When we bought our house, we knew the kitchen was something that we would need to remodel. One of the biggest eyesores in the kitchen was the brown wooden cabinets (a popular 90’s trend). With 3 little ones in the house and constantly using the kitchen, we opted to renovate our kitchen ourselves so that it would remain functional while we upgraded the kitchen. This type of project might seem overwhelming, but I found thatworking on smaller sections at a time worked the best for us.When you work through the smaller sections, you can see the completed portions of the cabinets, so it motivates you to finish the other sections too. We worked on this for about an hour or two nightly once the kids were asleep for 3 weeks. 

Because we were already moved in and had things stored throughout the cabinets, we chose to paint the exterior of the cabinets and the cabinet doors. If you are able to store the items in your cabinets in another location while you are painting, I recommend fully painting the inside of the cabinets and shelves too. 

The first step is to decide whether you would prefer to leave the cabinet doors on the hinges during the painting process or remove them. If you choose to leave the cabinet doors on, then I recommend using painters tape to cover the hinges as much as possible. We chose to remove the cabinets doors and it also gave us a chance to clean the hinges. We put the hinges in a bucketwith water and dish soap for a few hours. Once we took the hinges out of the water, we scrubbed them with a brush(something with bristles like a toothbrush will work) and it helped remove the rust and decay that had built up over time.You will also want to wash your cabinets before your being this project with a water and vinegar mixture to remove any dirt or grease that has built up over time. We noticed that some of the old bumper dots on the cabinets were stuck on the cabinet doors so we had to use a Stainless Steel Scraper to remove them from the cabinets. This tool can be useful for other needs in your home, so I recommend purchasing for your toolbox if you don’t already have one. 

Once you have decided on removing the cabinet doors or not, there are a few very important steps that follow: sanding and priming. 

Sanding: Take your time to sand the cabinets and cabinet doors. Doing this will ensure the primer and paint will adhere to the wood much better. Also, it will ensure there is a flat surface for painting. I recommend using a sanding tool to make the sanding easier on the flat surfaces of the cabinets. We used this handSanding Tool that allows you to cut pieces of sandpaper and replace as needed. The loose pieces of sandpaper can be used if there are grooves or any other areas that need to be sanded on the cabinets. Once the sanding is done, I recommend using painter’s tape to tape around any areas that are close to the cabinets that you may not want to get paint on. 

Priming: While this step might not seem important, it is almost the most critical part of the process. I recommend using a high-quality primer to help get the result that you want. For this step, you will want to do at least one coat of primer, but doing two coats is more ideal. If you use a high-quality primer, the second coat may not be as necessary. When applying the primer to the cabinets, be sure to fully coat the wood anywhere that you willpaint. Doing this will help the paint adhere to the wood. I recommend waiting at least 12 hours after each coat of primer, sanding after each coat to ensure you have a flat surface. This will also help reduce the brush strokes in the final result. 

Next, you will do the actual painting of the cabinets. We worked in small sections and removed the cabinet doors so that we could paint the cabinet doors in our garage. We wanted a light and bright look in our kitchen, so we chose BEHR PREMIUM White Semi-Gloss Enamel Interior/Exterior Cabinet, Door & Trim Paint. This paint can also be used on other doors or trim in your home. We chose to keep things uniform and use it for all ofour doors and trim throughout our house. I suggest doing 3 coats of painting, with sanding after each coat is dry. The extra coats and sanding will make the paint last longer and help eliminate any brushstrokes. I found it easier to use a paint brush for painting our cabinets because of they have the grooves and are not as flat as other cabinets. But to paint your cabinets, you can either use a paint brush, a roller or combination of both. 

At this point, we initially thought the cabinets looked the way we wanted them to, but after a few weeks noticed that we probably needed to add a clear coat sealer because we are constantly using the cabinets and have small kids that may create scratches in the paint. In order to seal the paint and make the cabinets look even more finished, I recommend using a polyurethane semi-gloss top coat. We used this Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane, Semi-Gloss. For this coat, I used a different type of brush that is intended for this type of sealer. This type of Polyurethane Brush also helps eliminate brush strokes. Adding the top coat will also give the cabinets a semi-gloss finish. I recommend doing 2 coats of this, again with sanding in between coats. 

If you removed the cabinet doors, you will have to reinstall them with the hinges. This is also a good time to make sure all your hinges are working properly and replace, if necessary. Once the final coat is completed, you can apply Cabinet Bumper Pads to help protect the paint, as well as lessen the noise when closing the cabinets. You can also dress up your cabinets by adding hardware, like pulls or knobs. 

Painting your cabinets yourself is very manageable, even when you have small kids. I actually asked our oldest daughter, who is 4, to help us sand the cabinets. She had a blast doing this and felt like she was part of the process. As anyone with small kids is well aware, they LOVE to help and there are parts of this project that they can definitely help with.