# cabinet painting advise



## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

Hello........
I am brand new to this forum but I am desperate for some ideas/help deciding how to solve my paint dilemma. I am doing a low budget kitchen redo, meaning I am painting my cabinets instead of replacing!! I have decided to paint the upper cabinets antique white and add wooden appliques to "dress them up. My base cabinets are going to be a deep brown. We are tiling my backsplash and countertops. My dilemma is that I have a floore to ceiling cabinet with my wall oven that has one side butting against the countertops with upper and base cabinets .........not the problem, but what do I do with the other side. I have no idea how to paint this to divide my paint colors correctly. Right now this is stained wood.I need advise on how to divide the upper from the bottom since my cabinet houses the oven and has stained wood all around it. Help.......please......


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

I guess you are going to half to decide what you can you can "trick out" visually with this situation. 

Some pictures might help.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

These pictures are not great......and you can see how desperately my kitchen needs doing, but you get the gist of my dilemma. All suggestions welcomed!!!


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

Maybe it would be a good spot for a bulletin board, message board, or some sort of organizer.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

I don't think I was clear enough with my question...........since I plan to paint the upper cabinets antique white and the lower ones dark brown, I dont know how to divide this cabinet. You can see cabinet on the sides of the oven so there is not a clear line where the upper meets the lower. The wall side is solid so there is no dividing line there either. I considered painting that entire cabinet brown and then where the uppers beside it meet change to the light color. but I dont know know how that would look. I also thought about adding a think molding on the wall portion but there is not enough room to add it to the front anywhere close to the counter top.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

No, it is not vital that I seperate that cabinet into two colors..........just unsure what to do. My husband votes for painting it the brown color. the upper cabinets over the oven would be the only dark cabinets. all other uppers will be the antique white.


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## klumbsy (Feb 14, 2011)

I actually think the option above of turning the entire wall into some sort of message center for the family was brilliant. You could chose to cover the entire thing in cork for a pin board, it could be framed out and painted with dry erase or blackboard paint - the options for that are endless. If this is a convenient area in your home for centralized information, I would absolutely agree with that suggestion.


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

Even if you don't use the entire wall, if you just make it the full width you could paint above and below it to match the corresponding cabinets.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

That actually sounds like something I might consider.


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## tpolk (Nov 7, 2009)

whire on all will make kitchen feel bigger, then accent upper and lower


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

I appreciate all the ideas very much........I am not sure about the message board idea, although I do really like the idea, and I am sure it would initially look great. However as you can see in the photos, the side of the cabinet is very very close to the doorway and it is the door that we use most because it comes in from the garage. Thus everything that comes in enters through that door and I am thinking that our rubbing against it may create issues. And being a stay at home mom, I really have little need to leave messages. So, as yet that is still undecided. As for the face of the cabinet, I am leaning towards painting the whole thing dark brown to match the other lower cabinets since I chose that color to help hide little fingerprints and paw prints of the grandchildren and granddogs. I am hoping that since the entire cabinet is counter deep, painting the upper cabinets dark will appear intentional, as if we wanted to create a focal point. (one can only hope....lol) Again, thanks for the great ideas. I will try to post some after photos when we are done......but please be patient, we are doing most of the work ourselves and it may take a couple of weeks.


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## gtono (May 27, 2011)

*my two cents*

Hi,
Maybe you can paint it the top cabinet color, but glue square trim pieces that are painted the bottom color. like this:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20247261,00.html

Or, something that might look cool is to put glass tiles on it. A third element, but it can tie in the top and the bottom if you chose the color correctly. It's not too much tile, and it would be more expensive than paint, but might look quite lovely.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

Well.......we took a deep breath and just decided to paint that tall cabinet to match the bottom ones. I think it looks great. I actually like the contrast where the other creamy upper cabinets meet the dark brown. We also got the appliques on the doors and again, I am loving them. We havent put the doors back on yet, (hopefully this weekend we can get them up) and I will post pictures when we do. And again when the countertop and backsplash are in. Thanks for all the interest and ideas.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

*sneak peek of cabinets*

Not done yet, but getting there. Still have to do the countertop and backsplash and install the new cooktop, new exhaust hood, and sink/faucet


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## klmeenan (Apr 28, 2011)

It looks great! :thumbsup:
How long did it take to paint it? I am to paint my moms starting tomorrow. Hers are going to be dark and all one color.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

Thanks.........It took us a little over a week. Ours were in such bad shape that it took quite a bit of sanding. We sanded and primed and we sprayed the doors. And then let everything "cure" for 4 days, to make sure we didn't mess up the finish. But overall I am happy with the way they look.


