Kitchen Cabinet Make-Over

The oak cabinets were installed by the owner in the early 90’s. They were custom built well and still in excellent condition. In effort to stay within the budget and update their look, we decided a fresh coat of paint and new hardware was the way to make them work. We were warned against painting them ourselves but leaving them as is would’ve distracted from the overall look were going for and replacing them was not in the budget. So, we did our homework, talked to the professionals and followed the diections we were given.

We started with sanding everything with 100 grit sandpaper. After wiping off the dust we then went over all areas with Gloss Off, wiping it in on and then off immediately thereafter to remove dirt, dust, grease, and some polyeurethane. Using oil based Sherwin Williams primer, we rolled it on with four inch foam rollers. In retrospect, we should’ve added lacquer thinner to the primer. Without it, the primer was thick and sticky, making it difficult to cover evenly.

Using satin, oil based enamel in Sherwin Williams matched to Valpar color, Portland, we rolled the interior of the cabinets again with foam rollers. A commercial painter recommended adding lacquer thinner to the gallon of paint which made application much, much easier with an excellent end result. We applied three coats of paint the base cabinets.

Because of the design of the cabinet doors, we will spray the doors and drawers with a commercial paint sprayer using the same sand, prime and coat techniques used on the base cabinets. The result looks flawless and professional. Here’s hoping the paint job wears nicely!