Anyone painted their kitchen cupboards?

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

I have a 14 year old wooden shaker style kitchen. In really good nick, but looking quite dated and I feel like a change. I like the idea of painting it and changing the worktops.

Is it a massive amount of work to do this yourself? What paint did you use (I don't want a chalky or distressed finish)? And if you got someone in, was it very expensive?

My DH is currently painting ours. We are using V33 paint from b&q, it leaves a satin finish and has very good reviews. He had to prep the cupboards by giving them a light sand and is now onto his third coat which he believes will be the last. Ours were an oak finish and we are painting them white. Hope this helps!

Here's a link to the paint we are using:www.v33.co.uk/product/cupboard-cabinet/

That does look good Tea. I was quite fancying a colour though.

We're doing this in the summer. Can't tell you what we're doing though as husband is planning the job

My husband is keen to do it himself but he's a bit of a perfectionist and always has loads of projects on the go at once, so I have visions of it taking forever and having part painted cupboards for about a year.

I've just done mine using crown's cupboard paint.
I took the doors off and bought painting pyramids to put the doors on while painting (from amazon) and painted it on with a brush then rollered over it to avoid any brush marks.
I'm really pleased with it. It was a pain that it took 3 or 4 coats to cover it well and the crown stuff said 24 hours between each coat of paint.

Due to not having that many places to safely keep drying doors flat and away from the cat I had to do it in batches. But it was well worth it.

We painted our 11 year old shaker cabinets a few months ago. No regrets! It is hard work though. You have to key (lightly sandpaper) them, put a coat or two of primer and then a couple of top coat. We used Dulux satinwood as it is hard wearing. We also had the worktop changed from laminate to quartz. Fresh cost of paint on the walls and it now looks AMAZING. Like a new kitchen!

One dilemma was whether to take the doors off and paint them flat or just to paint them in situ. In the end we left them up and painted them in place. There were a few that we had to take down and paint flat and found the light must have been different because I could see imperfections one they were back in place that I didn't see when they were horizontal.

Something I wish I had known first time was to paint in THIN LAYERS. The paint does drip of you put it on too thick.

I’d take all the doors off and spray them all at the same time.

I’m using what was f&b floor paint which they sell as ‘durable’ paint for kitchens and high traffic areas to paint our stairs at the moment - it’s lovely to work with. Think it’s going to need two coats and that’s from white to blackish brown.

Did you paint the insides of the cupboards?

I lied. We used ronseal paint. We used the ivory satin stuff but it dies come in different colours and finishes.

How did you spray them Wet? DH has just bought a compressor, would that be useful? How did you do the cupboard ends then?

I painted mine using Wilkinson’s cupboard paint as we can’t afford a new kitchen, our units didn’t match at all! It went on well and so far (3 months in) it hasn’t scratched or dented or marked. I wash it down regularly and didn’t use a top coat.

I also painted using a brush followed by a roller to eliminate brush marks.

So nice that so many of you are not just ripping out perfectly good kitchens. All my neighbours seem to be constantly upgrading.

I did this but was very careful and did it over about 3 weeks. Washed all the doors and took them all off then.painted them with ESP to prime. Then used a Farrow and Ball eggshell paint and did 3 thin coats of paint. I added new door handles and new sink and tap and the kitchenmlooked fantastic. I used the kitchen for about a year before we moved and there were no chips or scratches in the paint. I did do inside the doors too.

I did this. Cif scrub then Sugar soaped them then light sand. I left mine up. 3 coats. Lasted really well except I’ve been reluctant to scrub them quite as I would like sometimes. They now need redoing after around 5 years. Just go slowly and agree with thin coats and fully dry between coats so finish looks as good as poss.
Good luck.

We didn't paint the insides. Quite like the two tone effect.

Interested to hear about spraying. We bought a sprayer from Screwfix bit returned it as the finish was unacceptably blotchy.

I did ours about 4-5 years ago.
Went from nasty wood to cream.

I used a durable, washable matt finish wood paint (I want to say gloss paint, but as it isn't a gloss finish I guess you don't call it that) It specifically said that it was durable enough for kitchen cupboards. It was only B&Q or Homebase though.

I took each one off its hinges, and sanded and painted it outside flat. I did a few at a time and did the frames while the doors were off.
I painted inside and out.

It has lasted pretty well. It does chip eg just above the cutlery drawer.
It is scrubbale clean, so i can keep it clean.
But I have touched it up a couple of times. First time was only about a year after I did it, and I touched up and gave an extra coat to the areas which weren't wearing so well, and they then lasted for a long time.
There are one or two spots which need doing again, it will get a full scrub down and touch up this spring.

They had new handles as well, and it has totally transformed an old tired kitchen.

Yeah I agree, there was no other way to layout the cabinets so replacing like for like just seemed like a huge waste of money and perfectly good cabinets. It still wasn't cheap (we had a new floor as well as worktop, handles, sinks and re-plaster after tearing down awful tiled backsplash), but it was easily half the cost it would have been if not a third.

Caution though, it is easy to get obsessive perfectionist about it!

I feel quite inspired now.

We have just done ours with the V33 paint from b&q. Went from a dark oak to cotton white, took 3 coats. Sugar soap first then lightly sand and then paint. I used a fine pile roller and a rounded end brush for edges etc. I've attached a before and after pic of ours. We are so pleased with the finish and it has updated the kitchen for hardly any money and no environmental impact really. I did paint the inside of the cupboards and the base boards too. Highly recommend the V33 paint as it hasn't chipped yet!

That really does look good Dean.

That's an amazing transformation. I cannot for the life of me understand why people rip out and replace perfectly good quality and solidly made cupboards when they can have them re painted. I'll try to post a pic of mine.

Dean's is very like ours, before and after.
Definitley worth doing it.

I did use an electric sander so that it took everything off, the hardest part was the side of the top cupboards above and to the side of the cooker (so they had a greasy finish)

Oh yes, I highly highly recommend a little mouse sander with lots of spare fine sand paper!