wood look. I've been tempted myself but can't get past that idea.

I will say if I did it I would pay to have it professionally done for the result I want. I get sick when I watch them tear out cabinets in really good shape on TV simply for a new look, especially when they destroy any possibility of someone else using the cabinets elsewhere by not removing them carefully.

 

[Hikergirl]

A couple of years ago I purchased some things to do it myself but never started, its a ton of work.
I think when the time comes I will just hire someone to do it for me.

 

[teller80]

My cabinets are mostly wood except for the end of the rows, that is a laminate surface. I'm afraid I'll have trouble with the paint on that surface. Thoughts?

 

[Christine]

Getting ready to do this (or pay someone to do it). I had a consultant in my home Friday to go over a bunch of decorating/remodeling ideas. We will either paint the cabinets white or black (I'm leaning toward black). The one thing I was told was to use Benjamin Moore Advanced. Apparently a fantastic product for redoing cabinets.

 

[Straitlover]

My cabinets are mostly wood except for the end of the rows, that is a laminate surface. I'm afraid I'll have trouble with the paint on that surface. Thoughts?

You just very lightly sand it and use the correct primer. Paint store can tell you what to use. I am using BIN primer on the cabinets at the beach condo right now (mine are all wood though). Been working great for me! Lotta work, but worth saving the $$$.

EDIT: forgot to say, I am using Benjamin Moore Advance paint along w/ the BIN primer. Have done the cabinet boxes so far, doors are next. It takes a little longer w/ the Advance because you can only do one coat per day, but it's worth it.

 

[1Mouse2RulethemAll]

I just painted my cabinets. It took about 3 weekends.

 

[WIcruizer]

Cabinet Restoration by Rustloleum is a great product. Time consuming? Yes, but worth it.

We were also tired of brown wood everywhere. Started in the kitchen, went white. As an experiment we've had many people come over, asked what they thought. Every one of them said "you got new cabinets??!?" So we did a bathroom next, same results. We're going to do the other bathrooms too. Will get tougher with doors, windows, base boards, etc but one step at a time!

 

[xlxo]

Instead of repainting.... what about just changing the light bulb?

 

[teller80]

I'm assuming you paint the inside as well? Otherwise when you open the cabinet it would look weird? I'm lazy enough to just paint the outside lol.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I know what you mean about the fear of abandoning the possibility of going back to a stained wood look. I've been tempted myself but can't get past that idea.

I will say if I did it I would pay to have it professionally done for the result I want. I get sick when I watch them tear out cabinets in really good shape on TV simply for a new look, especially when they destroy any possibility of someone else using the cabinets elsewhere by not removing them carefully.

That really bothers me, too. Some of them look perfectly fine.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Getting ready to do this (or pay someone to do it). I had a consultant in my home Friday to go over a bunch of decorating/remodeling ideas. We will either paint the cabinets white or black (I'm leaning toward black). The one thing I was told was to use Benjamin Moore Advanced. Apparently a fantastic product for redoing cabinets.

Thank you! That's good to know!

 

[Liberty Belle]

Instead of repainting.... what about just changing the light bulb?

Not really the look I'm going for.

 

[FINFAN]

Instead of repainting.... what about just changing the light bulb?

We gave DS these as a Christmas gift (different brand)...he LOVES them and they are pretty awesome. addicting too.

 

[Straitlover]

I'm assuming you paint the inside as well? Otherwise when you open the cabinet it would look weird? I'm lazy enough to just paint the outside lol.

Depends on the inside color. My cabinets at the beach were stained honey oak. The inside boxes were never stained. I am painting them Shell White (SW color matched to BM Advance paint), doors, drawer facings and outside boxes. I do not plan on painting the cabinet insides or the actual drawers. I might paint the shelves (at least the edges that show when you open the doors), haven't decided yet. Gonna live with it for a little while and see if they bug me or not.

 

[FINFAN]

question: would any of you be turned off from buying a home with painted cabinets vs manufactured ones? Our kitchen faces north and in Chicago that = dark. Our cabinets are in great shape but would love to lighten up the overall look/feel and also get rid of our oak floor, oak cabinet, oak table quicksand feel, lol. I am very partial to the off white/copper combo for kitchens. Thing is, I am worried if we ever get lucky enough to move that the painted cabinets will be a negative. I am unsure how they wear over time vs stained? I also see that the pro's spray paint cabinets for a more even finish I guess...I just don't want to diminish value and then have to replace cabinets just to sell. I think it would be cheaper to just re-stain the wood floors darker for more contrast but that doesn't accomplish helping the room become brighter.

 

[elgerber]

We just painted our kitchen. We have a ton of cabinets and it was only done on weekends, so it took a VERY long time. During that time we were also redoing flooring.
We had honey oak, and went white (just a very very slight off white). We used the Benjamin Moore Advance, as mentioned above. It was not hard, just very time consuming. We did our kids bathroom first, to test it out. It looks fantastic and the finish with the Advanced is great. I would not use any other paint for kitchen cabinets.
Now to get a replacement for the darn honey oak table and chairs...

 

[Liberty Belle]

question: would any of you be turned off from buying a home with painted cabinets vs manufactured ones? Our kitchen faces north and in Chicago that = dark. Our cabinets are in great shape but would love to lighten up the overall look/feel and also get rid of our oak floor, oak cabinet, oak table quicksand feel, lol. I am very partial to the off white/copper combo for kitchens. Thing is, I am worried if we ever get lucky enough to move that the painted cabinets will be a negative. I am unsure how they wear over time vs stained? I also see that the pro's spray paint cabinets for a more even finish I guess...I just don't want to diminish value and then have to replace cabinets just to sell. I think it would be cheaper to just re-stain the wood floors darker for more contrast but that doesn't accomplish helping the room become brighter.

If it looked very well done, I wouldn't mind (as long as I liked the color), but if not, I'd factor in how much it would take me to replace them when I made the offer.