Painting oak cabinets something other than white/cream?

12 years ago

We have medium toned builder grade oak cabinets in our kitchen, which have held up really well. However, I have always disliked the oak and would love to reface or replace with maple. I really dislike the grainy look of the oak, it's rather busy for the granite countertop too.

We are looking into the cost of refacing vs replacing, but are also considering painting as a less expensive option, since we'd really like to put our money into new flooring instead. I painted my bathroom cabinets about 5 years ago, from oak to white, and they came out awesome. I did my research and followed the steps precisely. You can't really see the grain either, which is good.

The only issue is, many of the oak cabinet repaint jobs I've seen have been white or the antique white glazed look. I do like that, but think a medium mocha maple tone would look better in our kitchen.

I don't want to paint green or blue, red, etc. Chocolate brown will be too dark as our kitchen does not have any natural light. I really want that maple glazed look. Is there a color I could paint it and then glaze it to get the look I want that doesn't scream bad home paint job? Any links to pictures would be helpful too.

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Comments (5)

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Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
12 years ago
Painted cabnets will always look like painted cabnets
graywings123
12 years ago
Jerseygirl, post this on the Home Decorating forum. There are some posters over there who have done wonderful things with stains.

A lot of people don't like Minwax Polyshades, but I have used it and like it.
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kristheot
12 years ago
Here is a story I read on another website about Rustoleum Transformations:
http://retrorenovation.com/2011/03/09/diy-painter-uses-new-rustoleum-cabinet-transformations-on-2-bathrooms-kitchen-240-for-kits-instead-of-20000-for-new/
I haven't tried it myself, but I'm thinking about it on some furniture that needs re-working. If you are interested, it seems like they sent sample kits to a bunch of bloggers. If you google rustoleum transformations, you'll find some photos.
andreadeg
12 years ago
I just used Rustoleum's Cabinet transformations on a medium colored oak cabinet and painted them black. I have to say the cabinet turned out pretty well. For now, I just tried one cabinet in a bathroom. The grain is definitely still visible. For my cabs, I dropped a piece of beadboard into the inset portion of the cabinet to cover up a majority of the grain. it's not clear how durable the finish will be; I've read posts from other folks who have said that the finish starts to chip away. time will tell; if the finish holds up I'll use the product on my kitchen cabs.
MrsShayne
11 years ago
Howdy. I didn't want white or off white either but I also couldn't pull off super dark. I looked about 10,000 pictures on Houzz and I found myself saving lots of gray cabinets.I ended up going with BM's 1550 - Cumulus Cloud. It took me a long time to admit that there are hints of blue but I condsider it more of a gray color. I love it. Good luck. I'm sure whatever you choose you'll love more than oak!

{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog - explains the entire kitchen remodel