Should I paint or refinish my kitchen cabinets?

Question

My kitchen is very small and "L" shaped. Right now I have the walls painted a sage green color, which I want to keep. My cabinets are plain with no wood designs or anything, and they're stained a very dark, walnut type of color. My floor is vinyl floor tiles in a light beige white marble kind of pattern. My appliances are bisque color. I'm wondering if I should paint my cabinets a cream color, or antique white color or if I should refinish and stain them a lighter wood color - like light oak. I'd rather restain, but I'm also wondering how long it would take to sand down to the natural wood color. Any help would be appreciated because I can't make up my mind.

Answer 1

Removing the varnish will be a huge job.

The quickest way to do it... would be to remove the doors... put them down flat and use an electric planner and an electric sand belt to get it off.

Besides that... you could try a hot air gun to melt it off.

Or the good old fashion paint stripper.

But first make sure that your doors are made of real timber. It would be unusual to have a plain door made out of solid timber.

If your doors are made out of particle board or plywood... none of the above will work. The planner and sander will rip them apart. And the other methods won't get the stain out of it.

In which case, the best way is to paint them.
Paint don't stick to varnish really well and will scratch back to the varnish each time you hit the door with something.
I use a product in Australia called "ESP", made with penetrol. It bond the paint to any glossy surface and eliminate the need for sanding. You just put one coat of ESP on your doors... and you can put any paint you like on top of it. But I recommend an oil base undercoat to start with.

Answer 2

I have done both. If you paint do it with oil base. I did mine 15 years ago and just touched them up last year. The problem you may run into is that they sometimes use lots of different pieces and grades of wood when making cabinets if they know they will be stained dark. You don't have to sand them I used a product that stripped the old finish off some cabinets several years ago. I only wanted to go about a shade lighter well really just get all the build up off. I had a small hallway kitchen so it didn't take me long. But be sure you do it with lots of ventilation.
My recommendation would be to try the inside of a door to refinish and see how it goes. You didn't mention your counter tops I'm afraid if you paint a cream color you will end up with a lot of neutral, sort of BLAHHHH.

Answer 3

I would work a little more and stain them. Keep in mind if you ever want to sell the house, most owners want something they can decorate around. A light oak color would be perfect plus it would help with the light look you already have going on. My sister-in-law has dark cherry wood cabinets and she is going to sand them down and stain them a lighter color. The job isn't the easiest but it is worth it. Plus, getting a paint that doesn't peel off is harder than you think. I painted the cabinets in my bathroom instead of staining them and after doing everything exactly like I was instructed, the paint STILL peeled off. I ended up having new doors made and staining them anyway. So, I could have saved myself alot of work. lol. Good luck!

Answer 4

I like your idea for painting them an antique white. But what about making them look antique. After you paint them you could sand some of the edges so they look worn. New hardware aways helps. If you want refinish them. Use a product called Ready-Strip. It doesn't have any odor so you can do it indoors. It also has a color changing feature so you know when its ready to wipe off. I used it on my front door. It worked through several layers of heavy paint jobs.

Answer 5

there are times when painting them looks nice, but I rarely see the effect last-in my opinion, painted cabinets lose their charm very quickly- oyu can almost never go wrong with natural wood but with your color scheme, you definitely want to go with a lighter finish on your cabinets.
It will take some time to sand them down but the result will be well worth it. Having a lighter wood finish on your cabinets will also make your small kitchen a little brighter and will open it up a little more

Answer 6

I normally am a huge non-believer in painting wood. To me, it is a shame. However, given the description of your kitchen, I think the antique white sounds nice. Since they are so plain, have you considered cutting out the centers of some (not all) of the upper cabinets and installing a frosted glass?

Answer 7

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Answer 8

i would paint them i think that would look so much better with the sage

Answer 9

They would be pretty stained in maple

Answer 10

i perfer wood myself.... it has great texture and "life" to it. good luck.