<p>My 40 year old kitchen cabinets are solid oak with REALLY wonky door pulls that don’t have standard holes. The cabinets need updating as the finish is shot. My thought is to fill holes, prime, and repaint a dark red-brown color and re-install updated pulls. Have any of you done this? Was your attempt successful? My kitchen is big and would require much work.</p>
<p>In our last home I called the painter to do this. The bids were high, about 30& below new cabinets. To do the job “correctly” one needs to remove doors, sandpapers, remove finishing, then paint…more then one coat…we would up replacing the doors. It was an expensive mess.</p>
<p>Why not just sand & oil them?
What style are the doors? Is there a lot of trim?</p>
<p>That’s one of my summer projects that I’ve successfully avoided so far! I don’t have too many cabinets to do or I wouldn’t consider it but we’re selling in the next year or so and I just want things to look more presentable. As they are now, they were painted once before - with a pattern!- and I want to “neutralize” them.</p>
<p>I did my mother’s kitchen cabinets. It’s pretty much the procedure outlined by bevhills, but I didn’t find it a problem at all. In fact, I enjoyed doing it, and loved the feeling of satisfaction once the project was over.</p>
<p>Just take off the hardware, remove the cabinet doors, sand lightly (just buy a round sander for about $50), clean with TSP; then paint with 2 coats of semi gloss. Not a big deal at all. And it saves lots of money over hiring a contractor.</p>
<p>I have off white painted kitchen cabinets (a color chosen to match a Kohler bisque farm sink that I didn’t actually end up buying) and if I had it to do over again, I would go with stained wood not paint. The paint just chips every time I make a clumsy move with a plate, pot or can. And the basement door is in the far corner of the kitchen so walking through with a suitcase or box nicks the cabinet corner. It’s a wreck but I can’t face the prospect of repainting. Plus they were originally sprayed in the shop so not sure how well repainting in situ will work.</p>
<p>^ Good point re: repainting in situ. Don’t. That’s one of the main reasons to remove the doors. Not only do you get a crisper look, but it allows you to lay the doors flat and paint them flat. No drips that way.</p>
<p>My DH repainted our cabinets when we first moved into our house 23 years ago. It took him almost two years! </p>
<p>They did come out nice but I was very happy to see the last of them when we gutted and remodeled 16 years later.</p>
<p>I painted our cabinets 21 years ago. There are some chips at a well-traveled corner, but other than that the paint job is holding up well. I’ll be doing it again soon, for a color change.</p>
<p>Oak will show a grain after painting. If you’re ok with that, just paint. For a smooth look, use a filler first.</p>
<p>Yes, you have to take the doors off. Other than that, it’s not a huge job. Clean them well, use a good primer and a good paint. A real paint store (not a big box) can set you up with all the right stuff.</p>
<p>I think painted cabinets look best in a color that is not an approximation of wood. That way it looks like a design choice.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the input! After reading your posts I’m re-thinking my original idea. Sanding and oiling might be an idea. The doors have an inset oak panel. The wonky pulls are centered in the middle of each door and drawer. (Typical '70’s) But they are very sturdy and heavy.Can I fill the holes made by the wonky pulls and still be able to cover with oil? Or should I stain and varnish? Would stain actually cover the filler, or would there be a forever “spot”?</p>
<p>We are trying to decide what to do in our kitchen right now. We just went through two kitchen designers and have decided we do not want to spend that amount of money. And I really like the cabinets we have, it’s just that they are very dark and we want to go for a lighter color. They are 40 years old, but very nice quality inside and out - all wood.</p>
<p>Has anyone tried this - [Rust-Oleum</a> Cabinet Transformations®](<a href=“http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/]Rust-Oleum”>http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/) </p>
<p>It would be time consuming, but if the results are as they state, it would be worth it for us.</p>
<p>Could you choose new pulls that will conceal the filled holes?</p>
<p>I did this job in my kitchen, though didn’t have to worry about drilling new holes for pulls. I wanted a lighter feel to kitchen and love the cream color. But have to say it shows dirt easily, sometimes wish I would’ve chosen a light natural finish instead. Tired of always scrubbing these cabinets. I think wood grain conceals dirt.</p>
<p>kitty56,
Funny you should bring up Cabinet Transformations! I used that product (the staining package not the painting package) with all of my laundry room and bathroom cabinets and the results were good. Tried it with the kitchen cabinets, and I think because there was a difficulty with the old finish, the results were less than wonderful. I only worked on 2 doors in the kitchen. That’s why I’m considering painting the kitchen cabinets.</p>
<p>In our starter house, we had hideous dark cabinets. We made dramatic transformation with an $18 can can of white paint, replacement of hideous green linoleum and stove, and intallation of new (but inexpensive_ formica countertops.</p>
<p>I painted mine several years back, from that ugly 1989 pinkish pickled oak. The top cabinets went well. I used a small foam roller to cut down on brush marks and a product called flo-trol to let the latex paint level out like oil paint does. Unfortunately toward the end I accidentally added double the amount of flo-trol and the paint never ever hardened. You could scrape it off with your fingernail. Plus I got in a hurry and hadn’t prepped those doors as well.
