Kitchen Remodel Phase 2 - Painting the Cabinets!!!

Recently I learned that "white kitchen" is currently one of the most popular googled phrases. And I say, this is with good reason. For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted a white kitchen. To me, and apparently so many others out there - white kitchens are classic, clean and welcoming. I can remember when I was around 12 or 13 years old, my parents had been saving to remodel our kitchen (dark brown old cabinetry with PINK(!!!!!!!!!!!) Formica countertops. The floor was, if I remember correctly, some kind of yellowy-orange linoleum. It was a very happy day in the Howard house when we bid farewell to those pink countertops and orange linoleum. My parents designed a beautiful, bright and open white kitchen with light wood floors. We had a large farm style kitchen table and soft gray walls. It was probably my favorite room in the house (and not just because that's where you could find my Mom's famous mocha chocolate layer cake). It was a beautiful room and for as long as I can remember I've always wanted to have a white kitchen in my home. Here are just a few of my dream kitchen inspirations:

Kitchen Clarity

Decor Pad



Southern Accents



Now that we are homeowners and have a functioning kitchen (check out this post on getting all new appliances here) and I've finally convinced my husband I know what I'm doing....we took the plunge and painted our kitchen cabinets a lovely creamy-white!!!! In the link I provided above, I also briefly discuss the state of our kitchen cabinets when we bought our house. You see, we purchased a foreclosed home, and the previous owners had removed the upper kitchen cabinets (along with many other items) before we purchased the home. Before we even knew about this house, the bank that owned our house replaced the upper kitchen cabinets while it was on the market, but they couldn't match them exactly to the lower cabinets because the lower cabs had been discontinued. The bank did a nice job and we really appreciate this gesture; however, the cabinets don't match. It isn't glaringly obvious (you can't tell from looking at pics - at least I can't), but the hubs and I do notice the slight stain color difference as well as the differences in the trim detailing.

We had 3 options: 1) replace the lower cabinets to match the uppers, 2) replace both upper and lower cabinets or 3) paint the existing cabinets in the same shade. For the first few months, the first option (replacing the lowers to match the uppers) was the front runner. The upper cabinets were brand new, solid maple and good quality. But the color really wasn't our style (we have all dark wood tones in our house) and I knew that if we did replace the lower cabinets to match, it would be a pricey investment and in the end the kitchen really wouldn't look like what I was hoping for. The second option of replacing all of the cabinets could have been a viable possibility, but we would have had to wait a good number of years to save up the funds to do that...and we knew we didn't want to wait that long. Plus, as mentioned before, the upper cabinets were brand new and the lowers, while not new, they were still in good condition. It seemed like a waste to get rid of these cabinets. As time went on and I read about more and more cabinet painting success stories on so many of my beloved decorating blogs, I knew this was something we could, and should do! It would be inexpensive and allow us to keep our perfectly good cabinets...and the end result would be exactly what we were dreaming of - a white kitchen!!!! So, we agreed that once I finished grad school (back in December) that we would paint the cabinets in early 2011.

Painting our cabinets was very time consuming, not gonna lie, but it really wasn't all that hard to do. The most important thing to do is carefully research how to paint cabinets (check multiple sources, ask the pros, etc.) When you have a clear understanding of what you must do, be sure to stick to that plan.

Here is exactly what we did:

1) We removed the doors and hardware. Wipe off door fronts and cabinet base so they're nice and clean.

2) We used Kilz's oil-based primer to paint 2 coats of primer on the doors and cabinet base. I did my research and read multiple articles confirming that this oil-based primer could be used without having to sand the surface. Originally we were going to do a "test door" to see how the primer and paint would hold up without sanding, but in the end my husband (the dare devil that he is!) won out and we just began priming everything. While it worked perfectly for our cabinets, I would recommend a light sanding, just to be safe. However, I can say that for us, the Kilz primer didn't require sanding and it adhered very easily.

3) We waited a day or two for the primer to dry, then we began using our top coat (Behr's Vermont Cream). I used a brush and roller combo to paint the base and the hubs used a paint gun (purchased at Home Depot for $60) to spray all of the doors. We both did 2 coats and it took my husband under 30 minutes for each coat. He sprayed both the inside and outside of the doors, and he began with the inside of the doors so he could "practice" with the gun.

4) The hardest part: We waited a week to hang the doors (based on many suggestions, including my Dad's advice - a chemical engineer) for the paint to dry and "cure" as my Dad said.

5) To occupy myself during the waiting period, we checked out new hardware and settled on an antique-nickeled handle and knob set from Lowe's. We purchased 33 knobs/handles and it cost us just under $100.

6) I also occupied myself by painting the walls of our kitchen the exact same color as our cabinets. I knew I wanted a white kitchen, but would this be too white? I referred back to my inspiration pics, and thy all featured white/cream walls so I figured this was the way to go. And if I didn't like it, it could easily be repainted as there isn't much wall space to actually paint in a kitchen. I also touched up the bead board and baseboards with our trim color (Behr's Frost White). It is a-maz-ing the difference a fresh coat of paint makes on your trim work. For me, the hardest part of this entire process was painting the baseboards....I found this to be stressful and would love to hear any readers' tips on how to do this!

7) We hung the doors and installed the new hardware.

Here are some before pics of our kitchen:

When we first moved in (April '10):

And in December '10:

Painting the cabinets:

Kaylee didn't like being barred from the kitchen :-(

Where's Kaylee?! (a la "Where's Waldo?")

The Tres Leches mixed drink the hubs made for me when we were all finished. He is a good man!!!

And now:

I am so happy my husband went along with my crazy idea to paint those cabinets....he's probably even happier he has to stop listening to me talk about it now. :-)

Stay tuned for a future post on our kitchen countertop selection!!!

***UPDATE*** I have been getting questions on the specific paint color we used and questions about the sprayer. We used Behr's semi-gloss Vermont Cream, #2680115953. This paint comes with a primer built in, but we didn't get the primer added in because we were already planning to use several coats of Kilz's oil-based primer. I don't think it would hurt to get the primer added in, but I would still definitely recommend a primer basecoat before this top coat. This is a close-up of the top coat's paint can:

And here is a picture of our sprayer:

We bought the sprayer for around $60 at Home Depot. Here is a link to the product @ Walmart. My husband is the one that used the sprayer. He said it worked well, but he did need to practice before feeling comfortable and attempting to spray the fronts of the doors. He practiced spraying an old cabinet that needed to be repainted anyway, then he sprayed the backs of the doors. Hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions!!! We love our white cabinets and it seems like we've had them forever now :-)



I am linking this post up with the following parties: The DIY Showoff; Between Naps on the Front Porch, Skip to my Lou, The Girl Creative, House in Roses, Making the World Cuter, Keeping it Simple, Sumo's Sweet Stuff; Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Mad in Crafts, Support Blog for Moms of Boys, New Nostalgia, Hope Studios, Coastal Charm, The Gypsy's Corner, Tip Junkie, Trendy Treehouse  

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