Thursday, March 13, 2014

To Paint or Not To Paint.....?

Cabinets.
I'm talking about my kitchen cabinets.
I have a FABULOUS kitchen....
if you are into 1990's kitchens.
Realistically, we are not going to have the money to completely gut it for quite some time...
with two kids currently in college and six more right behind them,
any kitchen remodel is going to have to be on a serious budget.
I am talking SERIOUS budget.

If I had an unlimited budget, 
here are a couple of pictures of my dream kitchens...
Swoon....
and another...
be still my heart...

I don't want white cabinets, but I want light ones...
and I want it to have a slight French feel to it.
With topiaries on the counter....I LOVE topiaries.

My kitchen is fairly small and there really isn't any logical way to change the layout...
taking the island out would make it seem more spacious,
but we use the island every day and I don't want to lose the extra seating...
but I would love to change the cabinets, appliances, counter tops, back splash, and sink.

Here are a few pics of my kitchen as it is now...
and I mean now.....as in backpacks on the table and shoes on the floor now...






D and I met with a kitchen designer just to get a ball park of what a kitchen re-do would cost us.
We only looked at replacing the cabinets and counter tops...
didn't even consider the back splash or new appliances...
and that alone would be a chunk of change much larger than we can afford right now.
Sooooo...
I started thinking about painting our existing cabinets.
More specifically I thought about HAVING them painted professionally.
I am far too much of a perfectionist to try and do them myself.
While I probably would not pick the same style of cabinets I have now,
I don't hate the style and they do have a slightly "French" look if they were a different color.
What do y'all think?

So I started searching the web for pictures of painted kitchen cabinets
 and I found a fabulous blog, Evolution of Style
with wonderful pictures of her gorgeous kitchen
after she painted her cabinets.
These photos are from her Kitchen Reveal...
Before
After
Look how nice and smooth the finish is!

Jenny painted her cabinets herself and she truly did a fantastic job.
She has a great tutorial on her blog, Evolution of Style
if anyone is contemplating painting their own cabinets.
I know my limits, however, and would definitely pay to have mine done professionally.

There is one small issue about painting them however....
See the lovely microwave above my range?
(yes I am being sarcastic)
Well this lovely microwave is on hospice...
and I cannot find any manufacturer that makes microwaves this size anymore.
Any new microwave we purchase will not leave enough space
between the cook top and the bottom of the microwave.
So once our microwave has moved on to appliance heaven,
I will have to get a counter top microwave, not have a microwave at all,
or get a new cabinet custom made to match our old cabinets
in order to accommodate the new larger size microwaves.
I am not loving the idea of having to custom make a cabinet
to match cabinets that we may get rid of some day.
Thoughts?

I REALLY want a gas range....
you know....one like this....
Drooling....

I digress....
that is for another post.....
when I win the mega millions.

Sweet D is less excited about having the cabinets painted...
he really wants to hold out for a total re-do
 but I am thinking along the lines of 
"something is better than nothing"
and then we could get the counter tops and back splash done after the painting...
and come in at a reasonable budget.
I am thinking quartz counter tops...
subway glass tile back splash...
stainless sink...
Do I want to live with my lovely 1990's kitchen for another 10 years?
Nope.

Thoughts?
Have y'all painted your cabinets or seen a kitchen where they were painted?
New appliances are out of the question....
so what do y'all think about light cabinets with black appliances?
I think I'll scour Pintrest and Houzz for pictures with that color combination.
I'll get back to y'all...





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10 comments :

Vicki @ lifeinmyemptynest said...

I painted my cabinets (oak to cottage white) about 5 years ago and they still look good. I just touch up now and then if there is a scuff mark or chip. I didn't prime and used 2 coats of semi gloss. It was a job and took weeks. We also put in dark Corian counters.

Simply LKJ said...

We have painted cabinets (have since day one in our 90s kitchen). I love them (easy to touch up/wipe down). We have replaced our backsplash with white subway tile and our countertops with Corian (hubby and I personally do not care for granite/marble or the maintenance....we USE our kitchen). We have gradually been replacing our appliances (originally white) with stainless-microwave/oven combo is the last on the list to be done soon. My brother/sil had their cabinets painted a light cream and had them aged-they look fantastic and very french country. Emily (Decor Chick) painted hers as well and they too look amazing. I would definitely paint them. I have repainted ours once myself, but the last time had my painters do them. It is tedious and time consuming.

jane said...

Mine are that lovely 90's honey oak. Blech! Painting mine this summer no matter what.The countertops were replaced with black granite and backsplash with glass tile before we bought the house 2.5 years ago.

Sherry @ No Minimalist Here said...

I have the same dilemma with the microwave and have decided to buy a new one, with trim kit, and have it placed in our existing cabinet. Search for "placing microwave in cabinet" and you will find how to do it.

Linda said...

Paint is cheaper than a redo. We painted our cabinets and figured we had nothing to lose. Hope it turns out well. You have a great kitchen in the making. Linda @bushelandapickle.com

Nancy said...

look into annie sloan chalk paint...French linen is the color that pops into mind, search that too on pinterest, also have a board on my pinterest called "Allison" where I pinned a lot for her, another friend of mine who is contemplating the same things as you. hope this helps. I say recruit your kids and have a paint the cabinets party one weekend in exchange for you paying their tuition :)

Mary C. said...

I second the Annie Sloan Chalk paint - this is a total DIY - even for a perfectionist. Ask me how I know. After tons of research and experimenting we went with it and it is wonderful. Only prep work was wiping the cabinets down good with some TSP. Paint a coat of ASCP that will take less than 30 minutes to dry, gently go over with sandpaper, give it a second coat of ASCP and gently go over with the sandpaper again. We chose not to wax for durability. Instead we gave them a good coat of matte finish polyurethane and let it dry thoroughly. Then we lightly glazed with Van Dyke Brown glazing from General Finishes. Then gave it a finish coat of matte polyurethane. They are a perfect match to a custom French cabinet we had already. For your kitchen, you might look at ASCP in French Linen, Old White, or (my favorite) Cream. Good Luck. You can totally do this.

Kathleen said...

My kitchen cabinets , 2000, look similar to yours. We were building this house and I had dark cabs in my old house and knew I didn't want dark, nor white. I had one cab on each side of the sink done in glass. A few years ago I had the counters done in granite and new backsplash. I already had the ss appliances. It's not my dream kitchen, but I will never have that! Email me and I will send you the link to the post I did on my kitchen. It may give you some ideas on yours.
Thanks for visiting and becoming a new follower!

Tiffany Leigh said...

Hi Christine!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment on my blog! I will be sure to follow you along as well. I'm especially excited about this potential kitchen makeover. I think your cabinets look like they are in great shape! Not to mention super tall. I think you should definitely paint them. It's amazing what a can of paint and some new updated hardware can do. I work as a kitchen designer so I have seen this many times! As for your microwave dilemma...I can see how it is a bit of a problem. What are the dimensions? I can try to look for a solution at work. xo

Lobster Meets Peach said...

I love the idea of white cabinets but not the idea of keeping them clean. My five year old would ruin them in five minutes flat!

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Christine