Painting kitchen units

[fermerswife]

Hi everyone. We have a solid wood kitchen which has been in place for 35+ years. The units are in a fair condition however they are old fashioned and the tiles (tiled floor to ceiling) are dreadful and we have a wooden ceiling so very very dark. Ideally we would put in a new kitchen but to do it right (we intend to live here the rest of our lives) would cost £25-30k and we are at a point where we would have to take a loan to pay for it. I have suggested that as a temporary measure to last maybe 5 or so years and to give us the chance to save we paint it, change handles and replace worktop with a relatively cheap spec just to freshen place up and make it livable. Hubby is not keen. Can anyone offer any advice or stories of painting units, how successful it was or not and any advice. Thank you!

I painted our kitchen when we first moved here six years ago. Our kitchen was also solid wood but very dark and we had no budget for a new kitchen at the time. I scrubbed, sanded, primed and painted. Must have taken me about a month to do. It lasted well enough and did look far better than it had. Finally got it all ripped a couple of months ago-yay!
I can’t find a before picture, but here’s a pic of how it looked just before it was ripped out-I think the paint lasted pretty well.

We painted our dark wood kitchen before putting the house on the market and the difference it made is unreal, so much brighter! I wish we'd done it years ago! Happy to PM you before and after pics.

We took each door front off, removed the handles which we replaced with newer silver ones as the old ones were an old fashioned brass style, washed the doors and frames down with sugar soap, lightly sanded it all, primed with a wood primer and then used a white wood paint. The primer needs to dry for a while so we did one door a night as a constant rotation which took time but the end result was great.

I attempted painting my pine kitchen units with chalk paint and have only one thing to say about this; DON'T.

It looked f*cking horrendous.

I then got my Dad to sand all the chalk paint off (along with the wax that I'd put over the top of the chalk paint) and spray the doors using good quality primer, paint and clear lacquer. This worked out a hundred percent better than my attempt.

If you don't have the time to do the job yourself (or, like me, you're useless at DiY), maybe approach a local company who do vehicle/car spraying or - something I looked into - a shopfitting company who do powder coating of metal racking/shelving. One particular company I approached on this score gave me a quote which wasn't eye-watering. I was just lucky I eventually talked my Dad into doing it!

We painted the kitchen in our last house, and it made such a difference. We looked into replacing the cupboard doors, but it was quite expensive to do that, and it seemed a shame to chuck out solid wood and replace with something more flimsy.

The painting was slow but easy - they all needed sanding, priming and then a few coats of eggshell paint. It lasted nicely though. We also replaced the work surface, sink and tiles because it was all quite tired. It felt like a new kitchen, but cost a lot less.

The photos are from the day we moved in, and the day we moved out!

I've been looking into this @fermerswife and have found numerous companies that can do it for around £1000. My kitchen is tiny though! Might be worth looking in to. They take the doors and plinth etc to the workshop to reduce mess which i think is good.

@ToftheB Wow, what a massive difference! It looks like a different kitchen.

Thanks everyone for your stories. Toftheb your kitchen in particular looks amazing! I started last night painting a corner shelf and ended up doing a door and have ordered new handles so I'm committed now lol. Hubby says it'll make tiles look worse but we agree to do doors and see how it looks then we'll decide what to do with tiles. It's going to take a long time but figure there's no rush I'll try and do two doors a night and maybe get up early for work in morning and second coat although it will take 3 coats to cover.

I thought long and hard about this and ended up getting a professional in. It was a recommendation from MN. Let me know if you want the details.

If you go ahead yourself you need to wash and prime first don’t go straight to paint.

OP look at rustoleum tile transformations if you are worried the tiles will look bad.

V33 cupboard paint is the one to use.
Best applied with a varnish roller

A company called One Stop Refinishers have previously had good reviews on similar threads on here. I have not used them so can't vouch for them but have bookmarked them for getting a future quote.
I think it's a great idea to paint good quality old cupboards rather than replace them. They don't make kitchens as solid they used to. It' much greener too.

Google Frenchic. Amazing stuff. V durable. Can vouch for kitchen cupboards and pvc front doors

We've just got someone in to repaint and repair our kitchen. It cost £5K but looks fab.

I have painted mine twice. First time was not really a success, as the finish was not durable. I used a valspar satin paint and a rustoleum chalk finish. I would not recommend. The second time I have painted in Dukix cupboard paint, which has performed exceptionally well, and it looks like a brand new kitchen. The paint is not cheap though and comes in a really limited range of colours. I didn’t take the doors off, and did minimum sanding, but I did take time to do a careful job.

I painted all mine with Johnstones kitchen cupboard paint, wish I had done it YEARS ago.

Mind you mine aren't wood, just MDF. I had to peel all the laminate off them (most satisfying), light sand and clean with damp cloth then 2 coats of paint with a small roller and paint brush.

I did it one cupboard/ drawer at a time and it took me more time to try and take the doors and handles off to be honest, the re painting was a doddle.

Just take your time :)

I also had clear glass with lead piping on 4 of them and they took some time as had to use a very fine detailing brush to paint the thin bits round the glass plus I used glass paint in the lead pattern to make them more interesting.

You can get some seriously lovely tile sheets (just peel and stick on) to cover up the crappy tiles as well!

I had a dark wood kitchen in my house and it didn't really suit it (rural barn conversion) and I had it spray-painted a couple of years ago. I was really pleased with the result, it was done in two days and still looks like new. Wasn't that expensive, either.

Here's the before and after pics... If you want, PM me for more details

@abbey44 That looks so much more modern. Amazing transformation.

Thanks so much everyone for sharing. I have done two doors now and am pleased so far. Hopefully make good progress this weekend and will be back with photos!

I'm shamelessly following...

Hi,

Can I ask how the painting went? And which paint you used?

I have just bought some rustoleum spray paint and primer which I have tested on the back of a kickboard and was surprised how quick and easy it was but it's a gloss and I would prefer a satin in a slightly lighter shade. So now I have bought a paint sprayer and plan on getting a tin of paint tomorrow to get the colour/finish I want.

Hi here's a picture of my units which I just finished there at the weekend. It was a long labour ( this is about 1/3 of units) and the tiles are still awful but it definately brightens the place up a bit. I used zisser 123 primer and Dulux diamond coat egg shell which was mixed to a farrow and ball colour. I was expensive paint but I did a tester of b&q cupboard paint and you could scrape it off easily. Hope that helps! Ps stil have to do kickboards

Looks lovely. Do you think the eggshell paint will be hard wearing enough for a kitchen? It would be my preferred finish but I've heard it's not ideal for kitchens so trying to decide whether to go for it or plump for a satin finish instead.

Whydoesitalways it was recommended to me by our local decorating place but it is the diamond coat trade version and was very expensive. It is what I would call a satin finish and any marks so far have wiped off ok. I think a good primer is a must tho.

you can buy replacement doors from a kitchen door merchant at very modest prices, far cheaper than if you pay a Kitchen Door Replacement Company (who will also normally buy readimade doors).

They are available off the shelf to fit cabinets of width 300/400/500/600/800/1000mm, and some others which may need to be made to fit, or sometimes cut down from a bigger one.

If you have ordinary Euro hinges they are very easy to fit.

Most people will also fit new handles, there are literally thousands at Ironmongerdirect, and the price is not the same as the kitchen companies charge.

@WhyDoesItAlways I have used eggshell on my kitchen cupboards a few times & has lasted well, the best one I have found has been Mylands coverage was great & a lovely smooth finish.