Has anyone painted their kitchen units?

[MossyOilTank]

We're house hunting, from a poor selection, but we've found one at the very top of our budget, and if we get it there won't be a budget for renovation. The kitchen is shabby - it was once great quality, solid wood doors. The archway into the kitchen is also horrible wood, and I'd planned to paint that white. Then I thought I could probably paint the units too, much more easily than I could with coated melamine. What I can find on Pinterest looks wonderful but I suspect up close may be shabby - has anyone experience of this themselves?

i haven't painted them...but not sure if it is worth looking for second hand doors from somewhere like ebay or gumtree, instead of painting? you will get them cheap and know they will look good. hope this helps and good luck!

I reckon that'd look really nice painted. I haven't done it as yet but I plan to. My colleague has and she's really happy with it.

I have! Used chalk furniture paint that I'm going to cover with matt varnish. They look so much better, and such a good variety of colours means they can match your kitchen better.

Oh this sounds like a prospect then! I'd love before and after photos, ItWent!

You’ll get a better finish if you spray rather than using a brush. Or even take the doors off and get a local company to spray them for you.

@MossyOilTank this is after 1 coat of Rustoleum 'Lilac Wine'. I bloody love it! Agree it's hard work with a brush though, you have to go very quickly because it's quite sticky and so you can end up with bumps where edges meet.

Ive done mine with b and q v5 paint, they look fab and a foam roller is what you need!

I did - used Farrow and Ball and it wasn't hard wearing at all. I second getting them spray painted by a professional firm. It will looks miles better.

I am in the process of painting my cupboard doors (10 of them and I'm doing them 2 at a time as there's not much places I can leave them flat to dry between coats where the dog can't get at them, so taking ages). I was going to use chalk paint, but have painted a chest of drawers with that and didn't like the look.
Mine have glass panels, which I have always hated. So I have used Zinnser Bullseye 123 as an undercoat (sticks to everything, even glass), and then 2 coats of Dulux Trade Satinwood. Looks really good. Took doors and handles off first which made things easier.

I've also painted my kitchen tiles, and covered mu kitchen worktops with some sticky plastic to freshen them up and I think they look fab, very pleased with how they've come out ( used something like this: www.amazon.co.uk/d-c-fix%C2%AE-Sticky-Plastic-adhesive-346-5358/dp/B00952MXE0/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=sticky+back+plastic)&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1535815285&sr=8-17

When we bought this house, the kitchen cupboards were painted with a very dark navy blue. I took the doors off a few at a time, and sanded them, then painted with two coats of stain-blocking primer and two coats of white melamine paint.

That was 23 years ago. They looked good for about 10 years, put the white melamine paint was starting to yellow, so gave them a re-fresh coat of melamine.

Probably time I did it again.

Our kitchen looked a wee bit like yours - and we had the same dilemma. Good quality units that we were reluctant to throw away.

We approached a painting and decorating contractor who removed doors, shelves etc, and took them to a specialist sprayer (who normally does radiators etc) for spaying. A few bits were done in situ.

The results were amazing. Cost was £750.

I was in exactly the same position when we bought our place. I planned to paint it myself and booked a week off work but the more I researched it the more hard work it seemed. And then when I priced up the sand paper, primer, paint, top coat, masking tape, brushes etc if wasn't looking that cheap.

Fortunately I stumbled across a mumsnet post that recommended a company which will spray the units. They did such a good job. Took a day (I just sat watching tv out the way) cost £850 and it's genuinely the best money I have spent.

They are on Facebook called the One Stop Kitchen Refinishers (PM me if you can't find them). Based in West Yorks but travel nationwide. I can't recommend them highly enough.

When we redid our kitchen I wanted to keep the units to fit out a utility room and sprayed the cupboard doors. They looked pretty terrible and so we didn't use them. But they were low quality units to start with.

I did. 3 months in they looked terrible. So chipped and scratched. So we replaced the doors. Wish I'd done that to start with.

Theres not much to lose! It used to be a thing to have worktops with a wood strip edge, you would improve the look a lot by changing those. I would embrace the quirky country look choose a pretty colour and maybe decorative ceramic knobs and a wood effect worktop. Nice range cooker!

Painting is a slow careful job as you have to clean and primer the doors and ideally use a professional quality paint but it can be done and it does save you money.

Www.tradionalpainter.com has all the info you could ever need.

My mum painted hers. They look great a few years later.No chips or discolouration. It took her a while and it was hard work. You have to use the right kind of paint and prepare the surface properly. She was retired so had the time. If you don't getting someone to spray paint may be a better option? The only thing I think she could do to improve them further would be to change the handles for something more modern so that's worth thinking about.

Ouestpierrelapin, that's such a sweet glass-paneled unit with the drawer below!

I bought a house with a good quality kitchen in v good condition. I plan on doing what pps have suggested and getting a company out someday rather than do a poor job myself and, after going through that massive effort, still jaunt the outcome. Get a quote and start a savings fund for this?

We had ours done by a decorator using crown fast flow paint in an f and b shade. I will try to post a pic.

We did it. The house had a well designed oak kitchen but was way too 'country kitchen' for me. Took a while to persuade my OH ( he was horrified that people would paint over oak!) but even he accepts it was a great decision. We did have to get someone to do it for us though, neither of us has any DIY skills!

Watching this thread with interest. That looks lovely ifonly. What sort of paint did you use?

We used 4 F&B's - Units in skimming stone, walls & ceiling in main part were Wimbourne white, then we used Elephants breath in the dining bit with Charlston Grey for the woodwork, radiator covers and kickboards.

The decorator took forever prepping before painting, then glazing on top. Not cheap but a lot more cost effective than replacing the whole lot!

whoops - forgot to attach these...

You can tell I don't do this very often can't you

@MossyOilTank

Aware you said there isnt a budget for reno however when we were house hunting i found a perfect house with a perfect kitchen with very unperfect coloured units, we too couldnt afford a new kitchen so i got a quote from a local company covering the North West that actually come out and spray them and for a largre kitchen it was around 16 units/doors it was £800. We wouldnt have had that straight away but it was definatly a figure we could save up and have done a few months down the line as it wasnt urgent, we would have had a working kitchen. (No photos as we ended up buying a different house for other reasons)

if you wanted to do it yourself i would reccomend chalk paint.

A friend recently had her doors etc replaced & it looks amazing! It cost something like 3K instead of 11K...she had the original early '90's kitchen from when the house was built and now it's all shiny and modern if not to my taste

I've painted my kitchen...first time I went for F&B but I actually think Deluxe it whatever is better if you want a generally off white/off blue etc.