A couple weeks ago I shared my parent’s new farmhouse kitchen island that we DIY’d. If you missed it, you can read that post here. I think the butcher block turned out absolutely amazing! With their new white kitchen island, they also wanted new white kitchen cabinets without the price tag of brand new cabinets. Their cabinets were old and outdated but were in great shape and just needed some cleaning.
I turned to the “Domestic Blonde” blog that served as inspiration and a tutorial for my kitchen island as well as my parents’. As part of her kitchen update, Kelly painted her kitchen cabinets and they turned out amazing! My mother and I figured we could tackle painting the kitchen cabinets. If only it were as easy as Kelly made it seem!
Unfortunately I do not have a “before” picture to share with you of the full kitchen, however in the background of the following picture you can see the same oak cabinets that the kitchen island was made from. Unfortunately, this means I have no “in-progress” videos either. 🙁
The first thing we did was give the cabinets a good scrub with water and dawn dish soap. We figured that would really get rid of any grime on the cabinets. We then removed all the cabinet fronts and drawers strategically, keeping them in order so as not to get mixed up. We then used Jasco’s Easy Liquid Sander. Kelly recommended a similar product. I thought this would save us a ton of time sanding down the cabinet finish, and it did.
Because I had such a great experience with the Benjamin Moore Advance line on my kitchen island, we opted for the same paint for the cabinets. We color-matched the paint to go with the prefabricated island cabinets, so I do not have the exact color white we used.
Kelly from the “Domestic Blonde” said it only took her one coat to cover her cabinets with touch-ups! It took us a total of 5 coats! 🙁 I am not sure if it was because we did not use enough of the liquid sander on the cabinets and doors initially or if we should have primed the door fronts first. Pretty much everything covered in 2 coats, however the door fronts kept showing some yellow “bleed-through” of the oak grain underneath, hence the 5 coats. I do believe I would prime the door fronts first if I was working with wood grain ever again.
Because this paint is self-leveling, I do recommend thin coats. We did need to sand a few spots down and touch them up because we were pulling early mornings and late nights and unfortunately had some extra, unintended drips.
This paint also takes extra time to fully harden. If you are able to let everything dry for a few days before hanging the doors back up do so. We put two coats on the cabinets and door fronts before hanging them back up and painting the back of the doors.
While my mom’s primary goal for the rest of her summer break is to paint the living room (her initial goal), the kitchen plans will be put on temporary hold. However, I cannot wait to see how this kitchen comes together with new countertops, a backsplash, and paint.
My parents’ new color scheme for the house is more grey-tones, and I think the grey they have picked out will certainly pop against the white cabinets. My mother absolutely loves the tin and easily washable backsplash, so instead of replacing it we plan to experiment with some extra tin tiles and paint them white or antique them. She also plans to update all the trim by painting it white.
Lastly, my parents plan to install new countertops (and maybe new lights) to finish of the look. Pendants are quite inexpensive and I think a new one above the sink would serve well. As for the wooden light above the island, I think it could be up-cycled into trendy new light with some paint and stain.
