HOW I REPAINTED OUR KITCHEN CABINETS

Hey friends! I am sharing with you, my proudest moment. My very first attempt at painting kitchen cabinets. Here is the story behind why I decided to change my kitchen cabinet paint color. I chose PPG Horseradish as our kitchen cabinet paint color while building our home. PPG Horseradish is a creamy white color and as I started to furnish my home slowly, my design style became evident.  I wanted to have my kitchen cabinets repainted to a crisp white color. A crisp white color will also pull less of the warm tone with our wall paint color. 

We had a professional come out to give us a quote for this project. The quote was extremely high. Hubby and I decided to tackle this project ourselves.

Here is what the kitchen looked like….

This project took about 6-8 weeks of our weekends to complete. Hubby and I both have a full-time job and little ones (at the time, 2.5 years and 4 months old) to take care of.
Before we started on the project, there were endless nights of research, from painting tips, instructions and recommended painting tools.

PAINT COLOR

It took me a while to make a decision on my paint color but I settled for BM Chantilly Lace. It is crisp, white with less of a blue undertone. My top three choices were BM Chantilly Lace, BM Decorator White and BM Simply White.

For the kitchen island, I picked three colors and applied it on my island. I wanted to see how the light reflected on all three paint colors during the day and night. My top three choices were BM Coventry Gray, BM Chelsea Gray and BM Grey Timberwolf. I settled with BM Chelsea Gray. This gray has a warm undertone to it, which brings attention to the island.

…Okay, here are my step process for painting our kitchen cabinets.

Materials & Tools:

Benjamin Moore Advance paint – Satin Finish
– I went with Benjamin Moore Advance paint. I found great reviews online, especially with how the paint levels out nicely. But be aware, it takes forever to dry, hence the how good it levels out.
Primer (oil-based or water-based ) – Kilz, if needed
Paint brush – it’s recommended not to go cheap on this item so I went with Purdy paint brush (angled- 2.5’’ and 1’’)
Wooster 2in shortcut paint brush
Wooster pro paint roller
Paint sprayer – HomeRight Super Finish
Painter’s tape – Frog tape
Paint brush cover – help to keep paint brushes from drying
Painter’s pyramids
Sanding sponge (100 & 220 grit) – get your sanding sponge from your local Sherman Williams paint store. They carry sanding sponge that have the grit on one side and a soft sponge on the other side. These sponges are easier to use and would not strain your fingers
Paintable caulk
Krud Kutter
Cleaning sponge – used to clean as you go
Cleaning rag
Tack cloth
Drop cloth
pre-tape plastic cloth
Construction paper

Firstly, prep the kitchen cabinets

Remove all cabinets doors/drawers and label them accordingly 

I placed small pieces of painter’s tape inside each cabinets with a numbers/letters.The same numbers/letters were also placed on their corresponding doors/drawers.This is important as you do not want to have a hard time fixing the cabinets, once you are done.

Remove all hardware, store them in zip-lock bags and label the bags.

Remove all items inside your cabinets 
I removed all items in my drawers and lower cabinets but left the items in my upper cabinets. We plan to paint the interiors of the upper cabinets at a later time 

Clean cabinets with Krud Kutter cleaner to remove any grease and stains
Wipe down with a wet rag or sponge

Tape up the edges of appliances, countertops and other inner cabinet areas
..for example, inside the cabinets if you plan on not painting that area 

Cover the counter-tops with plastic cloth 

Protect your floors with construction paper and use paint tape to secure it 

Sand down all cabinets (drawers, doors, boxes) and clean with tack cloth
I used 100 grit sanding sponge.

Fill any holes with sparkle and caulk visible seams 
since our kitchen cabinets were fairly new, we did not have any holes to fill. However, I did cover visible seams with paintable caulk

At this point to reduce the stress of completing the project all at once, I divided our kitchen cabinets into sections. It allowed for our kitchen to still be usable while doing this project.

Secondly,  you are now ready to paint!

Drawers hardwares
You can either remove the hardwares or cover the hardwares with frog tape. I covered ours with frog tape.

Prime the cabinets, if needed
I skipped this step because the previous paint was a light color and the paint used was water-based. We confirmed that our kitchen cabinets were painted with water-based paint by testing it using denatured alcohol. You will need to determine if the previous paint is either oil-based or water-based as it determines if you will need to prime your kitchen cabinets before repainting. If you are repainting a darker colored/stained cabinets to a lighter color, you will need to prime your cabinets. You will also need to apply more than one coat of primer.

Once primer is dried, lightly sand with 220 grit sandpaper and paint the first coat

I used HomeRight paint sprayer to paint the drawers and cabinets doors. Spraying allows for very smooth finish.

The pyramid stands were one of the best tools I bought for this project.I was able to flip the doors and paint the second side within 2 hours. The cabinets doors with glass inserts, I painted them with a brush and foam roller.

Allow the paint to dry at the recommended dry time
A paint’s dry time is mentioned on the paint can. For BM Advance paint, the dry time is 16 hours.

After first coat dries, lightly sand with 220 grit sandpaper again, then remove wood dust with tack cloth and apply the second coat of paint
Before your paint coat dries, watch out for any drips and if any, lightly remove

Work on the inner cabinets 
In between dry time with the cabinets fronts, I worked on the kitchen cabinets inside the house. I used paint brush to apply the paint. Then I used foam roller to level out the paint.

Once all the cabinets are dried, install your hardwares and cabinets based on the label
This step should be a breeze as everything has been labelled…

Hope my process will encourage you to transform your kitchen by tackling repainting your kitchen cabinets. It is easy but a tedious process. But I want to ensure you that the time and efforts you put into it, is surely worth it. Above all, doing it yourself, is a huge money saver!

Let me know if you have any questions!