Reddit User Revamps Kitchen with Spray-Painted Cabinets
A Reddit user transformed their kitchen by spray-painting honey-colored oak cabinets Alabaster white, keeping the brown countertops and original layout. The project involved removing cabinet doors, sanding, and using Sherwin-Williams Alabaster paint. This approach allowed them to refresh the space without a full renovation, focusing on cosmetic changes that dramatically altered the kitchen’s appearance.
From Oak to Alabaster: A Kitchen Makeover
The kitchen originally featured oak cabinets on nearly every wall, paired with orange walls, brown countertops, and gray floor tiles. Stainless steel appliances filled the spaces between the cabinets. The homeowners, having lived with oak cabinets for around ten years, decided to refresh the space. The oak cabinets, with their raised-panel doors and matching drawers, covered walls from the refrigerator and stove to the sink and a separate storage area. By painting the cabinets and changing the wall color, they aimed to modernize the kitchen while retaining its functionality.
They removed the cabinet doors and drawers, sanded the wood, and painted the frames Alabaster white. The doors were sprayed separately, ensuring a smooth finish. This method allowed access to recessed areas around the panels for thorough preparation. The project retained the existing countertops, appliances, and floor, focusing solely on updating the cabinetry and walls.
The Process: Preparation and Painting
The transformation began with thorough preparation. The homeowners cleaned the cabinets with TSP, sanded them, and used tack cloths to remove dust. They primed the doors with Sherwin-Williams Wall & Wood Primer and sanded between coats, using 120-grit sanding blocks. The doors were worked on one side per day, allowing 24 hours between stages to ensure the finish dried completely before flipping them over.
The doors received one primer coat and two paint coats of Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel in Alabaster, applied with a paint sprayer. This process took at least six days, as they worked on one side per day. The cabinet frames were painted with a foam roller, while the interiors remained unpainted. Green painter’s tape protected adjacent surfaces, ensuring a clean finish.
A Fresh Look with New Hardware
The homeowners replaced the dark metal pulls with long metal bar pulls from Rok Hardware. The new hardware cost about $2.08 each, plus shipping. The existing drawer holes had an uncommon 4¼-inch center-to-center spacing, limiting hardware choices. Despite this, they found suitable pulls that complemented the new white doors. The walls were repainted in Sherwin-Williams Likable Sand, creating a softer backdrop for the white cabinets and enhancing the overall transformation.
Before and After: A Striking Transformation
Before the makeover, the kitchen was dominated by oak cabinetry and orange walls. The brown countertops and gray floor sat between the warm finishes and stainless steel appliances. After the update, the Alabaster cabinets and Likable Sand walls transformed the space into a brighter, more cohesive environment. The homeowners spent more time preparing the cabinets than painting them, ensuring a durable and professional finish that preserved the original functionality and layout.
