Painting kitchen cabinets

[tommy]

tommy, I think it's obvious to all of us(except you) that you need to hire elyse to repaint your kitchen cabinets.

i don't allow egulleters into my home.

Even if they come bearing paint brushes and pecan pie?

hmm. let me give that some thought...nope.

[dumpling]

And if they are going to strip...and paint for you?

[browniebaker]

I recommend pickling the wood, for a lighter look, while minimizing the need for touch-ups later. You will get chips and abrasions over time, and the need for touching-up will be less frequent if the cabinet color is close to the underlying wood color. Pickling results in something just a few shades lighter than the wood and easy to maintain. The wood grain shows, too, which is attractive. Just be sure to keep the leftover paint in a mason jar for easy access when touch-ups are required.

[NewYorkTexan]

We had our kitchen cabinets painted about two years ago. They were that mausoleum brown that was the rage in the 80’s and had them painted white. It was a stop gap project until we look to a larger remodeling of the house. The old cabinets had a heavy coat of lacquer that had to be stripped off before painting.

We used a professional because I knew I could not due a respectable job on this, even though I am pretty good at painting. The whole project cost us about $800 and took 6 days. That included the prep work to strip off the lacquer, three coats of paint and painting the inside of the cabinets (we planned replacing some of the solid cabinet doors with doors that had glass panels). I figure the material coast for me would have been a few hundred bucks, it is a decent sized kitchen.

The project came out great and still looks good now. The only area that shows chipping is by the drawer where I keep the pans. When I pull out the cast iron, the slightest love tap will cause a chip.

If you do try to paint it yourself, remember it is a mistake to try painting without pants on.........wait.....that is for the spilling on yourself thread.

[enthusiast]

we're seriously lacking pictures here.

we need pictures of:

Tommy's current kitchen

NewYorkTexan's kitchen (preferably before and after)

Fat Guy's sister's kitchen

Evidence of Elyse's painting and stripping skills!

[elyse]

tommy, I think it's obvious to all of us(except you) that you need to hire elyse to repaint your kitchen cabinets.

I won't paint for friends.

[elyse]

we're seriously lacking pictures here.

we need pictures of:

Tommy's current kitchen

NewYorkTexan's kitchen (preferably before and after)

Fat Guy's sister's kitchen

Evidence of Elyse's painting and stripping skills!

I might show you in person, but the UK's farther than I can toss a stone.

[Priscilla]

I've just been refinishing my kitchen cabs ... meaning to reveal the nice natural maple under there, under there under what turned out to be like 4 or 5 coats of various things, including a surprise bonus Gumby green Kountry Krackle finish that had some sort of will-withstand-nuclear-annihilation lacquer resistant to the very most noxious chemical stripper.

Will never strip finish from wood again. Was planning to roll right into stripping and refininishing my dictionary stand but now will leave the stripping part to professionals. Refinishing, however, is aaah, a pleasure.

Of course in any painting job prep is key. Prep is also the Job from Hell. I love to paint; I HATE to prep. Yet prep one must, mustn't one. Really does make all the diff.

I think the advice about pickling, or distressed, or other forgiving finishes is sensible, and can give a good look. There's far, far too much True White in the world, I think. True White is the new Navajo White, have you noticed, coming along on the heels of our brief dalliance with Swiss Coffee White.

[Fat Guy]

Here in the East it's White Dove.

Pickling and other finishes of that sort are really nice if you strip the cabinetry down to the wood first, because the whole point is that they bring out the grain. But I don't think Mr. tommy is going to want to strip.

("stripping skills," double meaning note)

[dumpling]

Strip Tommy Strip! And show us the pictures...of the kitchen.

[tommy]

there's no way i'm going to strip anything. i was involved in a few stripping projects over the years, and i don't like it one bit.

the cabinets, as they are, look like the pic below. note the grooves every 3 inches, which will surely be the death of me if i paint them.

[enthusiast]

well it may be a flattering picture but they don't look bad at all. i'd spend the time on something else (stock making perhaps) and put the money saved towards the big refit.

(i'm not trying to sound like your mother)

[tommy]

enthusiast, thanks for the kind words. yes, they are in pretty good shape, and they're decent enough cabinets. however, they're just too dark, and the impact on the look of the kitchen is too much to bear.

[MatthewB]

tommy, just tape & cover really well . . .

