The downside of maternity leave

Angela814 · September 2010

I've been watching way too much HGTV. Add that to me sitting around having to look at my ugly kitchen.

I want to do a total kitchen renovation. We have the ugliest 90s colored wood throughout our whole house. (It was built in 1992.)

Do you think it would look horrible to paint the wood in the kitchen and leave it as is in the rest of the house? The kitchen opens directly to the family room. The fireplace in the family room has a mantle in the lovely wood shade too. According to DH, the outside of the cabinets are wood paneling. So we can either get new paneling put on top and replace the cabinet doors in whatever stain we want or we could paint them...

This is pretty similar to our kitchen - layout and wood color.

Would you paint the wood white or go with a darker stained wood?

AnnapolisLari · September 2010

Paint white. As nice as the dark wood looks, it also makes most kitchens look like caves.

My mom redid her kitchen with cherry cabinets, and with the normal 8' ceilings, it looked way too dark and heavy.

j-w · September 2010

I think I'd paint them white because I think they will come out best that way. I bet it'd make a HUGE difference too!

belle204 · September 2010

I would paint them white/, change the hardware, change out the countertops w/granite (or something that resemebles it) and take down that wallpaper/border and paint. It will look like a completely different kitchen.

I've got HGTV on in the background right now, too. :-)

mlm1128 · September 2010

Paint them white. My mom did hers, and they look great.

Couple of tips for you...make sure they are very well sanded and primed. Also, mark ALL hinges/doors to the corresponding cabinets. Many people are surprised to find the doors and hinges don't just fit anywhere.

MrsStubbs · September 2010

I would paint them white also. I wouldn't stain anything unless it's solid wood.

Angela814 · September 2010

belle204:
I would paint them white/, change the hardware, change out the countertops w/granite (or something that resemebles it) and take down that wallpaper/border and paint. It will look like a completely different kitchen.

I've got HGTV on in the background right now, too. :-)

That's not actually our kitchen, just a similar one.

The plan is to paint the walls in "wildflower honey", get granite (or the fake granite) counter tops, and put up a mosaic tile back splash.

We have hideous gold ball hardware with a gold back plate. That will definitely be changed out too.

docmay25 · September 2010

I think painting white sounds good. It really gives it a fresh, new look and opens up the kitchen. Then if you want to change the hardware that will make the kitchen have a newer look.

My kitchen has dark cabinets. We just built last year and I chose the dark cabinets because our kitchen is completely open and we haev full sun all day long.

belle204 · September 2010

My bad. My reading skills failed me ... what I get for skimming.

firefightersgal · September 2010

Paint it white and get new hardware. It will make a world of difference without breaking the budget.

grja · September 2010

We painted cabinets white before and it turned out great. Make sure you use a semi-gloss paint. It makes cleaning them a lot easier. They also need to be sanded or primed first otherwise the paint will chip a lot easier. And take one of your existing hinges and handles with you to the store to make sure the holes line up.

Painted cabinets are easy to take care of too. If one gets dirty or I want to freshen it up before a party or something I just run a roller over them and it instantly makes them look new again in under an hour.

emilykristene2006 · September 2010

White cabinets are not really my style. I think the pics in my bio still show up. We did a huge remodel job on our kitchen a few years ago. We did the granite and I think the back splash you're talking about.

I would price out new cabinet doors. We have a place here where you can just buy the doors to replace. Much less time consuming than sanding and painting and not that expensive.

Have fun remodeling!