How To: Painting The Kitchen Cabinets

I showed you the kitchen cabinet reveal and now I'm gonna tell you how we did it.  We used a Cabinet Transformations Kit from Rustoleum.  The kit allows you to paint your cabinets without sanding.  The color kit we chose was chocolate.  It's the same one we used to transform the master bathroom cabinets as well.

The kit contains:
Instructional booklet and DVD
Deglosser
Bond Coat
Decorative Glaze
Protective Top Coat
Glazing Cloth
Scrub pads
Stir sticks

You also need:
Paint brushes
Drop cloths
Disposable gloves
Screwdriver

First remove all the doors and drawers from the frame.  I laid the doors out in the garage and kept the drawers inside.  The kit comes with a deglosser that takes the finish off the fronts.  You want to take as much shine off as possible for the base coat to adhere well.  The kit comes with scrub pads but I bought more since we used the previous ones in the bathroom.


Pour a generous amount of deglosser on the scrub pad and vigorously scrub each door and drawer front.  You'll really work your muscles during this step.


During this step I also filled all the nail holes with nail filler since I was changing the hardware.


The next step is the base coat.  The kit says to uses a brush to paint on the coats instead of rolling or spraying.  You want to paint lines if you are going to apply the glaze.  The lines give the glaze something to hold onto.  I wanted the back and front of the doors painted so I started with the back.  Apply first coat and allow to dry a couple hours before applying the second coat.  After the backs are dry, flip and repeat first and second coats on the fronts.



You will need to degloss and paint 2 coats of the base coat on the frame as well.


I removed the drawers and sat them on the counter.  I just allowed the face to hang over the counter so I could apply to all sides.  Since I still had to feed the family during the week, I placed the drawers back in the frame and just left them pulled them out slightly so they could dry.  You can see where I did this on the drawers along the window side.


The next step is the optional glaze.  The glaze makes the paint a little darker and allows you to add a wood tone to the finish instead of just the brown paint.

Here's the brown paint dry.


Apply the glaze.  It goes on like the paint but after a few minutes it separates and looks like this.


Using the supplied cloths, wipe away as much glaze as you like to create the look you want.  I wanted the cabinets darker so I left more glaze on and the wood tone looks deeper.  Allow the glaze to dry 12 hours before applying the final clear coat.

The instructions say to allow the clear coat 12 hours to dry before putting on hardware and attaching back on frame and 24 hours before full function of the kitchen.  We didn't have a problem with this since we were working on it at night and the cabinets had until the next day after work to dry.  I would highly recommend waiting for each coat to dry and using the kitchen only if you have to.  It would be a waste to go through all the work only to mess it up at the end.



I would definitely say this kit is well worth it.  A little time and patience and you get a beautiful outcome.  Although I did mention to hubby if we want to change the cabinet color in the future, he will just have to buy me new ones, I'm not doing this again.

 

Comments

  1. WOW!!!
    That was a lot of work...we have done that in the past.
    All worth it, your kitchen looks FAB!!!!

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  2. Thanks for your little tutorial, now I want to do it to mine. Still amazed with your kitchen too. I'm showing my hubby this and maybe, just maybe he will say yes :)

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  3. I need to paint mine, they look just like your did before you painted them. They turned out amazing! I am your newest follower from the Networking Blog Hop! I would love if you would check out my blog and if you like what you see please follow back :)
    Modern Modest Beauty

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  4. AMAZING! The dark color looks so good, especially with your countertops and backsplash. Great job!

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  5. amazing!!! i will definitely try it out on our kitchen cabinets in our basement! Thanks for the tutorial! :-)

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  6. Andrea, your kitchen looks amazing! It's so nice to see alternatives to the all white kitchen. You did a great job. THey look like brand new cabinets. Congrats on all the features. You deserve them!

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  7. Beautiful job...they look so rich and expensive!

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  8. It's seriously amazing. You guys did a great job. Thanks for the tutorial and close up pics of the process.

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  9. what did you use to apply the paint? a brush or sprayer?

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  10. Looks excellent! I was just looking at one of those kits the other day and wondering how well it would work.
    Emily
    domesticdeadline.blogspot.com

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  11. Awesome job! I didn't use a kit for going white but this definitely looks gorgeous! Love it!

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  12. Were your cabinets laminate or real wood? I want to paint my cabinets but they are laminate.

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  13. Your kitchen looks beautiful! I am also curious if your cabinets are real wood or laminate. Mine look like your "before" picture and are laminate, but I would love to paint them. How many kits did you have to use to do your kitchen (and master bathroom)?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Michelle. Our cabinets are real wood. They were nice but I wasn't in love with the color. We only used one kit for both the master bathroom and kitchen.

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  14. I'm really thankful I found your blog! I'm just about to tackle this project. I don't love the color of our cabinets and want to change them to compliment our new counters. I picked the same color as you and since my husband doesn't care either way, the job is all up to me, haha! If this turns out well then I'll do the bathrooms too. I just need to make myself start it. I know there's a huge job ahead of me so I keep putting it off. ;)
    -Kelli

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    Replies
    1. Woohoo, I'm done!! Just a few touchups with the clear coat and it will be complete. What size cabinet pulls did you end up going with?

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  15. Your kitchen looks fantastic! Thanks for this great tutorial.

    Warmly, Michelle
    Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust

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  16. How much did it cost to do the cabinets?!

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  17. I'm thinking of using the kit too. How many kits did you use for your kitchen? Looks great!

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    Replies
    1. We used one kit. It included everything to do 100 linear feet.

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  18. What is the name of your lovely backsplash? And where did you purchase it?

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    Replies
    1. Check this post for details: http://decoratingcents.blogspot.com/2012/02/kitchen-back-splash-done.html.

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  19. Where can i get this kit at?

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  20. I like your blog a lot. Its informative and full of information. Thank you for sharing.

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  21. Did you happen to use the glaze on the cabinet bases as well or just the doors?

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  22. What a beautiful transformation. you did a great job. thanks for sharing

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  23. Amazing! Your Kitchen looks wonderful! What a great remodel. great job.

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  24. Fantastic kitchen, great pictures.great job.

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  25. Thanks so much for sharing. I get relavant information from your post.

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  26. What color is this?

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  27. I really liked this post in which you have shared about painting of kitchen cabinets. Thank you for sharing this post, Keep giving updates.

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