I'd like to update our kitchen cabinets, see photo below. I'm debating on painting it white or staining it a darker wood color. Our kitchen counter will be updated to white marble (or similar).
Anyone have experience with either one--good and bad? We have 40 cabinet doors/drawers in our kitchen.
Thanks!!
persimmon / 1281 posts
We repainted our white cabinets white because they were looking a bit dingy and chipping. We sanded them down & used a primer/paint in one. I'm not really happy with the result. If i was going to do it over again I would have bought a spray gun from Home Depot. They're like $80 and, I've read, very worth it. Something to consider if you go with paint.
pear / 1558 posts
We debated over ALL the options for a condo we renovated. We finally settled on paying a painter to paint our golden oak cabinets inside the condo since we weren't living there at the time. Despite his (supposed) sanding, priming & spray painting with several layers, we still had chipping & imperfections that we weren't satisfied with as soon as he was done & in the weeks that followed--and we weren't even living there at the time, so they barely got any use. We sold it several years ago, so I don't know how they've held up, but it was stressful & a pain. In retrospect I wish we'd have used another painting company who could've taken the doors to their shop & had more experience with cabinetry, but we went with the budget painter with confidence that he could do the job. 
apricot / 308 posts
We (I) painted our cabinets but we have a really tiny kitchen (15 doors, 8 drawers). In order to do it we sanded the cabinets with a hand sander, used two coats of primer, and two coats of paint on each-used lowes top tier paint. They've been painted now for about 2 years and holding up well. We have some dings in the bottom ones but since we painted them we have the touch up paint to deal with it. I think we've touched them up twice (every year over spring break). We've since done our bathroom cabinets as well and everything is still doing well!
pear / 1677 posts
@Portboston: @GoGoSnoGirl: Thank you for your input! DH's concern is how well the paint will hold up, so good to know! Especially the labor that'll go into it.
@mrsmacSLP: Thanks! Those look beautiful. Touching them up every year sounds reasonable too.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
@madisonbee: we painted ours by hand (no spray) and I'm happy with the result. However they are flat front cabinets. So all the sanding was flat. You have a lot of grooves that is going to make painting without drips really hard. Sanding isn't even the worst part because there is a liquid sander that helps. But the man many thin coats of paint is a PITA.
persimmon / 1005 posts
Ours are a similar shape to yours, and we probably have half the doors/drawers. We hand painted the whole kitchen and it was honestly SO much harder and more time consuming than I imagined. I'm happy we did it but if I'd known what a job it would be going in, we probably would've left them alone. It was just a ton of work and stress. Overall they look good but there are some imperfections I see up close that bother me every day. Just know going in that it's a big, big job and you'll never diy a factory finish.
pear / 1677 posts
@T.H.O.U.: Oy vey, those grooves are gonna be the death of me.
@Jennibenni: Yes, the more I look at my kitchen, the more I thnk maybe we'll just update the countertops and backsplash!
nectarine / 2400 posts
@madisonbee: I don't mind the color of those cabinets, I think with an updated counter/backsplash and new hardware it could look really sharp
pear / 1677 posts
@gotkimchi: Agreed. DH wants to do the backsplash first, so I'll look into hardware options. Luckily, the cabinets are in tip top shape. The previous owner(s) barely used the kitchen.
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