# Painting Ideas for Kitchen Cabinets? Help Please!



## clattin (Jul 11, 2011)

My wife and I are wanting to "freshen" our kitchen by doing something with the cabinets. The house was built in the late 20's and the cabinets are solid wood of some sort (my best guess is oak?) that have been stained. We want to lighten them up and are looking for some idea's. The appliances are all white and the countertops are currently and ivory color although we are planning on re-doing those as well; probably using the Rustoleum counter top transformation product. Walls are tan.

I was thinking a "white wash" type of finish that will allow some wood grain to show. Please give me your ideas! If I were to "white wash" them, would I just select a white paint and add a glaze to it? Could I use latex or should I really stick to oil-based? Should I spray the doors? I have a Wagner paint sprayer.

Thanks a ton!

Chris



















This is kinda what I envision it looking like afterward…...possible? This picture is from the Rustoleum cabinet transformation website.


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

Well, your're in for a lot of work. If your cabs are oak, the grain will show thru your paint job. If you don't want that look, you can spend a lot of time filling and sanding before you prime and paint.

Your "after" picture has very different doors. Are you planning on buying them?


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Slab doors won't give much chance to "hang" a glaze in corners or around door frames. Just no detail area.
You could use a pickleing finish that will let a light color to settle into the grain (and accent the grain) if ya want.
You will have to de-glaze the surface to remove any/all gunk that has accumilated. Denatured alcohol will do this. Then comes surface prep. I use a lot of non-woven pads (ScotchBrite is one brand) to scuff smooth.
SawKerf is right. Lot of work.
After all that is done, the new color is added, I would use a couple clear coats of a waterborn/based wiping poly to seal and protect.
The pickle will have to be a wiping process as would a glaze.
I wonder about the countertop refinishing. New laminate tops wouldn't be that expensive.
Are ya ready for all this?
Bill


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## clattin (Jul 11, 2011)

No, was planning on keeping all the doors as is….just refinish them. Yeah, I'm ready for it although I'm going to wait for warmer weather so I can do a lot of the work outdoors. Sounds like pickling is the way to go….yes, we would like to have the grain show through the finish

Chris


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## ClintSearl (Dec 8, 2011)

No offense, but your cabinets are so nondescript to begin with that I'd be inclined to paint them in a solid color. A satin or semi-gloss latex/acrylic wall and trim paint in a fresh light color.


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

More thoughts about your cabs.

1. They probably aren't original to the house. Yours look like 50's or 60's vintage.

2. Removing the countertops might be a real challenge. Many of them were glued to the base cabinets and don't come off easily.


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

Veneer. Get it in 4×8 sheets of 3m self sticking, get a few cutting tools for it and go to town. Your doors are flat so veneering them will be easy. It can be done. I made new doors for my sister and she veneered all the carcasses on her own having done no veneering before that. A sheet is about $80-$100. Looks like you'd need about 4-5 sheets.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

Your cabinets were very commonly made from Birch veneer on MDF with a Walnut stain. These were prevelant in the Southwest in the 60's through the end of the 70's. I'm guessing the interiors are either stained, or, raw particle board. Upgraded versions of these had a pattern routed in the face to mimic a raised panel door. (Not very convincingly though)

The cabinets in the third photo are raised panel doors and appear to be painted and glazed. The glazing gives it an antique look versus an antiseptic white look. Without the raised panels, glazing will lose some of the effect you are looking for.

If this were my kitchen and I wasn't completety replacing cabinets, I would look at refacing. 
Pressure sensative (Peel-n-stick) veneers for the cabinet box exteriors, and new doors bought from a local door shop. Stain the doors and faces any color you chose from there. If you paint the boxes instead of veneer, you can paint new doors to look just like the ones in the photo.
That would bring this kitchen right into the 21st century for sure.


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## clattin (Jul 11, 2011)

Great suggestions! Thank you! I may look into getting new doors made…..that might be too costly for me right now though. I'll also look into the adhesive veneer product from 3M…is that available at the big box stores? Lowes, etc?

Thanks!
Chris


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

rawdoors.com does nice work.

Nobody has asked, so I will: What kind of look are you going for?

Your current doors appear to be rabbeted around the edges (lipped). I have the same slab type, lipped doors on my 1960 Scheirich cabinets in the kitchen. Mine are lighter. They sand down real nice and expose a very pretty old maple veneer. But they're slabs and we're going for more of a country/shaker-with-contemporary-twists look. 
If you keep those lipped doors, you're really limited to a kind of mid-century modern look, but you may be able to use the rabbet to your advantage and make partial or full overlay doors out of them.


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## Earlextech (Jan 13, 2011)

I agree with Clint, I would paint these in a solid color, oil based paint, sprayed yes, but obviously not with a wagner.


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## Zboom (Dec 15, 2011)

If you can't spray I rolled on SW Pro Classic on the same type of cabinetry. I did it about a year ago and still looks new. The thing that scare me about oil bae was the yellowing that white would show. I will post a pic if you want to see them just let me know. I did have to sand and seal before I painted so you wouldn't see any bleed through


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## dbray45 (Oct 19, 2010)

Some of the paints and varnishes from the '50s and 60's had lead in them - if you're not testing for it, assume they do have lead.

Better safe then sorry, lead poisoning is a annoying.


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

I hadn't heard of lead in varnish. I know about paint (and other items) as I am certified to run an x-ray fluourescence spectrometer (tests for lead-based paint and substrates). We always found lead in older buildings. What's funny though is that the highest lead content I ever saw was in plastic window blinds from China.


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## dbray45 (Oct 19, 2010)

This is what I was told. Could be wrong but there are a lot of finishes out there and people have mixed the craziest stuff together over the years.


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## Earlextech (Jan 13, 2011)

These are production cabinets, I can almost guarantee they are finished with lacquer, I would also bet that the interior has the drizzeld paint finish, on particle board of course. They would only need a light sanding, lead, in my experience is not an issue based on what I see.
Always wear a mask!


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## cjwillie (Sep 6, 2011)

My house was built in 1954 and the kitchen cabinets were built in by the home builder. They were all made of birch plywood. I removed the doors and painted the cabinets white. All of the doors were flat with no detail. I painted all the doors hunter green and put on new hardware. I had to replace all the base cabinets so I made new cabinets and matched them to the originals. The change is amazing! The good thing about doing this is if I ever want to change the look, a little paint can change the look of the whole kitchen and it doesn't cost a lot!


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## dbray45 (Oct 19, 2010)

I know what you mean -
I tore out my builder cabinets and made my own - birch/maple plywood, the drawers are polar with hand dovetails, inset doors, made the counter tops from 8/4 cherry - the whole works.


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