This post is meant to inspire you to paint your kitchen cupboards. We have done it twice- once we hired someone, and this time we did it ourselves. It is not as hard as it appears. There is no sanding involved. The hardest part is taking the cupboards down and putting them back up. Oh and waiting for the hour or two in between coats. You really should just go for it. It makes a world of difference.
The how to:
1. Buy your paint- ours is from Kelly Moore called "soft white" and we purchased semi-gloss.
2. Buy an oil based white primer. It must be oil based so that you don't have to sand and it will still stick to your finished wood.
3. Take the cupboards down and set up a work area in your garage.
4. Only do half of the kitchen at a time. If you attempt to do your entire kitchen you will end up exhausted, angry, and awake all night finishing.
5. Prime the cupboards in the garage, and prime the wood in the kitchen. Open all of your windows and get a fan going- oil based primer smells baaaaad.
6. Wait a day and then paint the first coat of semi-gloss on.
7. Wait a couple of hours and paint the second coat.
8. Wait a day and hang your cupboards up again!
And that's it.
9. Some people do a polyurethane top coat- I don't think it's necessary.
We still only have half of the kitchen done. We're waiting for an open weekend to finish. We are also planning on buying some knobs.
The reason we did it is because I hate the wood color and with the black countertops our kitchen was a dark cave. The white reflects light from the windows and I feel like I'm in a new place - it made a huge difference! White just feels so clean too.
See how easy? Now go try it yourself. Turn on some music, plan your Friday evening and Saturday around it and you're good to go.
30 comments:
Looking good!
It looks so crisp & clean!! I've been wanting to paint my cabinets for YEARS!!! Thanks for the how-to! We're looking into redoing our countertops and the granite that I L-O-V-E and want to install is a bit darker also. I knew I wanted to do the cabinets but was too afraid to tackle it myself.
So was the hardest part really taking down and rehanging cupboard doors or talking the hubby into it? (That's where I hit a wall)
love it!
Wow, such a difference...and I totally have kitchen envy. That is a great layout.
i did this once about five years ago. it was an old house and the wood was dark and hideous. painting plus changing the hardware completely changed the look.
you guys did a great job! it looks super.
This looks FABULOUS!! WOW!
Someone was just saying yesterday how they wished Denae would post pictures of her painted kitchen! Voila!
I love them! I think I would have been too scared to do it. You and Dave are so handy, is there anything you can't do?
They look amazing!!!!!! I am totally going to do ours now. ASAP! It does make a huge difference. I even love the soft white color and might use the exact same one!
You did such a good job. I hope we don't screw ours up.
they look awesome, think I will have to come see them live.
Very impressive! I love the white.
This post is going to kill Brooke. She is dying to get her cabinents painted. I just spent a couple weeks trying to talk her out of it. This will make her want to do it again. Yours look so good! It's awesome the you have dark countertops for contrast. In her house everything is light so if she did the cabinets white (like she wants to) it would be completely white. Anyway, great job and thanks for the tutorial. I wish I could paint my rental!
Looks great! You've inspired me. I will have to put that on the list of house projects to do.
I love it Denae! It really looks great and has brightened up the whole kitchen!
It looks fantastic; I am so jealous. I adore white cabinets. We too have black granite and dark wood. It drives me bonkers but my husband won't let me touch it. One day...
My favorite kitchens are the ones with dark countertops and white cabinets. One of my all time faves is Ina Garten's (the Barefoot Contessa) kitchen. Black granite, white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and sage green paint on the walls. Beautiful! Good luck finishing the rest of the kitchen!
Did you spray or paintbrush??!!
looks great!
Really? That easy? Does your husband hate painting? Ryan does and I don't know if I could talk him into it. He's kind of a perfectionist about that kind of stuff, so it totally stresses him out. I'm showing him this post. I also want to send you a photo and have you tell me what color to do mine...I don't think white is the best idea. I have a nice OPEN kitchen and it doesn't need the white. I just HATE my wood color cabinets.
looks super cute!
I need to come see in person - we are going to do ours really soon (next weekend maybe??) so I want to check them out.
Wow. I'm speechless. Ashley is right, I want to paint mine so bad and with your tutorial, I think I could do it. My problem is that I need to either change my floors or my appliances and paint to off-set the all white.
Yours look amazing! Did you change some of the cabinets to glass-front? If so, how? Also, I love the light blue paint in the kitchen. It looks so good, I might have to start talking about doing mine again.
Oh, your kitchen is just so beautiful! I painted the cabinets in our kitchen once. It was a lot of work but WOW it was worth it. I keep thinking about painting my current ones, but haven't gotten brave enough to carve out the time yet. I can't wait tos ee a picture when the whole kitchen is done!
Way to go Harlows! It looks awesome! How exciting. I, too, love the white look-especially with your black granite! Looks fantastic.
It looks amazing! Wish I could go for it, but I have the white tile countertops which must go first. Love the windowed doors too! So great Denae & Dave.
Amy- yes paint with a brush- not spray! We used a roller a little bit and then went over it with a brush. Do VERY THIN coats.
Denae, it looks so, so, so, so fantastic!!!! I love it!
I am not lying...I am copying off this post and showing it to my husband. My kitchen is dark, dark, dark. I need a pick me up with the crisp, clean white.
So want to do a cabinet makeover.The hubs is not interested...waah!
Those look awesome great work!!! Love your photography new pics too you are amazing!!
OH-- I love few things more than white kitchen cabinets. It drives me MAD that the homes out here don't even offer them as an upgrade.
Where's the before photo??
wow- it makes it so much lighter and happier!
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