Kitchen Cabinets!!Welcome to my Kitchen Reveal Week! I’m so excited to share with you all that I’ve learned. Some of it has been AMAZING and some of it was a giant flop and needed to be rescued. Like these kitchen cabinets.
Our kitchen has been a huge labor of love – starting with our refrigerator that we bought off a local buy/sell site -and I am beyond delighted with the results (after all the hair pulling and crying was done, of course). Be warned, this first post is quite long – feel free to skip down to the end if you don’t care to see all. the. ways. I messed up. I won’t mind at all if you skip that part.
What’s the easiest, most budget-friendly way to update your kitchen cabinets?? Paint them, right? Right.
Unless, of course, you fail to take the time to do proper research – looking into all the ins and outs of painting your kitchen cabinets. Not that I would ever just rush headlong into a project without first looking at ALL the angles, ALL the pros and cons, and ALL the things you SHOULD be doing before you start.
Ahem.
Well…that’s basically what I did with this “learning experience”- (which is the term I’m using when I refer to this process). It went THAT well. But you know what? I’m happy to share with you my mistakes – so YOU don’t have to make them!
*This post contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to make a purchase through one of my links, I receive a small percentage (at no extra cost to you). Thank you for supporting my coffee habit – it’s what makes these posts and DIYs possible.* 😉
Do your Research
I read one person’s amazing experience using this wonderful, magical paint and thought, “If it worked for her, it’ll work for me, too! Yippee!”
Here’s the thing. I forgot to take into account the fact that her kitchen cabinets were a golden oak color. Mine were stained dark cherry. Slight difference. I was so thrilled at the thought of a paint actually covering in just two coats – with NO priming or sanding, that I jumped in with both feet…these cabinets HAD to go. This kitchen was driving me crazy – all of it. (The ugly floors needed to go, too – Updated: click here to see what I did with those!)
And the clutter on the counters and the legos on the floor? I’d love to say that this was just a rare day and that my house never really gets this bad, but you know what? *whispering* Sometimes it does. As a family of 6 with four boys, ages preschool to teen, some days it DOES get this way, despite my best efforts. Just keeping it real, friends.
Back to the kitchen cabinets.
With excitement in my heart and a song in my head, I removed all the doors off the kitchen cabinets, set them up downstairs in the workshop and went to town on them. First I scrubbed them all down with liquid deglosser – a good thing to do, since it’s a great de-greaser and cleaner, and it gives your surface some texture to hang on to. That went well. Yay!
Houston, we have a Problem
But here’s where it starts to get yucky. I painted on the first coat of milk paint and noticed right away that the red stain was showing through. But that’s normal, right? The first coat never covers super well, so I didn’t think much of it. Then the second coat went on, and I started to get concerned. The red stain was still really seeping through the white paint. Ugh. Maybe one more coat would do it. After waiting several hours, to ensure the paint was dry, I went ahead with the third coat. And my heart sunk as I watched that brown/red stain start to seep through yet again.
By this point, I was starting to freak out and was asking my painter girlfriends WHAT IS GOING ON? And WHAT DO I DO NOW???!!!
Major Painting Lesson Learned…
It all boiled down to this. I didn’t take the time to properly investigate the paint I was using and the prep work that I should have done beforehand. Finally, I went on to the company website and found videos, talking about how to use their paint (something I totally should have done in the first place) – and the first video I watched? Yep – they talked about “if you’re going over a dark stain, like cherry…..PRIME first.” Cue the tears. I had literally just wasted HOURS of time and a really expensive quart of paint – all for nothing.
Resignation set in and I knew it was time to break out the primer.
Oh – and I forgot to mention. All that work that I had done so far on the kitchen cabinet doors? Yeah…I had also done three coats on the cabinets themselves, too. That day, there wasn’t enough coffee in the world to make this whole thing “ok”. I was so frustrated – at myself – for blindly following what someone had said without really looking into it thoroughly.
Finally, we’re Starting to get Somewhere
After priming, I went back over everything again with two more coats of milk paint. NOW they looked good. Finally! After the paint was thoroughly dry, I coated everything with three coats of the recommended high performance poly. I purchased my poly in their “flat” finish, but I feel like it has quite a bit of sheen to it still. Oh well. Overall, I’m happy with how the cabinets are holding up so far. The kitchen feels so much lighter, brighter and updated. Mission accomplished (however challenging).
