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My DH is horrified. I want to paint our old oak 1980s kitchen cabinets. They were quality cabinets back when they were installed in 1983 but now they are looking very tired.
We can't afford a kitchen gut and redo right now but I can fit around $1,000.00 into the budget for some updates so I can at least hate it less!
I want to paint the cabinets either almond or a dark chocolate. Wall color will be either the palest of greens or maybe very pale yellow (I want to brighten the space). For faucet and cabinet handles, I want to use brushed nickel. I also want to update the lights but don't really have a good idea yet on what to put up there.
We are planning on a complete gut of the kitchen in around 3 to 4 years so this is just a temporary fix to make me hate it less.
I've seen a lot of really good ideas come from the people on this forum so give it to me straight - good idea or bad? What I want to do is:
Paint the cabinets
Install updated faucet and cabinet knobs
Replace the light fixtures (center and over the sink)
Paint the walls a lighter color, either a pale (very pale) yellow or green
Am I nuts as DH seems to think?
How would you freshen the look of this kitchen?
I just looked at the picture and the cabinets look much worse in person than they do in this picture. Oh and ignore the "decorative touches" you see around the counters. They were staging pieces. The picture is from our first walkthrough.
Hey, I'd give you another $1000 if I could have that kitchen magically teleported into mine. My 1983 kitchen doesn't look nearly as nice. Cabinets are a much uglier, fake tone, nasty counter, cheesy backsplash (also tile but not as nice as yours), stupid parquet floor (someone laid it over the original vinyl sheet). Yours has been updated since 1983, and the cabinets were better to begin with seems like.
Really, if you're going to gut it in a few years, I have a hard time thinking it would be worth dropping even a grand on it and putting the time in on it. Get some knobs if you must (that's probably the worst part) and leave it at that. Changing a faucet or the light fixtures is pretty easy, but they don't look that bad to me in the pic. Someone replaced those fairly recently, probably last 5 years or so looks like. I guess if you're going to get nickel knobs though maybe you want nickel faucet, nickel lighting fixtures, eh, if you really hate it that much. I hear ya, oil rubbed bronze (looks like) is not my thing either. There's not a lot of work there and maybe only a few hundred bucks. But I'd probably leave it because this is wasted money unless you get hardware you are going to keep in the remodel (how likely is that?) Paint the walls? If you must, that's not that big a thing I suppose. But painting the cabinets? A lot of work for only a few years IMO. But again I guess I'm biased because instead of hating it I am thinking it looks better than what I've got.
Maybe try ONLY painting the walls first. See what that looks like....
Save the Grand and live with for 3-4yrs. That's not really that long. You can live with the layout, find the likes and dislikes- besides in 3-4yrs there's no telling where your decorating sense will be. And that grand maybe just what you need to do major appliance position shifting, recessed lighting, removal of the soffit, etc., etc.
I've seen a lot worse update makeovers.
My favorite fumble is the counter splash and then tile splash above it- priceless!
I might tear out the fluorescent, as I think they have have ghastly quality of light but honestly this is a VERY decent looking kitchen for anyone to live with for quite sometime...
The effort spent painting these sorts of cabinets will NOT result in any meaningful improvements -- real "issue" as I see it is the sub-optimal lay out with an electric cooktop sans hood in the island, extraordinarly plain / uniform cabinetry, and a general "blahness" despite reasonably high quality material for flooring, countertops and backsplash (which would still be issues after paint...).
Honestly put the money in the bank, let it grow and then go for broke with a FULL ON custom makeover in 4+ years...
Save the Grand and live with for 3-4yrs. That's not really that long. You can live with the layout, find the likes and dislikes- besides in 3-4yrs there's no telling where your decorating sense will be. And that grand maybe just what you need to do major appliance position shifting, recessed lighting, removal of the soffit, etc., etc.
I've seen a lot worse update makeovers.
My favorite fumble is the counter splash and then tile splash above it- priceless!
Yeh - they put a little perfume on the pig here. (the minimum updates they could to sell). The lower cabinets are bowing from the weight of the granite slab on one cabinet run. We also have 2 layers of tile on the floor. Tiles keep popping since the second layer wasn't installed properly I'm just waiting until we get a few more essential systems updated before we can start thinking about the kitchen gut and remodel. After the comments here....I think I may just paint the walls and change out the lights. Thanks for the input. Even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear
I would change the lighting and maybe change the hardware on the cabinets. If I had more to spend I would change the appliances to stainless and then reuse them hopefully when you redo the cabinets.
I would change the lighting and maybe change the hardware on the cabinets. If I had more to spend I would change the appliances to stainless and then reuse them hopefully when you redo the cabinets.
Thanks! I agree on the lighting and I'll have to get creative with the hardware (to hide the holes from the old hardware). However I personally don't like stainless appliances. They cost more without being any better plus they show every single little smudge and fingerprint. I'm hoping the fad of stainless appliances goes away soon. They are the "Avocado and Harvest Gold" of this decade. Thanks again!
If you're planning to rip it all out anyway, I'd leave it alone and just paint the walls. I wouldn't even bother with a new faucet, if the old one still works.
I'm going to be au contraire here and go against popular opinion.
You didn't write you that you dislike the cabinets, you wrote that you "hate" the cabinets. I see no reason to live with something for years that you feel so strongly about.
What's the worst that could happen if you paint and still hate them? You invested a couple of hundred dollars and two weekends of work. Big deal. The upside is you may like them or, at least, hate them less than you do now.
I would use this to paint them, since it's made for kitchen cabinets and stripping/sanding/priming isn't required for this product's use. It takes 4 coats. (I'm in the middle of doing my own kitchen with it right now.) IIRC it was approx. $75 for a kit from one of the big box home improvement stores. (You have more cabinets than I do, so you may need two kits.)
As it is, you're looking at 3-4 years until you can do major kitchen renovations. Life has a way of throwing us curve-balls and 3-4 years may parlay into even longer. I say go for it!
What bothers me most about the kitchen is the sink. I'd change that out to stainless if I could, in the meanwhile.
I would take your kitchen over mine any day!!! The granite is gorgeous and I don't think the cabinets are bad. If they are real wood, you could sand them and restain. I think the layout and the boxes of the cabinets could work. Maybe even just reface with new doors and hardware? We painted our old dark brown cabinets white and I remember the first day I woke up and walked in I thought, "this is the first time I haven't hated my kitchen!" It brightened it up so much. It was some maintanence though and I had to touch up some spots every few months. But, it was a mini makeover till we did the big project and prob only cost us about $50. We ended up selling and moving before said makeover...so it all worked out. Prep is the big thing is you decide to paint. I actually see HGTV paint alot of cabinets on their shows, so there is a right way to do it.
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My 1983 kitchen doesn't look nearly as nice. Cabinets are a much uglier, fake tone, nasty counter, cheesy backsplash (also tile but not as nice as yours), stupid parquet floor (someone laid it over the original vinyl sheet). Yours has been updated since 1983, and the cabinets were better to begin with seems like.
I'm just waiting until we get a few more essential systems updated before we can start thinking about the kitchen gut and remodel. After the comments here....I think I may just paint the walls and change out the lights. Thanks for the input. Even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear
