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Kitchen Cabinet Redo

Do you hate the color, finish or style of your kitchen cabinets?  When we bought our current home about 9 years ago, I really loved how many kitchen cabinets my “new” kitchen had.  What I didn’t care for was the color.  They were sort of a pinkish cream color, and at almost 13 years old when we bought the house, they were a bit discolored, and picked up grime easily.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking
With my usual speed of doing home projects…  7 years later, I finally decided to try and stain them with a store bought kit for cabinets.  Since my cabinets were still in good shape, I didn’t want to replace them, so staining them seemed like a wise and cost effective option.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

We have a local Home Depot store, and so I chose the option they had available, which was “Rust-oleum Cabinet Transformation Cabinet Coating System.”  They had a bunch of color options, and I was looking for a dark warm color, with a hint of red.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

Here you can see how many choices they have, and they tint them at the store.  Amazon also has some of the colors, but they seem to be limited in choices.  At the time I purchased my kit, I didn’t see any test samples to test the color, which means, if you don’t end up liking the color, you have to purchase a whole new kit.  At around $60 to $70 a kit, that can get expensive, so choose wisely.  I chose the Rustic color.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

Even though this is such a nice inexpensive option (compared to purchasing new cabinets), it is a lot of work, so I took my time.  What was nice was that the kit comes with a DVD and booklet to help explain the process.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

My husband and I removed all the cabinet doors, and set up a huge workstation in our basement.  There are several steps involved in the process. There’s a deglossing, a bond coat, a decorative glaze and finally a protective top coat.   The directions also recommend numbering all the cabinets with a sketch of your kitchen layout, that way everything fits back the way it should!

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

It was a huge job, and took me several weeks, but I’ve read online that others have done it in a week.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful HomemakingMy original plan was to buy new hardware for the cabinets.  Our hardware had been a dirty gold color, and I wanted a more updated bronze shade.  It turns out that it wasn’t easy finding hardware that would fit our cabinets, so we decided to use what we had, and paint them instead.  My husband had a genius idea to make the job easier.  He set up some boards on saw horses, and lightly screwed the hardware in to the boards, and it made it a cinch to paint it all.
He used a primer and spray paint made specifically for metal.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful HomemakingWe also added door handles to minimize wear and tear on the “new” cabinet doors.  Here’s a picture to remind you of the before appearance of our kitchen.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

It’s been 2 years since I did this project (yes, it’s taken me this long to write this post up, and take the after pictures), and so I can honestly tell you that they have held up beautifully!  I’m homeschooling 2 children, and I cook and bake a lot, so my kitchen gets a ton of use, and there is hardly a scratch anywhere on my cabinets, after 2 years of daily use.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

I know these days, it seems that white and light grays are fashionable in home decor, but I really like my warm dark kitchen cabinets.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

Here you can see the rich warm color and wood-like grain, and also the painted hinges.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

The darker color makes the cleaning up-keep minimal.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

For our next kitchen project, we’d like to do either a tile floor, or a different wood floor.  Though with our speed (or lack there of) in doing projects, it may be another two years…  😛

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

I was not compensated for this post.  I bought the supplies on my own.  If you’re interested in updating your cabinets, I would definitely recommend updating them with stain instead of replacing them, as long as they’re in good shape.

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

The new color goes with the decor of our home so much better than the old pink/creme colored cabinets, and we’ve received lots of compliments on them from guests to our home.  If you’ve thought about trying something like this, don’t be afraid to go for it!
staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

staining kitchen cabinets, Kitchen Cabinet Redo, Joyful Homemaking

13 Comments

  1. Beautiful! I wonder how they will hold up over time? We used a different product a few years back, and the paint chipped quite a bit.

    1. It’s been two years so far, and I’m impressed with how well they’ve done in a super busy kitchen!

  2. They turned out great! This is on my to-do list! I cannot stand my cabinets. I hope to paint them very soon! Great job!

  3. You did a really good job with the stain. I can completely relate to projects taking awhile. We started remodeling our kitchen 5 years ago and never finished—aaak! Now I’m ready to paint them to a new color.

    1. It’s really tough to get those big projects done, cause life never slows down! What color are you thinking? πŸ™‚

  4. Your cabinets look great!
    I know it’s true….white kitchens seem to be the β€œin thing” these days. While I can appreciate them as I had a lighter kitchen myself previously… I too currently have warm beautiful brown kitchen cabinets that I love! My kitchen countertop surface, backsplash and walls are lighter and part of an open concept space so it still feels light and non depressing!
    Anyway good job on your renovation!

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