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?

Yes. V similar to yours and some posted above. Take them off, sand them, spray paint with good quality paint and replace.

Yes we painted ours with paint made specifically for the job. It still chipped away really easily, and didn't look all that good close up. I saw on Facebook a local company does vinyl wrapping for cupboards which would probably be more expensive but would last better.

We did this 19 years ago and although I want a new look now the actual finish is still fine! Doors were taken off and rollered in F&B ball green. Go for it!

(Oil eggshell)

We had our tired looking but good quality wooden kitchen painted professionally. They used Zinser undercover and F&B eggshell and, 2 years on, it still looks freshly painted.

Should have put undercoat, not undercover.

I wondered about this too, we have just bought a cottage and has a nice but dated kitchen. Quotes for new kitchens are high and wondering if can redo this one. Can't just do doors as there's bits inbetween. I think its risky for me to repaint however tempting. Idea of getting someone in sounds tempting.

My best friend painted hers with ordinary woodwork paint in a Matt white. She has a young family and it has lasted well and looks great.

The other thing we did to refresh ours was to replace the 1990s style sink and draining board with a double sized butler's sink which I bought online. A joiner resized the cupboard doors to accommodate it.

I did this to a kitchen about 7 years ago. The kitchen was about 25 years old and we were eventually going to renovate but I needed to clean it up and make it nicer for a few years before we could afford a new kitchen. I painted the whole kitchen units/shelves/french dresser.

You can sand the units down or use a really good primer - by really good, I don't mean Homebase, but something like Zinsser BIN primer which is a stain cover and primer. Also use a really good quality paint - my new kitchen is hand painted using Tikkurila paint. This is really tough hard wearing paint suitable for kitchens. My kitchen company spray painted my new kitchen with this paint. You can get this made up in any colour you want (I chose F&B French Grey).

When i painted the old kitchen myself i used Little Greene - but it was nowhere near as hard wearing as the new kitchen paint.

Also, as others have said, look into getting it spray painted, you could completely renovate it for under £1k with painting.

Would personally recommend spray paint, its is slightly more expensive that painting by brush. Cost for standard kitchen around £800 depending on your local sprayer. But it does give a "Brand New" look. Also you can choose more colours or colour match to the wall/cheers/table or anything else. For London would recommenced: www.unispray.co.uk

Oooh, watching this wth interest too. The melamine is peeling of our ancient kitchen units. We are renting, so not prepared to replace them, but I really wish they were white! Im hoping that we can peel the surface off, prime and then I'll spray them. No idea what paint to use, but I'd much rather spray than brush!!

Would recommend 10%( Matt finish) P/U.will give nice Matt finish and polyurethane paint is easiest to work with. Also it is as durable as any other.

@MossyOilTank I did mine about four years ago, with a satin eggshell paint by Mylands has lasted really well it’s easy to use & gives a very smooth finish, I have used F&B previously but found it marked fairly easily, also used little Greene which yellowed quite a bit but I think that was due too using the oil based paint rather than the eggshell.
As pp said use a good quality undercoat & don’t rush it, I personally wouldn’t use chalk paint on kitchen cupboards, it’s quite hard to work with needs several thin coats & the waxing would be very hard work on all those cupboards, I also find the paint flakes off quite easily.

Yes, we did it, and it is important if you want to upgrade your kitchen. It gives a new look to the kitchen without spending a lot of money. The most difficult step was the selection of paint, but wgpaintingcompany.com helped in it. Always choose a color that will flatter your appliances.