apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

it depands what kind of light is at day? sunny or not

I think the clean look is nice. If you're going to add knobs and paint, drill the holes for the knobs before painting. You might want to go ahead and add knobs and then see if you still want to paint. Good luck!

I have not personally painted kitchen cabinets, but I do know someone who painted theirs with latex THEN soon (less than 1 year!) had to strip, sand, prime and repaint with oil-based paint. So I guess my point is to use oil based paint to start with -- that is what is usually recommended for cabinets or furniture.

Also, regarding your desire to add dimension/visual interest, what about stock molding cut & attached to the cabinet doors before painting? I saw this done on one of those fix-it-up-to-sell-it HGTV shows and it actually looked great.

I repainted similar cabinets--they came out terrifically. It was particularly great because mine were dark-cocoa brown formica (unimaginable!).

I used KILZ oil primer, and I used oil paint. I did a light sanding before the primer, and several coats of the paint.

You couldn't really even tell they were painted, and though I've moved to another place, they looked great for 5 years in a hightraffic kitchen.

it looks like after painting with oil based paint, the kitchen would benefit of being retrofited with new handles and replace the hinges. the lighting also is abominable... but slowly slowly you'll get to that. we bought a house a year and half ago and it is a process. my next job is new bath vanity and refiting the closets.

I painted my laminate cabinets and added doorknobs and am really happy with the results. I didn't sand before painting them with primer and haven't experienced any paint chipping. I used KILZ Latex as a primer and then Behr latex high-gloss for the top coat. (The cabinets are Behr Toffee Crunch and the doors are Behr Sparrow.)

I have oak cabinets which look very dated (from the 1960s but not in a chic way) but are in excellent shape and (apart from the stain and fussy oak wood grain) are fine -- so I've been seriously considering painting them. Sand/prime/paint? anything else to keep in mind? (I will have to replace them eventually, long story involving poor design and bad use of space in the kitchen, but not yet).

May I add that I love that AT makes my 750 square foot apartment feel huge.

Even better is Fine Paints of Europe primer -- and definitely use oil paints, because it will hold up and is easy to clean.

Also, get yourself a Forstner bit for your drill (it's wide and makes a flat-bottomed cylinder) and make holes for European hinges -- it changes everything when you make the hinges disappear. Just use a powerful drill and keep it charged.

More on painting cabinets here:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/kitchen/article/0,16417,783875,00.html?xid=ApartmentTherapy-061407-newcabinets

This is my house, and yes it has been a process. Since the handles will be silver, the hinges will definately be replaced. That is not the only bad lighting fixture in the house (every stinking one was appalling), and it isn't even flouresent lights. Under that mess are two fixtures similar to this http://tinyurl.com/379yq4 and that entire area is recessed. But the drywall is unfinished, so that is a project in and of itself.

I was wondering if anyone had any pictures, especailly arin, that I could see.

If you like plan to refit at some point what about using something like blik decals to freshen up the look without all the effort of painting? Especially if you are not sure whether it will last.

http://www.whatisblik.com/walldecals.html

You could also take some of doors off the upper cabinets and use it to 'dispay' some of your prettier servingware etc, break up the block of cream....

I have these same ugly cabinets in my apartment, and had admired what Jane and Darko had done with one of their kitchen walls -- use chalkboard paint.

Has anyone painted their wall of ugly cabinets with chalkboard paint? Any thoughts out there?

Thanks, MC8 in NYC

My two cents: I can't think of a single instance where I saw doors painted a different color than the cabinets and thought "that looks great!" To me it looks very dated and screams DIY.

For interest, what I *do* think looks good (and is actually what I did in my kitchen) is paint the lower cabinets/doors a darker color or shade than the uppers.

In my case I took a behr color swatch and painted the uppers the lightest shade mixed at 50% (so that it reads as basically white but has the right undertone) and painted the lowers the darkest shade. While the specific colors I used might not be to everyone's taste, the overall result of different shades looks great.

coutina1227-
here's a photo before: http://tinyurl.com/yqa6at
and after:http://tinyurl.com/yuevrb

Jeremy is right. Don't do it unless you plan to take the doors off and paint the rest of the cabinetry. Personally, I would prioritize lighting over paint in your kitchen. Those overhead fluorescents are dreadful. You can buy different bulbs for them that mimic incandescent light, and that will make more difference than any amount of paint.

If you can get past the lavender paint (and stencil action), this video on youtube is a pretty good basic intro to painting kitchen cabinets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJXDbEVtNPY

Although, when I paint cabinets I also sand between each coat of oil-based primer/paint with a very fine (300 grit or higher) sand paper.

I like the idea of taking the doors off and having open shelving. As long as you want to display it all, that is! If it were me, I might take off the upper doors (and still paint the bases of it) and then leave the doors on and paint the lower cabinets.

I know you didn't ask about this but... I think the big ceiling light fixture is worse than the cabinets. I think it would be a good investment to get rid of it, open up that space and put a nice smaller fixture there.