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And do you see the new hardware?! My husband was a dear and agreed to getting new hardware for our freshly painted cabinets! Woohoo!! (Have I ever mentioned how awesome my husband is? Well…He is.) 🙂 When I started looking into hardware for my cabinets, I quickly realized it could get expensive really fast – and our budget doesn’t allow for $10-$12 PER PIECE for new hardware. So I turned to my favorite source for All The Things…Amazon. After a quick poll on my blog Facebook page, I decided to go with these pulls for the cabinet doors and these cup pulls for the drawers. They were a fraction of the cost compared to other sites and gave me the same look I wanted. Yet another Amazon win!
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But I’ve digressed. Where were we?
Oh yes.
Let’s break this down into the pros and cons of
General Finishes Milk Paint for Kitchen Cabinets.
Please remember, these are MY thoughts on it – someone else may have a completely different experience than what I had.
Pros:
- goes on smoothly
- low odor – which is great when you have kids in the house and are worried about fumes
- fast drying (I loved this) – you can re-coat in just two hours
- it goes a long way – even with all the coats I had to do, I was surprised at how much a quart covered
Cons:
- it’s expensive, at $30 a quart
- you DO have to prime – especially if you’re going over dark surfaces
- the coverage isn’t that great. Even after priming, I still had to give it two coats – and that’s after the three previous coats.
- you really need to seal it with three coats of the recommended poly – which translates into more time, more money and more work. However, to be fair, this step is supposed to give you a long lasting, scrubbable finish. My cabinets haven’t been done for very long yet, so I can’t say how they’ll hold up a year from now. I will try to remember to come back and update to let you know how they’re holding up.
Here’s the moral of the story, and the thing I hope you’ll take away from my whole kitchen cabinet painting fiasco. Are you ready? Here it is.
NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS OR WHAT THEY TELL YOU “WORKED GREAT FOR THEIR KITCHEN CABINETS”
ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE YOU BEGIN. ALWAYS.
And this goes for all big projects. And yes – this even includes what I’M telling you here. Don’t even take my word for it. Take your time. Do your OWN research. BEFORE you jump into something like this. You will save yourself a lot of time, money and hassle by really doing your research first. Don’t do what I did and jump in with both feet on one person’s recommendation. It’s expensive, frustrating and time consuming.
Do I love my freshly painted bright white kitchen cabinets?
I absolutely do. It was totally worth all the work – even with the self-induced detours. 😉 My kitchen has gone from dark and dreary to bright and cheerful. And all for under $100.
Do you see those floors further up the page?? Get the full details on them here. And yes, I learned my lesson on my cabinets – I did plenty of research before choosing a really unique paint for my floors. A paint I’d never heard of before! I can’t wait to share the result and the process with you.
It’s your turn. What project have you had that you thought would be simple and quick but turned into a complicated fiasco? I know I’m not the only one with projects that don’t go quite how you thought they would – so tell me in the comments below – what’s YOUR “how NOT to (fill in the blank)” project?
I’m so grateful to you for giving the “flash-forward” update. So many sites have beautiful makeovers and then you are left ot wonder and cross your fingers about how it aged. I’m getting ready to paint my dark oak cabinets and will heed all this advice. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad my mistakes have helped so many people – including you! I understand what you mean when you say that most sites leave you hanging regarding how the projects hold up. I dislike that, too – which I why I try to share my honest experiences here – even if they are mistakes. I tend to learn from my mistakes and I hope by sharing my experiences, I’ll help other people – like you – avoid the headache I had. 🙂 Best of luck to you! 🙂
I just stumbled upon your blog and I just bought the GF Milk Paint and have been trying to figure out if their top coat was going to yellow my cabinets or not- I’m so sorry you went through this but you literally saved my day. You mentioned liking the way the exterior latex paint looked – did you add a top coat to that? If so, what worked for you?
Hi, Jen! I didn’t topcoat the latex paint at all. Just the regular exterior latex paint – and it’s still white. No yellowing! 😀 I hope that helps!!
That is so frustrating that they have yellowed!! Thanks for the update; a lot of bloggers don’t do that. I had A similar yellowing happen when an “experienced” friend helped me paint with latex paint and then oil-based polyurethane on top. Bad move! As for the milk paint, it looks like you aren’t there the only one with the yellowing problem. The manufacturer addresses it here: https://generalfinishes.com/faq/how-do-i-prevent-water-based-topcoat-or-light-colored-paint-yellowing
I’m wondering if I should just skip the whole idea. Ahh! My last house we had the first mishap (mentioned above) and then I sprayed a sherwin williams primer, then door and trim paint on top. They looked amazing but still chipped over the threshold and needed constant touchup after two years. 🙁
Yes, finding good paint can be a challenge – wishing you all the best!