So yes, it can be done. Take the time to really, really clean and sand them. Set up sawhorses or something so you can paint each door flat. Hunt for hardware that will match the holes that you have. Look at topknobs.com</p>
<p>Yes I have - they make special paint for cabinets.</p>
<p>Take them off, lay them flat, and paint them that way. This way you won’t get any drips. We used the small thin rollers from home depot - I don’t know the actual name but they didn’t make any paint streaks or marks.</p>
<p>Use that as a time to get new hardware as well. it’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do!</p>
<p>Painting my kitchen cabinets is on my list of things to do…pretty low on the list now as I just yesterday finished painting the cabinets in my bathroom. I took off the doors and all hardware, sanded three times with coarse, medium, then fine sand paper. Caulked around all the molding, painted with two coats of primer (first a shellac based, then latex) and two coats of off-white semi-gloss paint. It looks really good. Still haven’t put the doors back on yet and shopping for new knobs, but overall, I am very satisfied with the results. Unfortunately I am totally exhausted. This has been an ongoing weekend project, first removing wallpaper and painting the walls, that has taken me literally months to complete. I am glad to go to work on Mondays so I can rest! LOL</p>
<p>It seems like a shame to take solid hardwood cabinets and cover them with paint. In addition the paint can wear off especially the drawers. I redid ours in a weekend. Remove the cabinet faces and all the hardware. Thoroughly clean, lightly sand and revarnish with low luster. A second coat will improve the finish. I replaced all the hinges but the pulls were a problem. The spacing on the old pulls was wider than the current standard. I thought about filling one of the old holes and trying to find pulls that would cover the patch. Instead I just painted the pulls black. A few years later I had to repaint the pulls. After 20 more years, we resold the house and the cabinets still looked good but I had to paint the pulls for a third time.</p>
<p>I am familiar with the type of cabinets and pulls (in the center of the doors) that the OP is talking about. My kid has those in the apt. she is renting and they are not pretty. So painting or replacing the pulls isn’t going to work and I don’t know enough about filling holes and then revarnishing to know if it will work. Perhaps there is some kind of wood filler that will make the holes disappear but if not, sounds like paint is your best bet.</p>
<p>musicmom1215, my hat is off to you. If I tried to do what you did, something terrible would happen I’m sure.</p>
<p>I’m going to give the TMI version. Since I had to redo (yes, after my original efforts) much of the woodwork in my home.
Preparation is critical- especially in the kitchen, where, over time, grease coats everything. Sand and re-sand and I agree with TSP. (There’s a non-toxic alternative, but I never tried it.) You have to get through any prior surface coating and sufficiently rough up the surface, ending with a fine grade of sandpaper, for the new paint to adhere. (Apparently TSP not only cuts the grease but abrades the surface.) I’d use oil paint over a top kitchen-quality primer. I also love a slim, low profile roller, especially for the primer; it’s so easy. You have to have the hang of things to use a brush well- I hate brush marks. (I’m now good enough. You can certainly practice. Not too much back and forth with the brush is key.) Dry flat. Sand lightly before each new coat. AND, you sand no sooner than X hours (no more than 6-8, I think) of the next coat. Waiting too long after sanding and something or other happens- some sealing.</p>
<p>It’s not hard. Pretty much the same goes for re-staining. Ask about using a stain primer, sometimes called a wood conditioner. This made a huge difference in how stain adhered uniformly, in our pantry. (Fine furniture is sanded lightly between coats, for a smooth final finish.) It’s really a case of just do it. Then you feel like a champ.</p>