Once our cabinets were complete I added a beautiful stone & stainless steel backsplash as well as the purchase of all new stainless steel appliances. I am in so in love with my kitchen. Here is a picture of our completed kitchen.
Original Post February 27th, 2013:
This is a glimpse of the honey oak cabinets before. I had planned on waiting to revamp the kitchen but we hadn't even officially moved in and I was already painting these. I have ADD when it comes to all household projects, I can't wait to get started with every single idea I have in my head the minute I have the idea. This isn't always a good virtue to have because now I have an number of projects going on all at the same time.
Excuse the below before photo of our entire kitchen but it is the only one I have & I only have this because I took this picture to send via text to a girlfriend as I was trying to explain to her all the filthy (lots of dog hair in drawers with left behind utensils, spilled food & sauces everywhere) cabinets we had to clean out from the person who previously lived here. I have those photos as well but I'll spare you from reliving that filth with me. Inventor of 409, thank you!
Let the painting begin! I have used all Valspar products, I am Lowe's obsessed and it is by far the best paint I've ever used (and I've went through 30+ gallons in the last year) It's around $35/gallon for the Valspar Signature & worth every cent. I've tried less expensive paints and I had to paint a room three coats rather than two so not a real money saver. The paint color is called Stone Manor (#6006-2A), this took two coats, it's tedious but worth it. We have a ton of cabinets & I used about 3/4 of a gallon with a paint additive called Floetrol, which eliminates brush & roller marks. The Antiquing glaze is about $8 for an 8 oz. jar & that's plenty. It is like a large jar of black ink. I applied that with a sponge brush & wiped off immediately with a dry rag, if it seemed heavy I wouldn't dampen the rag and wipe again. The glaze is very forgiving, within the first few hours it will come of with a wet rag if you apply too much, keep reapplying and wiping off until you achieve the desired look.
Left to right: Lightly sanded & wiped down with tack cloth, two coats of paint, antiquing glaze applied.
Before hardware & crown moulding is installed.
Close up picture to show how the antiquing glaze brings out the natural wood grain of the cabinets.
One section of the three sections of our very open kitchen is finished.
Close up of the crown moulding painted and antiqued.
This was a $250 investment but $100 of that was cabinet hardware & another $100 was the crown moulding. Paint is cheap in comparison to replacement. If I get really brave I'm going to do a tile back splash, we'll see how that goes.
Before & After! The kitchen island (not pictured yet) is also painted a deep brownish/black color called Fired Earth which creates a nice contrast in this open area.
Hi LuAnn,
ReplyDeleteI used Lowe's Signature Paint which is a paint & primer in one. I completely agree on keeping the wood grain. I loved the way the Antiquing Glaze settled in the fine crevices of the wood grain to bring that look out. I have always planned on putting a couple of coats of polyurethane on them for more durability. A year later I still haven't gotten around to it & they have done very well. I've only had to touch up one spot where my dang dog scratched a door by accident. Best of luck to you when you tackle your cabinets, it's worth the hard work in the end. :)