Painting Kitchen Cabinets Tutorial

Now don't get me wrong, I love wood cabinets.

I think they can be beautiful and make an ordinary home look expensive and custom. Sadly, the wood cabinetry in my home did nothing but make my house look dated and cookie-cutter but I definitely did not have thousands of dollars to buy beautiful new cabinets.

So what do you do when life hands you dated oak cabinets? Why, you paint them of course!

Again I went to Google and searched for kitchens. I loved the clean lines of simple white cabinetry. I also went to Home Depot and Ikea and walked around their kitchen sections and looked at their cabinets. After deciding on the look I wanted I went to work.

First I removed all the doors and drawer fronts. I put all the hinges into one baggy, the current knob handles in another baggy and the screws that held the drawers fronts on in another. Most drawer fronts are glued on but because my house is a little over ten years old the glue wasn't doing much to hold them on. 

Here are my cabinets after removing the doors.

Here are my drawers after removing the fronts. 

You will need to clean your cabinets well. I filled my tub with a little water and a small amount of dish soap. I knew that the top of the cabinet doors would be greasy but I was shocked at how greasy the doors were where we touched them every day.

Gross.

I even wipe by cabinets down... sometimes. I used a scrubby sponge and scrubbed them clean. Then I towel dried them and set them out overnight to dry.

I then used wood putty and I filled all the holes from the old hardware because we had bought new hardware. I also filled any big dings. I used white wood putty because I was painting them white but you can use any kind that you can paint. I filled the holes, let it dry and sanded them. There were a few I had to fill and sand again. 

I primed the cabinets using Sherwin Williams Adhesion Primer. This primer is specifically for things like cabinets that are normally hard to paint without sanding or stripping. I would recommend buying a nice small roller, large roller and brush for this. I used a roller to cover most of it and then I used a brush to get into corners. I painted both the fronts and backs of my cabinet doors and also the inside rims of the cabinets. 

Image from Sherwin Williams

Here are my doors and drawer fronts after one coat of primer.

I started by painting some inside my house and don't worry, Mr. U got to them.

I used two coats of primer and I sanded after each coat. Next I used ProClassic paint from Sherwin Williams. This paint is specifically made for doors, trim and cabinets. It is a paint that drys hard and holds up against abuse. It is a thicker paint and while we didn't have any problems with it I know that some people have. Another good paint choice is Sherwin Williams Duration paint.

Quick money saving tip. If you do use Sherwin Williams paint, search for "printable Sherwin Williams coupons" online. You should be able to find one for 10%-30% off your purchase. 

Image from Sherwin Williams

We just used their base bright white because we wanted our cabinets to match out trim. I used three coats of the ProClassic but I did not use any sealer or top coat. I also sanded between each coats to give it a nice smooth finish.

My handy hubby also cut and added crown moulding around the top and small decorative moulding around the bottom. Because we were painting the cabinets white we were able to buy cheaper pine and composite moulding without worrying that is wasn't the same wood type. 

I just love how they turned out. You will have to wait for the big reveal to see the new hardware. I will also be doing a tutorial on why I cut up the doors on some of my cupboards! I am so excited to show you guys everything that has changed.

Faux brand new cabinets for around $150 for everything. Much better than thousands of dollars!