The one where I paint the kitchen cabinets

Hello!

I spent all of January painting our kitchen cabinets!

Now they're done!

And I'm never going to paint anything ever again!

Just kidding, it wasn't that bad. And the results were worth it!

My before kitchen was fine and I was happy with it for quite a while. I don't know what the finish on the cabinets would be called, but it was NOT the typical '90s honey oak (that would have been gone the first 6 months of living here). It's nice, but now let me show you the transformation!

Ta-da! I am really happy with the finished product. It's so much richer now. We did not intentionally paint the cabinets to match the barstools, however. I'm trying to decide what to do about them now--maybe glazed coral? Any suggestions?

We also added hardware, which we didn't have before. I had my heart set on copper hardware--the cabinet's hidden hinges are copper and I fell in love with how it looked against the gray-blue. Copper hardware is expensive, though, so I bought some cheapo stuff from Amazon (these bin pulls and these knobs) and spraypainted them with Rustoleum hammered copper spray paint, plus a protective glossy topcoat. They add so much warmth to the darker cabinets!
Now a little bit about the actual painting experience... I'm not going to bother giving a detailed post because there are plenty out there already. I spent a lot of time researching products and had it narrowed down to General Finishes milk paint (find it on Amazon), Benjamin Moore Advance, and the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit. I settled on the kit because it promises NO sanding or priming (says it right on the box!) so I figured if I didn't have good results, I could get my money back. Other products might claim to not require sanding or priming but say on the can that it's recommended.
Instead of sanding, the kit comes with a deglosser (like liquid sandpaper) and you use that on all the surfaces to help adhesion. Then you use the bond coat in your choice of their tintable colors--we chose "Castle". After two coats of bond coat, you can put on the decorative glaze (we skipped it) and then the protective topcoat. Everything was super simple, just time-consuming! I used a 2 inch angled brush and there are no brush marks anywhere. To avoid brush marks, you just want to make sure to use very little paint and brush in the direction of the wood grain. I read terrible horror story reviews of the topcoat being so difficult to work with and bubbling, or being streaky, or leaving brush marks, but I didn't have any trouble with it at all. It's a nice low sheen, too, instead of high gloss.
Total time: estimated 50 hours.
How much did this all cost?

• Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit: $78
• Hardware: $30 for 10 bin pulls and 20 knobs (yeah, awesome stuff!)
• Spraypaint: $4.97
• Spray sealer: $5ish 
• Longer screws for hardware: $.97
• Total: LESS THAN $120!!!!

If you are thinking about painting your kitchen cabinets, do it. It's a lot of work, but anyone can get great results if you are patient and use the right product!