I have the awful white kitchen cabinets. What can I do to them?

Lightly sand,clean,prime with Zinser or Kilz allow to dry,paint,allow to dry,apply a few coats of polycrylic allowing to dry in between. Once that is finished I would put some cabinet hardware on to dress them up.

I agree with Janet... I'd prime and paint the whole cabinet door. But I think this bonding primer is the best for successful sticking power... and the good news is no sanding necessary! It goes on super smooth, it's thicker than typical 'watery' primers, and is water clean up! Then just go over the dry primed cabinets with your favorite satin or semi-gloss latex paint. (2 coats for best coverage and durability) Here is the link for the bonding primer: http://go.redirectingat.com?id=78087X1556902&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FINSL-X-SXA110099-04-Waterborne-Bonding-Primer%2Fdp%2FB000MITIF8%2Fref%3Dsr_1_fkmr0_1%3Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1489163130%26sr%3D8-1-fkmr0%26keywords%3Dstyx%2Bbonding%2Bprimer

Hope that helps! Liz SimpleDecoratingTips.com

Thank you. The finish is not wood. You think it would adhere without scratching?

Agree with Janet! Remove the doors and hardware. Mark the doors and cabinets with tape where they go. Lightly sand the doors and cabinets to remove any gloss. Prime with a stain blocking primer like Zinsser 123. Then paint with your color. Seal with at least three coats with a water based polyurethane. Use a small foam roller and foam brush for a smooth finish.

Thank you

Thank you

You could always add some door handles to punch things up.

Listen! My friend up the road just redid her cabinets white! Then she decopaged (sp?) sunflowers in all the corners. It's glorious! Maybe rub-on transfers is the answer. I don't know how to spell decopage (!) but there are so many different and interesting transfers you can get. This way you don't have to go through all the bother of taking them down, repainting, putting them back up.

I wouldn't paint the cabinets. To expensive too much work. I would put a back slash to n and that would be beautiful and tone down the walls with many be a suttle gray color and add some cool knobs. Your kitchen would be awesome!!

Some kind of flomica over pressed wood

Visit Brand Name paint stores ( Sherwin Williams, or Benjamin Moore) and ask those folks. They know WHICH paint would be best, and would give you great tips!

To save headaches, take off your smallest door, and bring it with you.

I've painted Formica cabinets, , but it's been years, and they were already painted, so I just lightly sanded ( with 200 grit) and repainted with a fresher color. Oh and definitely NEW handles. ( a Dollar store near me, sells really cool ones pkged 3-5 for a dollar!! Also, keep a small jar of the paint, for future touch ups.

Think about using different color cabinet paints , , , one on the wall cabinets, and a darker color on the bottom cabinets, ( like all the Home Improvement shows are featuring on TV ). Have fun!

I forgot to mention, , it takes at least 3-4 days to complete. (minimum!!)

Steps include washing ( with a degreaser) , , rinsing thoroughly, , lightly sanding, , wiping down again, then painting. May take more than one coat. So give yourself plenty of time. ( but you will save tons of money versus replacing them).

Start with the upper cabinets, and be sure to tape down newspaper to your counters and floors, to catch paint drips.

You could try removable decals .I love chickens so I put them on frig and cabinets.Love them!

I can't tell but if the wood trim on the bottom is level with the rest of the cabinet why not use trim to turn these cabinets into shaker style cabinets. You could then repaint them. Clean them with TSP, trim them out, paint them with chalk paint (don't need to sand) and then seal them.

we had some ugly cheap cupboards in the home we bought. I glued lattice around perimeter for the shaker look. Primed and painted light gray. Really cozies up the kitchen.

Painting them and new handles make a Huge difference, did ours last year, white uppers, gray lowers. Love love love them. Plan to add crown molding. Lots of work but well worth it in the end.

Decals or stencils. People used decals in the 40s or 50s. If you could find some in a vintage style, that would be cute. Stencils can be bought or designed yourself, so let your imagination come out and play!

Paint cabinet box and then the doors in a color you love or you could do black box and leave hit just paint the insert on bottom of door in black. Leaving them white but changing box color seems the easiest way and you could paint them any color you like. It's hard because you didn't mention your overall style or what rest of kitchen looks like. Use contact paper on cabinet fronts and leave boxes alone or paint in a complimentary color as well as the trim on bottom of door. That would be cheap and they are coming out with so many choices.

These are not ugly cabinets, I'd trade cabinets in a heartbeat. We can't afford to do anything about them. The people who had the house built the cabinets doors crooked and they don't shut.

Oh goodness! I have one like that too!

I redid mine by using imitation bead board. I cut it to be 1 and 1/2 inch from each edge then took really small trim and went around the bead board. Kind of like a picture frame. Then primed and painted it white. Put new hardware on and wallah people thought I bought them.

Cool. Do you have a picture?

I would use the bead board panel on top with a shaker trim (flat pieces of wood) and then paint and use new hardware. IMO, that would look fresh, neutral and very nice.

I would stencil them with a fun accent color that goes with your decor and add hardware. The other thing you could try is wallpaper; but I've never been a fan of the stuff.