Thanks for your post! It was so very helpful. I am wondering what primer you used? I am wanting to paint my cabinets a medium gray, and my walls a white and wondering if the milk paint would be a good choice. Thanks for your inspiration. 🙂
Unfortunately, I would not recommend this paint. Since this post, my cabinets have turned very yellow and I will have to re-paint them this summer. I plan to follow the tutorial over at http://www.farmhousemade.com – her cabinets turned out beautifully. I’ll just find a good primer and paint over mine. I would never recommend General Finishes Paint – now that I’ve seen how yellow my cabinets have turned. The Poly is VERY yellowing. 🙁
You have inspired me to go for it. Just found your blog by accident. I am currently looking into painting my kitchen cabinets. Your cabinets look beautiful. Thanks for detailing each step including the bloopers. After reading your blog and all the comments I am still confused about what kind of paint to use. You said the milk paint turned yellow. Someone mentioned outdoor latex paint, another mentioned polycrylic, and the professional re-finisher didn’t say what she uses. I’ll have to do a test using both to see which works best.
Hi, Marsha! In all honesty, I would not use this milk paint with the polyurethane on cabinets. My cabinets have turned very yellow now – a year and a half later – and I will be repainting them soon. The other cabinets that I painted with exterior white paint have stayed a true white color. Even though they have seen some wear and tear after a year and a half of use, there is no yellowing. I wouldn’t use General Finishes milk paint along with the polyurethane. The poly yellows too bad. I hope that helps!! (Even if it wasn’t the answe you were looking for). A girlfriend of mine recently used Benjamin Moore paint for her cabinets and they turned out beautifully! I will link to the post here for you. 😊https://www.farmhousemade.com/diy/painting-kitchen-cabinets-easy-way/
Hi,
I did exactly the process you followed with the general finishes primer, Snow White milk paint and high performance top coat and 15 months later my cabinets have turned very very yellow. I am so frustrated and after purchasing a marble quartz countertop and new backsplash I am back to having to redo the cabinets and drawers again. I would love to know the process you followed if you re painted /refinished them in white again. Could you share what you did to fix them.?
Thanks!
Mine are also very yellow now. So, SO frustrating. I feel your pain! I will have to re-do all my cabinets this summer, too. I think I’m going to follow the tutorial over at http://www.farmhousemade.com – she had great results with her cabinets. I’m going to use a really good primer and go for it with regular latex paint. I think she used Benjamin Moore paint? Here’s wishing us both the best of luck!
Beautiful transformation! How are the cabinets holding up after close to a year has passed?
Hi Diane! Thanks for the question- I’m actually going to be doing an update post about them later this spring, hopefully. I love the cabinets I painted with exterior latex paint – they have remained a true white – but the cabinets I painted with the milk paint and sealed with the recommended poly have yellowed some and I’m not digging it. Be sure to check back later this season when I share what I’m doing to fix them and to hear my full review, now that they’ve aged a year. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and ask your question. Have a great day!
Try polycrylic, it does not yellow. I have had great luck with it!
Oh! Good to know, Kristen! Thank you!
Sarah they look fantastic! I am so sorry you had so many issues … I will confess that as soon as I read “milk paint” I though “uh-oh”. You’re right about doing your research for what types of paint to use for specific types of wood, etc. If there’s anything I’ve learned in 5 years of painting furniture, it’s that all types of wood respond to the various paints differently! Your hard work paid off though and your kitchen is lovely 🙂 I’ve been working on my kitchen cabinets for about 18 months now, so I know the feeling!! Love that bright white though. Great job, and way to persist!
Hi Melanie! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. You’ve definitely learned lots more about painting in your years of experience than I have as a newbie. 😉 Apparently I’m learning things the hard way over here….as per usual. 🙂 Thank you for your kind words – and best of luck with your kitchen cabinets!
Ugh…so sorry you went through all that but I have to say the kitchen looks awesome now! The white really brightens up the space and the hardware works great with it. Congrats on your new kitchen!
Hi Amy!! So happy to have you stop by and comment – 🙂 Thanks for the kind words. 🙂
Hi, I’m in the process of repain ting my kitchen cabinets. I just did one set with a DIY chalk & did notice blogs on some sealers turning yellow. Any one have success with Varathane water based polycrylic?
Hi, Sherry! I haven’t used Varathane yet – I do think it might be hard to find a non-yellowing poly – even though everyone says “theirs” is non-yellowing. Best of luck!! 😀
Your cabinets look great! I refinish cabinets in my contracting business and I always recommend sanding and cleaning with a degreaser on anything you want to paint. Some pieces it’s just a scuffing and others it’s more intense sanding. I love that you shared your experience! Job well done!
