Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Kitchen Cabinets Part I


This is my kitchen...lots of oak and gold handles and oak...and more oak. Did I mention that I don't like oak? Now that we've expanded our family room (yes, I know I haven't posted "final" pictures of that!) and have a such a light and bright space with crisp white woodwork...well, the oak kitchen really doesn't flow with the space.

I've been planning our kitchen re-do for quite awhile, but I wanted to wait until the addition was done. So, now is the time! We spent the three day holiday weekend starting this project. We didn't get as far as I wanted, but we made good progress. I was hoping to get one side (the stove side) of the kitchen done. That didn't happen, but I do like what did happen!
My plan for our kitchen is to put beadboard on all the exposed ends of the cabinets as well as in the flat panels on the cabinet insets. Crown moulding will go on the tops of the cabinets and trim will be added to the bottom edge of the top cabinets. Quarter round trim will go along the base of the cabinets to transition to the hardwood floor. Everything will be sanded and painted a crisp white.
First we removed the cabinet doors and everything in the cabinets on one side of the kitchen. Then I started sanding the cabinets while my husband started cutting beadboard. We clamped up the first big piece of beadboard to see what we thought...and we loved it! Now my husband was beginning to see my vision for the kitchen!
I kept sanding and my husband kept cutting. I sanded all the doors using a random orbital sander as well as sandpaper along the edges. I primed and painted the old hinges with spray paint as we're hoping to reuse them. We attached the beadboard to the cabinet sides and door fronts using Liquid Nails and then my husband used finish nails and a hammer to attach the crown moulding and other trim pieces. Right now the budget doesn't allow for the purchase of a nail gun and compressor, but that sure would have come in handy.
This is my husband's first time cutting crown moulding--I think he did a fantastic job! Oh and take a look at the countertop. We have laminate counters with oak trim (yes, more oak!) that we're trying to save. I taped off the edge and primed it...and it is looking like it will work.
At this point the cabinets have one coat of primer. I'll be priming them again before painting them with some high quality white latex paint that I bought from Benjamin Moore. I'm painting everything with a brush. We have a paint sprayer, but it isn't a very good one because we don't have an air compressor (that whole budget thing again) and I decided that sanding out drips from our cheapo paint sprayer would be a huge pain because of the beadboard. So far the brush is working really well!
The beadboard panels fit perfectly on the flat surfaces of our kitchen cabinets. The faces of the cabinet boxes stick out just a bit on the front--so on the corners of the cabinets the edges aren't even. Does that make sense? Here's a picture where you can see how the beadboard just nestles right in there.
Still a lot (a LOT!) of work to go, but I'm already thrilled with how much better our kitchen is looking. I really and truly love what we're doing to the kitchen! Stay tuned and I'll post more pictures as we continue with the process.

DIY Day @ ASPTL
Click the box above to go to A Soft Place to Land and see more projects! Or head over to The Shabby Chic Cottage for more Transformation Thursday projects!

34 comments:

Sara said...

Wow, that's a lot of work--but it's looking great!!

Kendra@My Insanity said...

I can tell it's going to be great! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Gina said...

Beautiful, and it's so worth it! I love the beadboard.

Jane said...

Wow! That is inspirational! You are doing a fantastic job of upgrading the whole kitchen!

Caroline said...

Its going to look great when its finished, alot of work but worth it for sure. We did ours last year and what a difference...really brightened up our kitchen and updated our ugly cabinets. Last week I painted my spice rack..white. The same one that you have on your counter!

Kelsee said...

We have the same kind of cabinets and I am wanting to do the bead board and molding on the top too! I have the paint, I just have to get the husband to join the team and see the vision! Nice work! They look awesome! -Kelsee Webb

Jodee said...

Your kitchen is turning out fabulous! We are in the same boat with oak and I soooo want to paint everything white. Thanks for the inspiration! I might have to show my hubby your post!

Unknown said...

Your cabinets are going to be amazing!

We recently built new cabinets and used beadboard on the drawer and cabinet doors. I hope you love yours as much as I do mine!

Thanks for linking up at Transformation Thursday!

Anna said...

it is a lot of work, but you will enjoy the kitchen so much more!
I just painted our kitchen cabinets last month.