As for the cabinets, I'd make them a light color (even cream or white - but no 2-tone) and give it all a punch of color by tiling the backsplash.

I really don't think that the cabinets look bad in the photos. I think that working on the light fixtures and backsplash would be a better use of time and money. Just my $0.02.

I really have to say that I wouldn't do anything to those cabinets until you change out that light fixture above there, because I'm betting that the diffusers (the clear plastic lens parts) are probably yellowed and creating an even worse light than necessary and that will affect whatever other color you try to do on the cabinets ever.

But I do agree that (once THAT's done) you could/should re-paint the cabinets.

If you buy those new Aura paints by Benjamin Moore, you can even get flat paint and it will still be washable, by the way, if you're afraid that the age of the cabinet might make too many flaws be visible with the glare of semi-gloss. That is the ONLY one of their lines of flat paint that they actually recommend as being OK for kitchens and bathrooms.

agree with other posters - i don't think the cabinets are that bad. i'd first change the lighting and i'd even change out the counter top before i'd do anything with the cabinets. oh - and definitely add handles. you'll be surprised what a difference that makes. i think one of the problems is that the counter is the same color which makes it all look very blah. add some visual interest through plants? i love plants in a kitchen.

Regardless of whether you paint or not, if you're NOT going to get hardware handles, etc., then I think you should get hinges that are somehow not visible.

And one way or other, your hinges should be consistent.
If you're going to buy (if you can even find them) visible hinges that match the ones that ARE visible to retro-fit the ones that aren't visible, then you should try to match the finish on the handles you get.

I hope those convuleted-sounding sentences make sense; I'm sleepy.

Here's an idea for something I helped a friend do in her kitchen. She is definitely not a power-tool do it yourself person but she took off her cabient doors, sanded them down a little, got some painters tape and taped a rectangle a bit smaller then the door. the she pained the door one color and the underneath color which was a very faded yellow ended up as a border.

you could do this with your cabinets. i would suggest doing a two step process. tape off two rectangles, paint the sections between the rectangles the blue to match your backsplash. when that dries, tape over that and paint your cabinets a shade or two lighter/darker (think contrast) than the tan/brown that is in your living room.

If you are going to paint I would use something like Cabinet Coat:
http://www.insl-x.com/Product_Summary.asp?ProductID=277

Or Benjamin Moore's Satin Impervo:
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/wrapper_pg3.asp?L=prod&K=intprods&groupid=23&productid=207#article

Most people recommend oil for cabinets, but oil based paints can yellow and they can be difficult to work with for most people.

We used BM's Satin Impervo and have had great results. It's only been a year but they still look great.

If you want to add dimension, I saw somewhere (and if I can find a picture I will post it) where someone cut thin strips of wood to create "frames" and attached them to the doors, then painted everything. I'm probably not describing it very well, but it looked really good.

Honestly, I don't think they look that bad though. I would give them a really good scrubbing and just change the hinges and add some knobs/handles. I think that it would surprise you how much of a difference some cabinet "jewelry" can make.

Good luck!

YES! My friend painted his old kitchen cabinets a high gloss white and replaced ALL of the hardware (hinges, etc., but without taking them off the wall). They came out amazing.

He even took his stove outside and spray painted it gloss white and surprisingly that turned out great too. Then he went with two shades of tomato/terracotta on the walls. The whole kitchen was revitalized and updated.

I agree that the clean lines are really nice. Those cabinets are keepers!

I'm not sure if someone said this already, but I'll ask. We have wood cabinets that look simliar and I'd like to paint also. Do I have to use oil based paints or can I use Benjamin Moore semi or high gloss latex (perhaps the new Aura line) on the wood? In other words, is the oil based recommendation b/c the cabinets above are laminate, not wood?
Thanks!

I really can't get by the ceiling light panels either! Agree with all comments about same, and about how the quality of the light will change with a new (incandescent/halogen) fixture and a clean, clear ceiling. Starting with painting the cabinets would be like ignoring a dime-sized hairy mole on you nose and going to a professional makeup artist!

Agreed - the ceiling panel lights must go. If you want to keep them, maybe look into something like
this - I imagine you could get other designs too if the blue sky isn't your thing.

Hard to tell from the pic if everything is as yellow as it looks, or if it's just a matter of poor lighting in the kitchen and/or in the camera.

I'd suggest a really thorough cleaning of them, and replacing the yellow lighting, and then, if they're not terribly yellowed, going with a nice, dark color for the walls and backsplash, which will make them seem whiter than they do now. The Blik decals would be great, too, I think, especially if you could do them in a corresponding color to the dark paint that you choose! At the very least, paint the supports around them, replace the plexi, and get bulbs that aren't yellowy.

Ack - I wasn't done!
The last paragraph was, obviously, referring to the cabinets, not the lights.
As for that light, at the very least, paint the dark edging/supports, replace the yellowed plexi with some new, cool white, and get cool-light bulbs in there.