I’m impressed that you refinish cabinets for your business, Leanne! It’s a lot of work – but then, I’m sure you actually know what you’re doing – I didn’t. 😉 Lol! Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to comment! Fun to have you here- 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your “detours” and “learning experiences”… I have to admit, it is reassuring to hear I’m not the only one who cries in frustration mid-remodel! The efforts definitely paid off for you!
My “how not to” comes from our living room remodel a few years ago… How NOT to demolition a paper tile ceiling: In your excitement to FINALLY not have to look at ugly stained ceiling tiles… do NOT jam a crowbar in the ceiling and pull it down with all your might. Or if you do… first check to make sure that section of ceiling is NOT the attic area filled with blown insulation. Also, do NOT wear a tank top to demo anything…even if it IS 90 degrees with 90% humidity in the middle of July! I was a hot, itchy, cursing mess…it was NOT pretty!
Hi Leah! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your own horror story! Lol! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who has such a story. 😉 I can’t imagine pulling down blown insulation on top of myself!! That had to be one SERIOUSLY itchy, dirty job! Kudos to you for tackling such a big job! I bet it was worth it in the end. 😉 As always, so fun to have you here – thanks for taking the time to comment and share your story. <3
Wow! Looks like a different kitchen!
Thank you, Ann! It FEELS like a different kitchen too! 🙂
Sarah, Your kitchen is gorgeous looks like should be on the Chip and Joanna Gaines show?
Thanks, Aunt Belinda!! 🙂 I’m so glad you like it! And I’m so happy to have you here as a reader of my blog! A fun way to keep in touch – <3
And I should have said this, sorry!! but your kitchen is JAW DROPPING BEAUTIFUL 🙂
Aw, thank you Janice. I really appreciate that. <3 🙂
Wow! Thank you for your candid review. I’ve always been leery (sp?) of “no sanding” or “no priming” kitchen cabinets. You have inspired me to try this on a “practice cabinet” I have. My cabinets are gold tone (knotty alder) I have one that we removed to make room for a vent hood. It would be perfect to try. I will be sure and let you know how it goes and of course will link back to you. It’ll be May before I will have time but I am curious now 😉
We’re getting hardwood floors this week and the mess right now is unreal! LOL! Thanks again for your post.
Thank you Janice! You might be ok with your gold tone wood – but like you said, it’s a good idea to do a test run before tackling the whole project. 😉 Don’t be like me and jump in without looking first! ha ha!! 😉 Yay for hardwood floors!!! I’m sure the mess will be worth it when you’re all done – can’t wait to see!! 😀
Awesome makeover. You are the newly-crowned kitchen cabinet makeover queen. Despite all of the problems, the result is amazing. I’m so proud that you persevered through the heartache. Kudos, Chickie!! 🙂
Oh…and I was so awe struck by the cabinets….I totally forgot to mention the beautiful styling on the top. LOVE the vintage pieces … I could surely take take scale off your hands….if you need me to. #justsayin #imagoodfriend 🙂
Susie – LOL! I’m glad you liked the styling!! 😀 Most of the vintage pieces were from my Mom. She had such great taste. <3
Thank you, Susie – you were an encouragement through the process! 🙂 <3
Oh my gosh Sarah, what a beautiful transformation to your kitchen!! I’m sorry to hear that you had issues but I’ve done the same as you and just jumped in only to realize I missed some keys steps. I’m glad that it all worked out for you and I can’t wait to read more of your reveal later this week. Oh, and I love the new, colorful decor items on the top of the cabinets. The old scale gives me envy.
Toni – I’m glad I’m not the only one who has ever jumped in with both feet and fallen on their face – lol! Thanks for your sweet comments. (and the scales were from my Mom) – she had great taste in vintage stuff. <3
Yes!!! Sarah this is such an awesome makeover!!! Love it.
Hi Denise!! Thanks so much!! It was worth all the work. 🙂
They look absolutely amazing and I love your styling over the cabinets!?
Lol! Thanks, Lisa! I had some really sweet friends help me out with the styling… 😉
The cabinets look fantastic. All of your hard work paid off.
Thank you so much Debra! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and give your kind comment here – 🙂
I absolutely love what you have done with your kitchen (cabinets, floors, kitchen, decorations, all of it). Such an amazing transformation. Great job!
Thanks so much Stacy!! You’re such a sweet support and I appreciate your comments here! <3