Painting wooden kitchen units? Experience/opinions please

[SilverSixpence]

We have a traditional country style solid wood kitchen but I am bored of the wood finish (sort of medium dark oak shade) and I have had a brainwave and realised we could paint the units a nice pale sage and transform it without changing the whole kitchen. Has anyone tried anything like this? It would be a hideous amount of work (26 doors (!), including some faux door fronts which are fixed in place) as well as the unit edges , drawers etc. will it be worth the hassle?

I would love to do this. We have a solid wood kitchen which looks like oak but due to the previous owner being a bit odd it is in fact all pine. And soft pine at that, it is scratched everywhere and shows every mark. It is a long room with a big window at either end but we sometimes have to have a light on during the day, it's so dark. It would look fantastic painted cream, it would be so much brighter and lighter.

Marking place.

Silly question maybe but do you paint the inside of the doors? What about the inside of the cupboards?

What finish are the insides of the cupboards? I'd paint the back of the door but leave the cupboard carcases as they are. Might be beige melamine but at least they aren't on show. Back of drawer fronts - depends if they come off the drawer easily.

Carcasses are solid wood - so I was thinking of doing the inside of doors but not of cupboards, thanks

One plans colour ideas are lovely. Given it is a big wall of cupboards you could decide to start with painting the bottom (or top) half - that half way through it looks like a planned mixed painted & wood finish iyswim? (And if you run out of steam it wont look odd) Same thing with the wine rack - leave it to the end and then make up your mind - it might look a nice contrast?

I got our kitchen sprayed, found kitchen respray guy on gumtree, we've over 20 doors, he came one day with a f&b colour chart, I picked the colour and %sheen finish, he took all the doors away an came back with them a couple of days later and did the carcasses in situ - took him about 2 hours. It was dusty but the finish is fantastic. Cost £500.

It'll be gorgeous. I think I'd get it done professionally, though, even if it costs loads. Well worth the outlay.

Thanks all, the more I look at it the bigger the job seems! We are getting a quote from a local painter as opposed to a 'master painter' so I am hoping it will be more affordable. The work of the traditional painter is amazing though. The kitchen is sort of divided into a smaller kitchen area and the huge wall of cupboards is a separate run in the dining area which is joined to the kitchen. So we will do the kitchen units first and then the dining area units once that's done. That gives us the option to have a change of colour if we want. I'm thinking of having a shade darker for the kitchen units than the dining area units.

We have tackled some quite challenging DIY in the past (sanding floors at 6 months pregnant!) so we could do it if the painter's quote is too high. With the money saved I could get the tiling and floor done

The painter, not a master painter, if he is good at his craft, would likely do just fine. He might spray the cupboard doors offsite, and he and maybe his crew can be in and out quickly.

Sorry, I had not read the latest replies. I'm repeating Nyancat's message.

Have a look at the October edition of Ideal Home, page 110 is a feature about a woman who made-over her kitchen cupboards including what products she used etc....

Have a look at the October edition of Ideal Home, page 110 is a feature about a woman who made-over her kitchen cupboards including what products she used etc....