Kitchen Cabinet - White or Cherry? (tile, kitchen cabinets, floors)

[Hifromhere]

My wife hates all the new white painted cabinets. Wood cabinets are easy to wipe clean and keep nice with a little wood oil. Painted cabinets wear and dirty fast and have to be redone not to look dirty. When cooking oils and ingredients get on the paint. She is a little sad that the area we looking at to buy in all the houses painted white over the wood.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

If you decide to paint over them, make sure you, or the contractor prepare the surfaces properly, not just a "light sanding". I brought a house in Katy where the previous owners had done the kitchen "white". They installed vinyl flooring (which was impossible to keep clean), and painted all the woodwork white (wainscot and cabinets).

It all looked nice, but upon closer inspection (after we purchased the home), you could see faint dark streaks from a distance, even though they did apply a stain blocker. But worse than that, they used oil paint on top of a poorly prepared surface which led to many chips in the paint because it did not adhere properly. It appeared they used a stain blocker that was "environmentally safe", aka, water based. Then on top of that, they used an oil based paint. Very bad choices.

After a few years, and a few kids later, the chips were horrible over the paint, even if you painted over it, you had the indentations. So I bravely, and fool-heartedly decided to refinish them! I took my time, but over the course of six months (did I mention a 'few' kids), I stripped all the cabinets to the bare wood, filled nicks and sanded and sprayed the cabinets. It did come out very nice, and we sold the house about two months after I finished. Oh, and a few years before that, we did replace the hideous vinyl with tile.

There are chemical products you an use to prep the surface, I think I'd go with that over sanding unless you want to spend a lot of time. Mainly you just want to remove the glossy finish, the color is not an issue. Use quality oil paint, and quality brushes, and a little teaspoon of a product called Floetrol (like a lubricant for paint), you can pick up at the box stores. For the new/plastic professional look, hire a contractor that will close off the room, cover every inch of the kitchen, and spray the cabinets. I went this route (I did the work), but it is just how I do things, you'd have to be crazy like me to do it this way yourself. Good luck!

[pdouglas]

All, thanks for the feedback. I am so torn about this decision. Initially, I wanted Cherry cabinets. When we bought our current home five years ago, the house had white cabinets. YUCK! However, I have felt in love with the clean, fresh appearance of my current kitchen. The house I am asking feedback on is my previous house which is now a rental. I have attached a picture from the kitchen.

[pdouglas]

Here is the link. I could not attach the picture.

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[spencer114]

White. Cherry is the worst!

[HookTheBrotherUp]

[quote=pdouglas;37845781]Here is the link. I could not attach the picture.

[Mod cut: removed the address]

Hmmm, it looks darker than Cherry. To me that looks like Birch, stained with Walnut. In any case, if it is Cherry stained darker, it is not expensive wood... because there is trim around the doors, I am sure it is just plywood, and so are the styles and rails of the cabinet. Are the panels raised, or is just trim on the edges? It is hard to tell, but it could be the panels are solid, they are not usually made with plywood. Usually when solid wood, cabinet makers won't put trim on the end, no need to. Anway, if it is solid Cherry, then it would be more than a shame to paint, it would be a sin.

If I were you, I would not worry too much about it if it is a rental, and it is rented. If people won't rent it, ask them why and if many say the kitchen is too dark, then paint it, otherwise, just worry about the cash flow.

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[Htown2013]

I would leave the cherry. White looks much cheaper and builder grade for kitchen cabinets. It takes away from the fact that they're real wood. Now if the cabinets are cheap particleboard and not real cherry, then by all means paint them white. If real cherry, don't mess with a good thing.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by pdouglas

I have Cherry Kitchen cabinets but considering painting the cabinets white. Please provide feedback on your color preferance for kitchen cabinets. Note the attached pictures are not the actual cabinets but I wanted to give you a reference point. The ktichen is pretty small.

I'd keep the dark wood if you already have it. White was cool yesteryear... in the burbs. I admit mine are white. It still does look nice but it gets dirty fast and white eventually becomes not so white, necessitating more maintenance.

Just a thought- You may be able to knock out the centers of a couple of your cabinet doors if it has the right shape, and put in some glass panes. That way you can show off your wife's Fiestaware or whatever.

Also Easilyamused mentioned bluestone on the floor and that's actually some pretty cool stuff. Years ago I put 6x24s of that in the master bath of a house I sold and just about everyone liked it. I wouldn't put it with cherry but it works well when cabinets, counters, wall tiles etc are white... However once it's down you'll have to find the perfect secondary wall color to compliment all of that or else it looks like a bunch of noise.

[houston-nomad]

What do you all think about painted cabinets in something other than white-- grey is popular right now, for example.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by houston-nomad

What do you all think about painted cabinets in something other than white-- grey is popular right now, for example.

I've seen some kitchens with some sort of a greenish/greyish color, not sure what it was, but it looked nice. Also, I saw one that was like a very light mint green/pastel kind of color, again, nice. Both professionally designed, BTW. My wife had wanted some shade of yellow in our kitchen, I thought she was nuts, but in the end, it looked nice. There was not much of it though, most of the walls were white cabinets, but the light yellow did accent well.