Are your kitchen cabinets looking tired and out of date? Is replacing them is outside your budget? Painting your cabinets is a surefire way to squeeze extra life out of that investment—and give your kitchen the fresh look you’ve been visualizing.

The Five-Step Process

While this job is fairly labor intensive, in just a few steps and some elbow grease, the job is nearly done.

CLEAN: Clean all surfaces to be painted with a degreaser (e.g., TSP, TSP substitute, citrus cleaner) to remove all grease and grime.
SAND: Sand all surfaces with a fine sanding block to produce the surface roughness required for maximum paint adhesion. Vacuum and/or wipe down surfaces to remove sanding dust.
PRIME: Prime all surfaces with a good primer. I use latex primer, brushed and rolled on. I allow the primer to cure at least a few days to ensure adequate adhesion and to make it more “sandable”.
SAND: Once the primer has dried & cured thoroughly, give the surfaces a light sanding with the sanding block to remove any nubs that developed during the priming. (You may skip this step if your cabinets still have a decent finish on them.)
PAINT: Paint all surfaces with a high-quality paint. I use latex paint, brushed or rolled on.

A Word about Latex Paints

Over the past few years latex paint manufacturers have begun to produce Low-VOC or No-VOC paints. These paints are clean for the environment because they release little or no organic compounds into the atmosphere.

With that said, I find they dry extremely fast, making it almost impossible to paint without significant lap and brush marks. Typically I add a retarder (e.g., Floetrol) to the paint to slow the drying process and give the paint more time to level and blend. My favorite paint is Sherwin-Williams, which has a longer open time and better leveling qualities compared to other name-brand paints.

Potential Labor Costs

Keep in mind that these approximate costs include removing doors, drawers, and hardware, cleaning, sanding, priming, painting, and a complete reinstall of removed components.

Cabinet doors: $40-$60 per door

Drawer fronts: $30-$40 per drawer front

Cabinet face frames: $30-$50 per cabinet

Cabinet interiors: $40-$60 per cabinet

Exposed cabinet sides: $30-$40 per side

Cabinet undersides: $30-$40 per cabinet

Crown moulding: $1.50 per linear foot of moulding

Toekick: $1.00 per linear foot

Costs for primer, paint, and supplies total ~$100. These costs do not include repairs.

Project Example: Brightened-Up Beach House

I worked on a project involving a kitchen makeover. The client wanted to reconfigure the island and install a new countertop, appliances, and flooring, but wanted to save money by refinishing the cabinets. The cabinets were of good quality and in good overall condition, which made them ideal candidates for painting.

As shown in Figure 1, the existing finish was natural oak. Figure 2 shows the same cabinets painted in Glidden, Swan White, semigloss. The upper cabinets were also topped off with crown moulding—a nice finishing touch.

One question you may be asking: Was it worth it? The short answer is yes – the client saved approximately $1,200 by painting the cabinets instead of replacing them.

SEE THE FULL PROJECT: http://www.heritagewoodworksinc.com/kitchen-remodel

Fig 1: Before photo of cabinets in a natural oak finish

Fig 2: After photo of cabinets painted with Glidden Swan White, semigloss

If your existing layout isn’t working for you, removing a wall may be the best solution.

The Problem

Many homes are laid out with many small, single-function rooms. For example, it is common to have a relatively small kitchen and a separate dining room. Neither room works well enough separately whereas the combination of the two creates a single larger, more useful space. Another situation may involve two rooms that feel disconnected by a wall. Removing some portion of the wall increases the connectivity between the two rooms while maintaining the individuality of each room.

The Challenges

Walls usually serve purposes beyond separating adjoining rooms. A wall may be load-bearing, meaning it supports floors above. Walls that do not provide support are referred to as non-bearing or partition walls. Almost always, walls contain utilities that may include water supply and waste pipes, gas lines, electric and phone wires, coaxial cable, thermostat wires!, and air conditioning ducts.

If the wall is load-bearing, a beam must to be installed to carry the load of the upper floors and roof. Light switches and outlets must be relocated and utilities have to be rerouted around the removed section of wall. The floor and ceiling must be repaired where the section of wall was removed. Another sometimes overlooked challenge is how to make the new layout feel original to the home. Because these types of projects involve so many facets, project costs can add up quickly.

**Fig 1: Before photo of closets separating kitchen and dining room**

**Fig 2: Closets removed showing gas pipe, and electrical, thermostat, and phone wires**

Project Example

One project I worked on involves a house with a kitchen separated from the dining room by two closets as shown Figure 1. The kitchen was narrow and confining, resulting in no room for even a small kitchen table. The closets created a barrier that isolated the host from guests when entertaining. The project goal involved opening up the space by removing the closets and replacing them with a peninsula. This was not a full kitchen renovation, so the new components had to look as original as possible.

Figure 2 shows the kitchen with the closets demolished. Fortunately, it was determined that the closet walls were not load-bearing, so no beam was needed once the closet walls were removed. Utilities to be relocated included two electrical circuits, a land line phone, a thermostat and a gas line that fed the dryer on the second floor. There was a big hole in the wall and ceiling where the closets were and the outline of the closets remained in the hardwood floor.

The result is shown the next two photos. Note that the view shown in Figure 3 is the same as that in Figure 1. The finished project included:

A peninsula comprised of:
- storage cabinets
- two-tiered laminate countertop that matched the existing kitchen countertop
- GFCI outlets
Kitchen light switches, phone, and thermostat relocated in the original wall to the left of the cabinets as shown in Figure 3. This was accomplished by rerouting the wiring in the ceiling, down to the basement, and up to the new switch location.
Relocating the gas pipe in the original wall
Relocating the dining room light switch at the end of the peninsula
New pendant lighting
A repaired hardwood floor. (Fortunately the homeowner had a bundle of leftover flooring.)
Base trim stained to match the existing trim
A custom oak bracket fabricated in our shop.

The result is a space that is certainly more functional and inviting and also looks and feels original to the existing home.

This project is a good example of the dramatic improvements that can occur when a wall is taken down. It also illustrates the variety of challenges that must be overcome to complete a project of this type. Although the challenges are different in each case, I would say that in just about every case it's worth the trouble.

Fig. 1: View from kitchen showing cabinets and two-tiered counter with GFCI outlets, and new pendant lights.  Note the relocated phone, thermostat and light switches in the left side of the photo. — **Fig. 1: View from kitchen showing cabinets and two-tiered counter with GFCI outlets, and new pendant lights. Note** **the relocated phone, thermostat and light switches in the left side of the photo.**

**Fig. 2: View of completed project from dining room.**