Kitchen Cabinet Refresh

When we bought Wallpaper Acres, a kitchen remodel was one of the main items that the house needed, John and I both agreed on that. However, I do not know if you have seen the totals for kitchen remodels, but let's just say that a full gut and remodel was not in the budget for this time. As we started to work on other parts of the house, it became apparent that the kitchen was something that needed to be addressed...dirty dishes still in the dishwasher, soiled cabinet liners, expired canned goods...the kitchen was a place that did not feel tidy. Then John shattered the stove so we took that as a sign that we would tackle a Kitchen "Refresh" instead of an overall remodel prior to moving in. The first step of this project would be the cabinets.

From the beginning, the kitchen was dark! Black appliances, black-stained cabinets, and...you guessed it...black countertops; there was not a light color to be found. Let's circle back to the black-stained cabinets: they were stained with black ebony stain that was rubbed on but never rubbed off so the heavy stain just sat on the cabinets. And where the previous owners didn't feel like staining...they put black, wood-grained contact paper on them (yes, a wallpaper for the cabinets...).

Let me remind you of what the kitchen originally looked like...

The most important part of updating existing cabinetry is easily the prep work as that could make or break the success of the project. You have grease, water stains, food remnants, etc. that need to be considered. John removed all the doors and drawer faces along with the hardware. From there, I cleaned all the surfaces with soapy water. Next, you have to sand the surfaces that you are going to paint...let me remind you that it was black ebony stain...that stuff was nasty when sanding it off! Black dust was going everywhere and it was staining my hands. Let's just say that the cleaning and sanding of the cabinets was well needed.

After the cabinets and cabinet doors had been cleaned and sanded, we took a dust rag and wiped them down to get the first layer of dust off of them. Then, we took acetone and a cloth and wiped down all the surfaces and crevices to get any remaining particulates off. Lastly, we used tack clothes to wipe down the surface one last time to remove any remaining dirt/dust. That is important for the proper adhesion of primer. Next up was taping the cabinets so that paint did not ruin the interiors. That was a tedious process but much needed.

There are many methods to paint cabinets and a lot of people use a roller and brush but we have a paint sprayer so we opted to use that. After John did some research, we bought a different tip for the sprayer that did 4-inch wide sections to allow for a more focused spray. The primer was a hard-bonding primer and that basically just means that it will stick to anything...like previously dingy cabinets that we attempted to clean. The primer was white and our cabinets were black...so we did do 3 coats of primer on the cabinet doors and two coats on the cabinet frames to help coverup the black as we decided on a white cabinet color, Shoji White (Sherwin Williams). Caulk was also our friend in this project as there were now some very noticeable gaps that you previously could not see in the dark kitchen but now it was bright white and gaps make shadows...which are very noticeable on white backgrounds.

Once the primer and caulk dried, we used an enamel paint that also was self-leveling to give the cabinets a flawless finish. Plus, an enamel finish also will help with cleaning in the future. Both the cabinet drawers and frames took 4 coats of paint and they look great!

Ultimately this project was a success due to the notorious prep work that went into painting them. If we had not prepped the way we needed to, we would not have got the finish that we did. I would say that we had a 98% success rate with minimal touchups needed!

Take a look at the process below and look how great the cabinets look with the sink, counter and oven installed!

Cabinet doors prior to sanding

Cabinet doors post-sanding

Fancy cabinet wallpaper...I cannot make this up - they stuck contact paper to the outside of the cabinets...

Contact paper was on the side of the peninsula too so John had to cut a new cabinet skin.

Prepping the cabinets with tape and plastic

First coat of primer on cabinets and doors - they just soaked the primer right up!

Three coats of primer and four coats of paint later...

And to save the best for last...look at the cabinets with the butcherblock and appliances!!!