A DIY story that might inspire you to take on those yellow oak cabinets from the 90's
At first glance it looked like way too much work! The house was cute and less than 1100 square feet. But for a house of this size, the kitchen was huge, especially for a future midterm rental. It has cabinet and countertop space galore. Some of the drawers had special pull out features that are an organizer's dream come true. The idea of what it "could be" was dreamy! But the reality staring back at my face was haunting. Yellow oak cabinets and hardwood flooring, blue laminate countertops, and 90's floral tiles - it took us straight back to our childhood.
The kitchen before
There is something about that 90's yellow oak cabinetry that makes Nick and wince inside. For others it probably isn't even a thought. Good for you! I applaud. If the visual esthetics of a room do not inspire the "feeling" of cozy, I'm incapable of function. So something had to be done for any future guest paying money to stay here.
So while Nick worked on ripping out the mint green carpet and replacing it with LVP (Luxury Vinyl Plank), I got to work on the kitchen remodel. Guess which one took longer? Yep, the kitchen.
I researched how to transform your kitchen cabinets and the best DIY kitchen cabinet paint. After reading a lot of reviews, I decided on this one I found on Amazon. It comes with video tutorials and all the materials you need.
How to Transform Your Kitchen Cabinets
For the majority of the cabinets we used Nuvo Titanium Infusion all in one cabinet makeover kit (bright white). Read the reviews for extra tips and follow the videos directly from the Giani Granite site. Then for the island we used Nuvo Hearthstone all in one cabinet makeover kit. I loved this color so much and probably would have switched the white out for it but since I started with main cabinets with the white, I wasn't about to redo it.
I had to buy three kits for the amount of cabinets we have to ensure full coverage on both sides of the doors and the cabinet bases themselves. Thankfully I did not need to paint the inside of the cabinets as they were already white.
I started with the dreaded cleaning and sanding. Using a degreaser a rag, and a butter knife I cleaned every crevice of those cabinets. So it was just the doors and the exterior that needed a makeover. After a really good cleaning. I re-went over a couple spots like near the sink and other higher use areas.
The next step was sanding. I used an orbital sander and and square one. The electric square one worked a lot better getting into the corners. I also sanded by hand some of the little nooks inside the cabinet door ridges.
Due to the size of the kitchen, the prep of cleaning and sanding and taping off took a few days itself which killed me because I'm the kinda girl that just wants to get right to painting...to get it all over with! I'm NOT a fan of the process but I deal with it because I'm highly motivated by the outcome.
After cleaning and sanding I decided to take on painting the backsplash tile first - a project I am no stranger to. We were about to go on a trip so I only had a day to accomplish something, so tile paint it was! Check out how that went here.
Because this kitchen had so many cabinets, I had to create a system so that I wouldn't lose my mind keeping track of which door went where. I took some blue painters tape and labeled the inside of the cabinet and the door with a number. Door 1 went on door 1 cabinet and so forth. I had over 25 doors. Yay.
As I labeled I removed each door, setting it on a very long table covered in brown paper.
Then I finally got to start painting. I get motivated by visual results so I worked my way along the kitchen in chunks painting the bases of the cabinets then the doors that went on them....but I had to paint the doors front and back with two coats. Well, everything needed two coats.
I decided to paint the kitchen island a different color to break up all the white. But we loved that color so much we wish we would have chosen it for the entire kitchen. Oh well! (There's no way I was going to put in more time making over that kitchen than I already had to.)
Transformation including the re-stained wood flooring (which we called in the professionals to do for us.)
The end result was fabulous! We love it and it is holding up wonderfully. We added brushed nickel hardware. I love the extra long bars on the island drawers because I can hang a kitchen towel on them and it dresses them up a lot. One day we will upgrade those white appliances as well and that will help break up the bright white everywhere. For now, the bright and fresh new look has made us very content.
While the cabinet paint was curing, the next project was the countertop. It would be a brand new endeavor for me that I was both nervous and excited to complete. To find out how that process went, check out The Article here.
What do you think? Would you take on this big of a DIY project on your own?
