kitchen cabinets?

[nicolet]

Has anyone ever painted their kitchen cabinets? Mine are the nice 70's dark formica? I'm trying to decide on a color. I'll be back later with a pic.

[Nocona]

No, but I'm planning on it. Ours are wood, but I don't like them at all. They are old too. I am planning on doing some type of cream color and a light sage color. I think I'm doing to do the walls in sage, then do the outside of the cabinets in cream and the inset of the cabinet doors in sage. I saw that on Trading Spaces once and it really looked great.

[Bev]

I have. I first took them off of course and set them all out on the deck in the summer. :) Then sand them, prime them, sand them again with super fine sandpaper. Then I used melamine paint (I used white) with a FOAM roller. Make sure it's a foam roller, then you don't see the brush marks/streaks. Then sand again in between coats with a fine grit paper, and tack cloth to get rid of the stuff you sanded off that doesn't get brushed off (does that make sense?). I think I put on 3 or 4 coats. I also put on new hinges and door handles. It can totally change the look of a room. :)

[nicolet]

do you have a before and after pic Bev?

[Lyonsbaby]

Nocona...I did the SAME thing. We had the dark brown formica on our cabinets and I took them down, primed them, painted them a cream color, then polyed them for a little shine and protection from grease and messes that can happen in the kitchen. I painted the walls and behind the doors the sage color. its really pretty and totally brightened up my kitchen. I changed the UGLY hardware and replaced it with chrome. I reused all the hinges but I just spray painted them chrome.
Nicolet...I would definatly recommend painting them. The difference in our kitchen is like night and day.

[Nocona]

Theresa -- can you take pics? That sounds great!

[Dennis]

I painted ours, although I didn't go through all the trouble that Bev did. I just took the doors off, sanded everything a bit, then painted. It's not the greatest job, but as long as you don't look too closely it's fine.

Dennis

[Brooke]

We painted ours.

I'll go see if I have a before pic anywhere.

Before photos -
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4dd20b3127cceb9daad64a8ad0000001610 (javascript:openSlideWin(1, '67b0de21b398709da451', 47);)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4dd20b3127cceb9daad65299c0000001610 (javascript:openSlideWin(1, '67b0de21b398709da451', 48);)



Here's the after pics

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d627b3127cce8c65139e368a0000001610 (javascript:openSlideWin(1, '67b0de21b398709da451', 0);)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d627b3127cce8c65107d76f00000001610 (http://java_script_:openSlideWin(1,%20'67b0de21b398709da451',%201);/)

[Nocona]

Wow, that makes SUCH a difference, Brooke! Did you prime them first?

[Brooke]

Wow, that makes SUCH a difference, Brooke! Did you prime them first?
Yes. We sanded them some, not too much, then primed them and then painted. I think the paint took 2 coats.

Priming helps the paint to stick and also will keep any grease stains you can't see from seeping through the paint.

[jstauffer]

I can't believe the difference. Wow!!

[Bev]

Unfortunately Nicolet, I don't think I do. I'd have to check every album and then scan them. They ended up looking just like the cheapo white melamine cabinets you can buy. Totally changed the whole look though. You'd never know it was the same room. :)