Darlene said...

I LOVE it!!!! I want to paint all of our kitchen cabinets white but I just haven't committed myself to doing it yet. Yours is looking FABULOUS!!!!

sarah said...

They are looking beautiful! I may have to do that-I hate my oak cabinets!

Glenda said...

We're in the process of repainting our kitchen cabinets too, and it's definitely slower-going than I anticipated -- not so much the primering, but the curing time between the two coats of paint. I have gotten one little cabinet done so that we can see how the color is going to turn out (we're using a sea green color on the lower cabinets and white on the upper cabinets, inspired by the Life in Grace blog) and I'm loving how it's looking.

We are not using a spray painter either. I'm using a skinny 1/4" nap roller (not the foam rollers, the guy at Lowe's said the foam rollers cause bubbles in the paint) for areas where I can use the skinny roller, then a brush for anywhere the roller can't access.

Now, if I could just get that paint to cure faster ;-).

I love the beadboard on the ends!! Your cabinets are going to be just beautiful when completed -- already, with the white primer, they are lightened up so much :).

Anonymous said...

It's looking good, I love it. I'm planning to do the same thing in my kitchen and use beadboard too so I'm excited to see what yours looks likes when you are done. I'm so done with oak too!

Heidi of Operation Organization said...

yay! looking GOOD. I love white kitchens - we just did ours in May and it brightens up the space so nicely just like yours! I like the beadboard - I was thinking of adding some to our walls by our kitchen table and maybe even as an easy backsplash option...

Kristi said...

Your kitchen is looking wonderful. What a job!

Traci@ Beneath My Heart said...

I love what you are doing. I know you will love it! The beadboard looks great and the white cabinets will look so clean and fresh. I can't wait to see it finished.
I am going to check and see if I can email you about the giftcard giveaway I won. Just had a question.
Thanks,
Traci

Viviane said...

Hi, i love the beadboarding and see it alot on blog land but noone has a tutorial or a step by step on how to install it. Could you share what materials and the steps to installing it? your kitchen looks great already!

Unknown said...

Your kitchen revamp looks amazing already! I can't wait to see what it looks like when all is said and done! I love the look of natural wood, but oak with gold hardware does look a bit dated. The beadboard and white looks so clean and fresh! The crown molding at the top and base at the bottom is going to complete the look with stunning results. Happy remodeling!

stephanie h said...

WOW! It looks great so far!

Southern Fried Gal said...

Looking good! I can't wait to see the end result! I have been thinking about doing something similar in my kitchen so I just added you to my reading list as an inspiration resource.

Amy {The Red Chair Blog} said...

This is looking great! The hard work will be well worth it!

Amy

Unknown said...

That is going to be amazing. I love the added beadboard. Just my style!!

Jen said...

It looks really fantastic! My husband suggested we paint our cabs, and I am going to show him your post to urge him on...hoping the remainder of the work goes well!!

Anonymous said...

It is going to look so amazing when it is done. Love the beadboard!

Edward said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Christina said...

Looking great! Wow! Love the beadboard. I know it's alot of work, but what a pay off.

Amber said...

It is looking great! We'll be painting our kitchen cabinets before we move as well, amazing how the white just opens up the room.

Ms. Tee said...

Gosh, the difference is so amazing! So light and bright and modern/updated. I love it - you did a great job!

Stacie said...

Looks labor intensive, but so worth it as you can already see a big improvement!

Anonymous said...

It's looking really great in there! Our kitchen cabs are the same as yours were and it's driving me nuts! We are planning to remedy that soon.

Thanks for stopping by my DIY post!

Fawn said...

Oh, I see the vision! I love white cabinets... can't wait to see the final product!

Nina said...

This has really inspired me. I hate my kitchen cabinets and have been seeking some inexpensive ideas to spruce them up and you have given a GREAT example on what's possible. THANKS! :)

Renee said...

I'm dying to see how your kitchen turned out! Please post pics soon!

Guerrina said...

You're doing what I've only been thinking about! I love what you've shown. Now to price out my own kitchen! A question: Did you find it fairly easy to sand or should I look into a deglosser? I think the only solid wood is the doors!