Kitchen cabinet re-do options?

[wdwfan16]

Thanks for all the replies!

Any opinions as to what hold up better - painted or stained? I've got 3 kids, so if I put the work into them, I don't want them looking horrible again in a few months from their messes or not-so-gently handling! I'm hoping this will keep me happy for a few more years until we decide we want to spend the money- or move.

Stained holds up better. Paint sits on the top but stain and polyurethane become part of the wood. Going lighter with dark stain is very tough.

 

[apnep]

I think I figured it out! Excuse the building material everywhere. This was prior to cleaning up and hanging new drapes. Prior to painting, the cabinets were a white washed pickled finish. The hinges were an antique bronze which I painted (used a hammered bronze finish spray paint) and I added antique bronze knobs. Now if I could only afford new appliances!

Wow, that looks awesome. Your appliances look great! They all match and aren't old. Nice job...I'm with OP, 30 year old crappy looking, dark oak cabinets. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaate them!

 

[gk90]

If you go to the Sherwin Williams store to check the cabinet color, my walls are also SW paint. The color is Bagel. Might help to see the color swatches side by side so you can get a true picture of the cabinet color. The decorator also recommended SW Irish Cream for the cabinets along with Casa Blanca, but when I looked at the color compared to the walls, Irish Cream was a little too dark.

I just found out that there's a big Sherwin Williams store hear us, anyone care to comment on thier quality compared to the paints at Lowes & Home Depot?

We have an older kitchen with wood cabinets and paneling--it looks like walnut or even darker. When we moved in 15 years ago it was in nice shape but now that we're thinking of trading up to a bigger house we're thinking that the walls and cabinets could do with sprucing up. So the quick fix at this point would be painting them. This thread has some good ideas!

 

[Mouseless2Long]

Having used paint from both Lowes and Home Depot, I will now only use Sherwin-Williams. Lowes and Home Depot paint will do the job, but as far as coverage and durability (which were important for me with kitchen cabinets) I am now a loyal Sherwin-Williams customer. There's just no comparison.

 

[kt_mom]

Having used paint from both Lowes and Home Depot, I will now only use Sherwin-Williams. Lowes and Home Depot paint will do the job, but as far as coverage and durability (which were important for me with kitchen cabinets) I am now a loyal Sherwin-Williams customer. There's just no comparison.

I agree 100% We've done a ton of painting in our house and had used SW paint for most of it. I found most times one coat would do. Even painting a light blue over a very very bright (think Carrie's apartment from Sex and the City) and we were able to do just one coat.

Fast forward and we decide to redo our 1/2 bath downstairs. I ran to Lowes and got a can of paint for it and it took 2 coats and in some areas the color still looks thin to me.

I won't buy my paint anywhere else now. The quality and service I've gotten from SW has been great.

 

[brerrabbit]

We are in the process of redoing our kitchen. We had pickled oak cabinets with a glazed finish. I tried to sand them then restain then ourselves. After 5 hours on the two smallest doors I gave up. Raised panel doors with a lot of areas, very hard to sand. We opted to go with a company through Home Depot that cleans and refinishes cabinets. We went form the lighter color to a darker Cherry stain and they look assume. I am not sure what they can do with darker colors but when I got home the first day I was amazed at how they had cleaned our doors. Seventeen years of using a kitchen can really get things pretty grimy. It took them three days and cost $2,800 for what are essentially new looking cabinets. Granite comes this week, and backsplash after that and for $6,200 total we will have essentially a new kitchen. We have bought all stainless steel appliances over the past several years and they really pop now against the darker cabinets, something they really did not do with the lighter color.

 

[uromac]

We are in the process of redoing our kitchen. We had pickled oak cabinets with a glazed finish. I tried to sand them then restain then ourselves. After 5 hours on the two smallest doors I gave up. Raised panel doors with a lot of areas, very hard to sand. We opted to go with a company through Home Depot that cleans and refinishes cabinets. We went form the lighter color to a darker Cherry stain and they look assume. I am not sure what they can do with darker colors but when I got home the first day I was amazed at how they had cleaned our doors. Seventeen years of using a kitchen can really get things pretty grimy. It took them three days and cost $2,800 for what are essentially new looking cabinets. Granite comes this week, and backsplash after that and for $6,200 total we will have essentially a new kitchen. We have bought all stainless steel appliances over the past several years and they really pop now against the darker cabinets, something they really did not do with the lighter color.

I know this an older post - but I was think of redoing my cabinets which are also pickled oak. As we just installed cherry flooring all over - the pickled oak definitely now looks dated, and I really like the look of a darker stained wood. Did you reface your cabinets? Or did they restain your original doors? How long did it take once you decided to go ahead with it? Did you find Home Depot (or the contractor) did a good job?

Thanks!!