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mcchris_gw

Painting kitchen cabinets - pure white or linen white?

McChris
9 years ago

Hello I'm new here! We just bought our first house and are doing a lot of cosmetic work to the interior. One of our bigger projects is re-doing the kitchen. We are painting the cabinets using Rustoleum's cabinet kit. I'm looking for opinions on whether to use pure white (unglazed) or linen white (unglazed) for the cabinets. I think I prefer the unglazed look to the glazed (I don't want it to look to "antique-y"). Any opinions are appreciated!!

We removed the wallpaper and chair rail on the wall - that will be a flat wall (no chair rail) painted in the hazelnut cream.

All trim and windows are going to be painted white.

Counters will be Giani Sicilian Sand. Flooring will be Home Depot's blackened maple. Walls will be Behr Hazelnut cream (same as adjoining living room). We currently have white appliances but eventually will upgrade to stainless.

Thank you!

Comments (9)

  • Bridget19
    9 years ago

    I say unglazed...

  • nancyocean
    9 years ago

    According to this website, it looks like there are three different whites and you can get each of those glazed as well. On the second roll, there is one called 'Frost', that I think looks like a 'white white'. What they call 'pure white on the top row, looks more like an ivory to me or what some people call a soft white. The other white is linen and it is a little more beige. I think you will be safe with either the unglazed pure white or linen white, but your counters, I probably would pick the linen white.

    What's the advantage of buying the kit? I understand it if you were doing a glaze, but if your not, why not just buy a high quality cabinet paint? Besides being lots cheaper, you can buy a small can and test your color before committing to anything. By the way, if you never painted, those sponge rollers can create a really smooth look.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Color chart

  • McChris
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks! I guess I figured it would be easier just to get the kit but you make a good point! Do you have any specific recommendations for cabinet paint? And we would just buy a deglosser separately? We already have Kilz2 primer (a lot of it) so we could always degloss, prime and just paint. And then would we seal it? I think the kit comes with the deglosser, paint, and the final coat sealant - for $75. Any tips are appreciated, we've never done this before!

  • greenhaven
    9 years ago

    I absolutely agree with kitchenlover1, scrap the kit and get exactly the color you want. There are toms of threads here about painting caninets, but a quickie tutorial is this:

    -a good primer (I used Glidden Gripper) needs little sanding beforehand, just a good scrubbing to make sure grease and oils are off.
    -any quality enamel will do, but the more expensive cabinet paints like Ben Moore's Aura will get you a much longer-lasting finish.
    -no need for a "sealant" afterwards
    -bring home tons of color chips and use them against your granite and walls in your light at different times of day. "Whites" are seldom just white, most have a colored undertone that will show up with other colors. When you have the cab color chips marrowed down to three or so get samples and paint a door with it, maybe a couple doors, to be sure.

  • nancyocean
    9 years ago

    I'm a fan of Behr paint, and the guys at Home Depot really do some great color matching for me, when I find "the" color. I think the primer you have is one of the best on the market and I'm not sure if you would need a deglosser, I don't even know what that is, but I know my local Home Depot has some really knowledgeable paint people and hopefully you could ask them if that's really necessary. I usually just scrub things down with the cleaner they sell, TSP Trisodium Phosphate, and then prime. If you are changing hardware to something completely different, ie knobs instead of pulls, fill holes in before you prime. I agree with greenhaven a good quality enamel is the way to go. Once you prime your cabinets, you have a much better idea on the shade of white for your kitchen, primers are white white and you will then how white you can go. Since your appliance are white, you might find going with a white white is the best option or something that picks up the lighter color in your granite might be another option.

  • Disaster28
    9 years ago

    Just a thought.....I was told by one kitchen designer not to go with too pure of a white. She said that pure white lends itself to looking cheap and slight off whites give off a richer feeling.

    I recently re painted the doors in our house and found that she was right! I had the old pure white door beside the new (slightly) off white door (BM CC-40) and the new door just gave off a more expensive and nicer feeling.

  • lam702
    9 years ago

    I'd go with the linen white, unglazed. The creamier whites just seem warmer to me, and would go with the granite you've chosen better, IMO. Of course your bright white appliances won't match the cabinet paint, but as they die you can replace them with SS.

  • CEFreeman
    9 years ago

    Why don't you buy the best paint for cabinetry and trim. Specifically mad e to dry hard as a rock. i.e. Cabinet Coat. BM owns them now.

    Kilz is for drywall. That's why it was created, and frankly I don't think they do anything else as well. Again, i.e. get a primer that's made for wood or other hard finishes. STIX or BIN. Any adhesive primer. I go with all the advise I got on the paint forum and go oil based primer. It's harder, and very different than oil paint.

    You should definitely either sand to rough or use a serious dose of deglosser. If you don't all your work is for nothing.

    I like your color scheme, even all the different whites.

    Definitely do samples. I discovered why 3 different gray/sage/dusty/greens turned turquoise the minute natural light in my kitchen hit them: There's an environmental coating of some junk on the windows and it's got a BLUE tint.

    BTW. I admit to painting my cabinets 3 times, too, because I was testing my samples after work, at 11:00 at night. No sunlight. I just didn't get it fast enough.