Then get the band over & hand them paint spray guns.

[fresco]

It may be time to put a price tag on your irritation level. Get a few quotes from the pros and you'll soon know how much the cabinets really bother you.

[Priscilla]

What kinda wood is that? A wood freak'll be able to tell us. Beech? If it is beech, there's a beeyootiful color hiding under there wanting OUT.

[Blondie]

What kinda wood is that?  A wood freak'll be able to tell us.  Beech?  If it is beech, there's a beeyootiful color hiding under there wanting OUT.

It looks like maple to me.

[Suzanne F]

Maybe tommy should just put in brighter light bulbs? Those grooves look like a real bitch.

[Priscilla]

Blondie, if it is maple and they are good enough quality to make it worth the expense couldn't Tommy have 'em stripped and bleached and clear finished? Provided he and Mrs. Tommy can stand maple.

I like the light natural maple I found under the multi-layers of whatnot on my cabs -- at least well enough to hold me for now, until such possible time as, like Tommy, they are replaced outright. Of course this is a personal thing -- the school-furniture trip is not to everyone's taste.

[tommy]

Maybe tommy should just put in brighter light bulbs?  Those grooves look like a real bitch.

that's another issue altogether suzanne. right now, there's a big flourescent fixture on the ceiling. i like it because it's pretty bright. mrs. tommy hates it because it's ugly. but given the set-up right now, i can't imagine anything else providing as much light.

[Fat Guy]

Rooms aren't always dark for the reasons we think they're dark. You can have an all white room and it can be dark, or you can have a very bright room that's all deep-red. Quality and quantity of lighting make a huge difference, but there are also other important factors. I have a friend who's a decorator and he helped my mother decorate a space for a party. It was some awful basement space that had been donated. We were all standing around looking at the walls, trying to figure out how we could possible cover them up. We had all sorts of stupid ideas, like hanging lots of sheets from the walls -- we probably would have burned the place down if left to our own devices. When my decorator friend showed up, we explained some of our stupid wall ideas, and he said "The walls aren't the problem; it's the ceiling!" What he did was got up on a ladder and put all sorts of white stuff on the ceiling. And he brought in a bunch of cheap clip-on lights from a hardware store, all pointed up at the white stuff on the ceiling. It was amazing: the walls, the floor, every dark, gray, ugly, institutional architectural feature seemed to disappear.

[Fat Guy]

Maybe tommy should just put in brighter light bulbs?  Those grooves look like a real bitch.

that's another issue altogether suzanne. right now, there's a big flourescent fixture on the ceiling. i like it because it's pretty bright. mrs. tommy hates it because it's ugly. but given the set-up right now, i can't imagine anything else providing as much light.

Do you have task lighting under your cabinets? That's the most important lighting improvement you can make in a kitchen.

[Blondie]

Blondie, if it is maple and they are good enough quality to make it worth the expense couldn't Tommy have 'em stripped and bleached and clear finished?  Provided he and Mrs. Tommy can stand maple.

I like the light natural maple I found under the multi-layers of whatnot on my cabs -- at least well enough to hold me for now, until such possible time as, like Tommy, they are replaced outright.  Of course this is a personal thing -- the school-furniture trip is not to everyone's taste.

Personally I would choose wood over painted cabinetry in most cases (unless it's knotty pine which I can't stand). It's worth asking for a quote, but I don't think bleaching would give as dramatic a change as seems to be warranted in this case.

Fat Guy is right about the undercabinet lighting.

[tommy]

Do you have task lighting under your cabinets? That's the most important lighting improvement you can make in a kitchen.

since i don't want to get involved with an electrical project, i've been looking for batter-powered lights for under the cabinets. yes, i need more light there.

i looked all over, and can't find anything except for those flourescent deals, which i know don't throw much like.

i'd like to find more info on these lights before i buy one.

does anyone have recs on battery-powered under cabinet lights?

[Blondie]

i'd like to find more info on these lights before i buy one. 

does anyone have recs on battery-powered under cabinet lights? 

I don't know anything about the battery-powered lights but the one you linked to looks like it would probably be ok. For 10 bucks it's worth a try. You might want to check how far up the bottom of your wall cabinet is recessed from the bottom edge of the frame. This light is 1 3/8" deep, so if the recess is less than that you may see the bottom edge of the light.