Any hints or info on painting kitchen cabinets a lighter color...???

Grace Terry
by Grace Terry
Moving into a new house (new to us) - the kitchen cabinets are a dark wood. I know it is trendy but I do not like. I prefer lighter cabinets. Appliances are white. Any ideas or suggestions? Please don't suggest taking the doors off and having open cabinets - I could never keep my stuff neat and organized enough to do that! thanks, G~

  9 answers
  • Bijous Bijous on Nov 12, 2017

    You can always paint them a lighter color. You will need to take the doors off the do a proper paint job. If they are of top quality you can also have them professionally stripped and restained. Either way, congratulations on your new home!

  • Cynthia H Cynthia H on Nov 12, 2017

    How about a pale gray or sage green? Here's something to help your research:

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/287667494932250426/

  • 27524803 27524803 on Nov 12, 2017

    Customizing a new home is always fun... hard work... but fun.

    Lots of color choices to go with white appliances, gray, sage green, turquoise. You did not say what color your counter tops are.

    and one of the things that a lot of the DIY shows are doing is painting the center island (if you have one) a different color than the rest of the kitchen... or the uppers different than the lowers...

    I think you should go on DIYnetwork.com or HGTV.com and look at some of the makeovers that have been done... it may give you some ideas as to colors that will update your kitchen and something may really appeal to you to get you started. You can also find out all the info you need to do the job right and get the results you want.

  • Hillela G. Hillela G. on Nov 13, 2017

    How about a steel blue or minty/ sage green? they're subtle and add a beautiful color

  • DIana Willingham DIana Willingham on Nov 13, 2017

    My thought was the Chalk paint. I got mine at Lowes. They have so many colors and techniques. I did a light color tan and then used the dark brown chalk wax on top. Turn out beautiful. But since you want lighter what about doing the white wash antique look! So easy to do.

    Good luch and have fun.

  • Ste25394820 Ste25394820 on Nov 13, 2017

    Hey Grace, 1 if the cabinets are old and have a shinny finish you need to knock off the shine first. My favorite product is paint de-glossier. Any hardware store will have it. Just poor some on an old rag and wipe the cabinet doors and front face. Once is is no longer glossy (it only takes a few seconds to break the shine) Let it dry for an hour or so then the new paint will stick like a rock to the surface.


    2 I like using oil paint rather than latex. The oil provides a high gloss finish that you can scrub clean without wiping the paint off.


    Word of warning.....Do Not Wipe the cabinets for the first month. It takes about 30 days to completely cure. Waiting will make sure you don't damage your paint job.

  • Cindy Hagemann Cindy Hagemann on Nov 13, 2017

    Dark cabinets are not the trend right now, white or grey are the trend. But to paint them, you will have to take all of the doors and hardware off, sand them down to bare wood, paint them with primer first (Kilz or similar) and then paint 2-3 thin layers of paint. Lightly sanding in between each coat of paint. A tip - label or number the doors and drawers when you take them off so that you can put them back in the same space they were built for. Another idea to paint the top cabinets one color and the bottom another contrasting color. Keep in mind that once you paint you may look at the other things in the kitchen like the counters, back splash, flooring, wall paint, etc. and realize they need an update too. Here are some color ideas:

  • Cindy Hagemann Cindy Hagemann on Nov 13, 2017

    Color Ideas for your cabinets