Painting Kitchen Cabinets

When we were house hunting I am pretty sure every house we saw had 1990s oak cabinets so I knew I’d be painting whatever we picked right away! Lucky for me I already had a trial run in our first place so was excited to get it done perfect this go around. (If you want to see how they are holding up five years later click here!)

Ok step one..remeber to take a good before picture (something I always seem to forget to do)

This is sooo important! Draw a layout of your kitchen and number the doors. Now grab painters tape write the numbers down and put them on the doors. This will save you quite the headache when you go to hang them back up.

Next it’s time to take all the cabinets off and all the hardware. I always use some soap and water to wipe down the cabinets from all the prior grease.

I wasn’t thrilled with how high my knobs were so I used wood filler to cover up all the holes.

This is probably the worst / most boring part but so important. Use a sander with fine sand paper and sand the doors down so that primer really sticks! Make sure you dust them off when finished.

Okay now it’s time to start finally seeing the transformation! I always use a paint brush to get my paint on the surface and go over everything with a foam cabinet roller. The foam roller is what gives you that perfectly smooth finish. Below is the primer I used and highly recommend.

I did two coats of this on everything including the base.

Remember primer isn’t that pretty so don’t get worried. Once done with the two coats lightly sand any spots that seem not so smooth.

Ok another big step coming! THE PAINT! Now I’ve done my fair share of diy projects and tested out/researched soooooo many different paints and believe me when I say this is the best paint ever… Benjamin Moore Advance paint. It’s basically made for a streak free long lasting painted kitchen. My only complaint is it going on thin so you have do a lot of coats but it is worth it. Believe me!

Also make sure you follow the drying times. I’ve learned the hard way and it will streak and you will have to sand down all your hard work. I usually wait a full 24 hours in between coats just to be safe.

I used simply white in a satin finish.

Make sure you use that foam roller!

Can finally see a change and it’s soooo exciting! I think I ended up doing about three or four coats of paint. Below is how I laid out my cabinets to paint.

Covering up your dining table makes a perfect paint space!

Let them dry for a day or two before hanging. The longer you wait the stronger the paint gets.

Now hang those cabinets and put on some new hardware and I swear you will think you have a new kitchen!

I have since also painted my backsplash using the same paint (pic above) click here for tutorial.

Below is after some more renovations….BUT still the same cabinets!!