Thursday, June 28, 2012

Kitchen Cabinet Redo

No, I know it’s not sewing but I figured I’d show you what I’m doing instead of sewing right now. Bear with me as I remodel and paint-fy the house.

My kitchen is not big by any means but it sure has a lot of cabinets. You guys probably remember the post about the weird-ass kitchen window. Well, I took all your suggestions to heart and I’m going to have a guy come out and give me a price for creating a one-way mirror. I figure if they cut and tint the glass, I can have a fancy frame made that will make it look more like a mirror. I’m no good at trim work, otherwise, I would do it myself.
cabinet_1

 

You can see from my bathroom post that the painted cabinets came out looking great. I’m using the same Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit to redo the kitchen. I figured since there were so many cabinets I would do sections instead of the whole thing. I’m choosing to do this section first. The pantry cabinets are huge and cumbersome. There’s the damn kitchen window. I’m also pondering making the shelves glass inside the weird window. I need a stainless microwave too. Everything else is stainless. I was hoping to have it installed above the stove but there are certain rules about installing things about a gas stove. I’m still trying to figure that out.
cabinet_2

 

Before I did anything, I made a little a map so I wouldn't mix up the hinges. Old cabinets and hinges are persnickety and I didn’t want to try to move the hinges to holes where they don’t belong. I didn’t have to mark the cabinet doors because all six are unique. The two large ones have arches and they each have hinges holes on one side so it’s easy to tell them apart. The bottom ones I could tell from the hinges holes and the placement of the door handles.
cabinet_3

 

 

Then I marked the hinges with a grease pencil The grease pencil writes on metal, wood, and glass and just wipes off later. As it turns out, this was all for naught because I ended up leaving these hidden hinges on while I painted. They were too complicated to remove and not all that hard to tape off. I’d rather be over-organized and prepared than under.
cabinet_4

 

It’s a slow process but it’s coming along!!
cabinet_5

2 comments:

Kathleen Gillies said...

Hi!  I did this back in 2005, only I don't have as many cabinets as you.  I took off all the hardware and stripped of the paint/finish of the old cupboards and doors, sanded them down, cleaned them and then primed them.  I even painted the hinges (although all my hinges were on the outside) with metal paint.  I bought new hardware for the outside (which I see your cabinets don't use any).  It was a long and tedious job but I enjoyed the process (of course I don't have small children at home).  After doing all that, I had to put down new shelf paper and I was very pleased with the outcome.  I had the opposite of you-- a white kitchen so I keep to that with appliances.

Beckster51 said...

This is a huge job.  I know because I have done it.  However, if you spend as much time in your kitchen as I do, the results can be very rewarding.  Good luck.  I hope it turns out just like you want it to look.