Our Kitchen Saga: Part 1

The last time you saw my kitchen it probably looked like this:



Staining the cabinets was our first big project after moving into our house. When we originally bought our house the cabinets were a very light pine color. Originally I loved the way the dark wood looked. As I started reading design blogs and getting into decorating the house I realized I love white kitchens. (Tangent- my iPhone kept trying to spell check me into saying "I love white kitties".) What I remembered most about refinishing the cabinets the first time was how many times Brian said "I hope you like this, because we are never changing it" and how many times I thought there was really no need for pre-marriage counseling if we could conquer this task together. WARNING: if you are thinking of painting/staining your cabinets, this is not a project for the light of heart. It is so deceiving when you read the tutorials and look at the before and after pictures about how long and intensive of a process this really is. Although I think it will be totally worth it in the end there have been times where I thought I may start a new rustic trend where kitchen cabinets are simply primed and not painted and may or may not have a cabinet door on them.


I read several tutorials but am basically following the instructions from this site: http://www.younghouselove.com/2008/11/how-to-paint-your-kitchen-cabinets/


Step 1: Figure Out What You Want... Done!


After a lot of google deal searching and looking at white kitchens online, I chose to paint the cabinets Ben Moore's White Dove. We ordered the hardware from Rockler and are going with these:


Drawers: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16614


Cabinets: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=22853


Hinges: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5827 (but in nickel)


I was so excited, I got all of our kitchen hardware for $104 plus I will get part of that back from eBates.


Step 2: Take off hardware... Done!


What a pain, but done!


Step 3: Fill hardware (or dog chew) holes... Done!


Step 4: Sand them down (harder than it sounds)... Done (sort of, sanding seems to be an ongoing part of a smooth finish)


Thank you Barry and Donna for the electric sander we got this Christmas!


Step 5: Prime Time... done!


Note that after this step your hair stylist may ask if you are going gray early. I stepped in the primer and the person doing my pedicure thought I had some sort of disease on the bottom of my feet. We did discover that primer can be loofaed off though.


Step 6: Paint (In progress)


After 2 coats of paint on the frames the dark brown is still showing through, so I am thinking it will take 3 or 4 to totally cover. I haven't started on the doors yet... maybe tonight?





The kitchen is looking a little more like this now:




Still a long way to go to get my kitchen back, but the change is amazing to see when I walk in the door. The kitchen already looks so much bigger and brighter.