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## tchew (Jun 27, 2011)

*kitchen cabinet help*

Hi, 
I understand what you're looking to do with that long cabinet. Two options- Measure halfway up the wall. Chair rail, then cork board, or black board the top section and frame it out with trim/molding. I think dry erase looks sloppy and cheap.
Option two- Paint all the cabinets antique white. Your cabinets are old and dated. They need bright and light. The only time I think the two tone looks good in when the kitchen is modern, expensive, with clean lines.
Only my opinion but if you go with the off white you can add color splashes with tile, new counter, and shiny new bronzed hardware.
Also if this is your first time painting cabinets make sure you use an eggshell paint AFTER you've fully prepped. Prep is THE most important step. Use TSP and thoroughly clean every inch of the cabinets before priming. Once your second coat of paint is dry use polycrylic semi-gloss(blue can) in CLEAR or else your paint will "yellow" apply several coats with a foam pad on a wood stick.
Taking this route will avoid brush marks unless you are an expert cabinet painter. Hope this helps:thumbup:


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## klmeenan (Apr 28, 2011)

actually all your cabinets don't have to be painted the same color. Their old cabinets were old fashioned, her current ones look more traditional now with the added decorative moulding (nice touch by the way). They have brought their outdated kitchen to the present without having to spend a fortune on new cabinets. 

I happen to love contemporary design, but I still like what they have done. As soon as a slammin' backsplash goes up it will be fabulous, and once that new countertop goes in, it will be stunning because they did it themselves!


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

Thank you klmeenan! My kitchen was so ugly and worn out when we started, that almost anything would have been an improvement. And although I am personally pleased with how they look right now, I am still second guessing myself on my choices (which drives my husband nuts). We will be starting the countertops and backsplash this weekend, and hopefull I will have more pictures to share very soon.


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## klmeenan (Apr 28, 2011)

I'm curious as to what you plan to do for a countertop and for the backsplash. 

I will have to post my moms horrible kitchen. It used to be worse than it is now. It had a faux brick for the backsplash and some awful thick black stuff for "mortar". It was horrible to get off. We have no money so I took it off and got everything as flat as I could then layered on some compound. Then I painted a really horrible fake (so bad I can't call it faux) tile. She wanted to see how it would look if she did tile. Stayed that way for 14 years. She is too busy raising one of her grandkids and now taking care of her 90 year old day. She is retired so she still has no money and has champagne tastes on a soda budget.

I saved my yardsale money and I have started cleaning her cabinets trying to make sure I get every bit of grease and dirt off them. I can't wait til I can start painting them.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

I am tiling my backsplash and countertop. the countertop is a 24.24 inch tile and my grout lines will be very thin to give the illusion of solid stone. The tile is a porcelean that looks like cream colored marble with a deep brown vein. The backsplash is 1x2 inch tiles (on a 12x12 grid) in a subway pattern. They are brown with specks of cream and dark brown in them. I am attaching some pics of the tile so you can get an idea. The counter tile is hard to see but it is really pretty.


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## klmeenan (Apr 28, 2011)

What grout color are you going to use? There should be one close enough in color to your beautiful counter tile so the lines almost disappear.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

I do plan to match the grout lines as close as possible.


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## Quimby (Jul 4, 2011)

Hello guys,..
I thinks the brown polish best for these cabinet.,
regards,.


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## cainpatch (May 30, 2011)

We started the countertops and backsplash this weekend........had a issue with my backsplash tiles being shaded so had to quickly find an alternative to the planned tile. But the good news is that I like the new tiles tons better. We got only one wall/counter done this weekend, but I am very happy with the results.

Also if you look close you can see my new hood. It slides out when you want it and fits flush when you don't. I think my husband did an awesome job of adding the false front to it. Looks just like the cabinets.


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## klmeenan (Apr 28, 2011)

I love what you chose for the backsplaah. It's even better than you original choice.


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