Kitchen cabinet make-over

Over the New Year holiday, I painted our kitchen cabinets. Thankfully, there was no asphyxiation involved – I used latex paint.

When we moved in, the kitchen cabinets were dark brown. The cabinetry had been updated by a previous owner with new doors and drawers. The doors are beaded hardwood, while the cabinet framework is made of a lesser quality wood (maybe MDF or HDF). The drawers are interesting…they consist of plastic tubs, with wooden drawer fronts. The tubs are easy to clean, but do not hold as much as a conventional drawer because the sides are curved. The kitchen had potential to be a bright and happy place, but the dark cabinets were really bringing it down. I decided to paint them white to match the current door and window trim and the future wainscoting.

Choosing the paint was a bit of an ordeal. I first purchased KILLZ latex primer and Behr semi-gloss latex paint. I then did some research on the internet and realized that I needed an oil-based paint. It holds up better than latex in a high-use area, like a kitchen. I didn’t want to deal with the smell and clean-up of oil-based paint, but I also wanted the finish to last. Mike and I returned the paint and primer and consulted the Home Depot paint department on paint choices. We were informed that, with the recent advances in latex paint, it was nearly as durable as oil. According to the employee, the only advantage of oil is its “self-leveling” properties (which I later found out means that it doesn’t show brushstrokes). We walked out of Home Depot with items identical to those I had returned: KILLZ latex primer and Behr semi-gloss latex paint. I should have trusted my first instincts!

Once home, I washed the surfaces with TSP. Mike followed behind me with fine-grit sandpaper and a tack cloth. He then removed 110 screws and 22 hinges to detach the cabinet doors. I moved the doors and drawers to the basement to paint. (On hindsight, we should have removed the surface-mounted hinges and then washed and sanded. There was invisible rust/grime/dirt beneath the hinges that bled through the paint.)

Most of the internet references I found on how to paint kitchen cabinets gave instructions to paint the doors and drawers in place (i.e. do not remove them). That was not an option for us because the hinges on our cabinets are a fancy shape and mounted on the outside of the doors (surface-mounted). We would have had to either 1) paint the hinges or 2) do an elaborate taping job. Even if the hinges are on the inside of the doors, I recommend removing the doors and drawers so that you can paint them in a horizontal position. I was able to apply fairly thick coats without worries of drips on the faces. One coat of primer and two coats of enamel left me with glossy, white doors and drawers. I cleaned up any drips around the edges with an X-acto knife, after the paint had dried.

Unfortunately, I had to paint the framework (stiles) in its installed, vertical position. Because of drip worries, I applied thinner coats. It took one coat of primer and three coats of enamel to get even coverage. I couldn’t use a roller because it applied too much paint and resulted in drips. I had to use a brush for all of the paint application, and ended up with those dreaded brush marks. Oil-based paint may have eliminated the brush strokes, but I think it may have been more runny and drip-prone. I would have liked to have tried a foam brush to minimize brush marks.

I am updating the cabinet hardware. The existing hinges are rather ornate and I would like to keep them. However, they were a dirty brass color, so I painted them silver with a spray paint formulated for metal. I used four light coats and got good coverage while maintaining movement in the hinges. I bought 110 zinc screws to match the new hinge color. Finally, I ordered cobalt blue knobs to replace the present metal knobs. The knobs will match the future blue countertop. I am allowing the doors and drawers to cure in the spare bedroom while I await the delivery of the knobs.

Even without the doors and drawers, the paint job makes the kitchen look much brighter. I considered going with a white and yellow color scheme, working with the original appliances and counter top, but they desperately need replacing. The next two tasks will be ordering a new counter top and stripping the walls. I will begin tackling the walls this week – removing painted layers of wallpaper. Whee-ha!