How do you make that decision to paint the wood cabinetry if you are remodeling your kitchen and keeping your wood cabinets?

I had three questions come in on this topic during my recent Instagram Q&A and with each, they had one major factor that made the answer “Yes! Paint the cabinets.”

1) The existing wood finish is poor quality or not desired.

In this kitchen, below, the homeowner was looking for a low budget fix. They could not change the floor or countertops, and the backsplash was new-ish and appropriate for the project. The main component that could to be changed were the cabinets.

New cabinets were out because of the budget, but painting them was likely okay as it wasn’t a large kitchen anyway.

Instagram Q&A - How to update this kitchen with a low budget? carlaaston.com

One of the reasons I recommended to paint the cabinets was the existing finish. I knew the cabinet doors were really inexpensive and the finish did not look good. The overall look is rather muddy.

Painting the kitchen cabinets a white to match the trim would bring some crispness to the space and would work well with the backsplash.

I suggested they paint the cabinets, get new pulls and hinges (a knife hinge might be able to be used as an upgrade to what they had), and add a taller crown to the uppers.

Here was another kitchen where the homeowner just didn’t like the dated color of these cabinets. The kitchen felt much lighter and brighter with a fresh coat of white paint.

BEFORE - Dated maple wood cabinetry that homeowner didn’t like.

AFTER - Paint gave this kitchen a whole new life and updated the look beautifully. carlaaston.com

2) The kitchen has a wood floor and the cabinets and floor don’t work well together.

This homeowner wanted to know if she should paint their cabinets a white color. She was looking for a low budget fix but she was worried about the UbaTuba granite looking too green once the kitchen was painted. She liked how it looked really black currently.

She just wondered if it was really a good idea to paint.

Instagram Q&A - Do I need to paint these kitchen cabinets? carlaaston.com

Yes!!

See this pic below? The wood flooring and the wood of the cabinets are not good together. The floor will look much better with painted cabinets. I also think the uppers won’t look so short once painted, as they will blend in more to the light walls.

And she won’t have to worry about her granite looking green, it will appear more black because of the high contrast with the white paint.

In the next kitchen, below, the dark stain was just slightly off from the floor, plus it was just a whole lot of wood on wood. We couldn’t replace all the wood flooring in the house, so we elected to change the cabinet color. We did a bright turquoise island to contrast heavily with the dark floor and then we really dark on the cabinets.

(Kitchens don’t all have to be white when they’re painted.:-)

BEFORE - Dark wood cabinet and dark wood floor didn’t exactly match in this kitchen remodel, plus it was a lot of dark wood. carlaaston.com

You can really see the color difference in this pic of the butler’s pantry with the wood floor. The cabinets are more brown, the floor has more red in it.

BEFORE - The cabinets and floor here are a near miss, they look like they were intended to match but just don’t. carlaaston.com

AFTER - This remodeled kitchen cabinetry went dark to contrast with the reddish brown wood floor. The colorful island interrupted all that dark wood and brightened up the space. carlaaston.com

3) Modifications are being made to the existing cabinets, so covering those up with paint is necessary.

One of the reasons this I advised this homeowner to paint her cabinets aside from the fact she was tired of a muddy look, she wanted to get rid of some of the “Old World” style details on the cabinetry.

Stained wood kitchen with '“Old World” details that needed modification. carlaaston.com

The ornate corbels, the applied decorative moulding on the hood, etc., could be removed and/or replaced with something simpler if the surfaces could be painted. It is really hard to match stained cabinets if any modifications take place.

I had this kitchen, pictured below, from some years ago where we cut off the peninsula, lengthened the cabinets a bit and did a new island. We also added to the top of the existing cabinets to take it to the ceiling.

You have to paint the cabinets to do any kind of modifications like this for sure. Unless you are completely stripping and restaining your cabinets, you can’t do modifications and not cover them up.

BEFORE - Stained wood cabinetry peninsula kitchen that needed modifications.

Stained wood kitchen getting cabinet modifications. carlaaston.com

AFTER - Kitchen with modifications made and painted to present a new look. carlaaston.com

This kitchen, below, had modifications done to it as well.

The microwave was moved from the overhead cabinet to go into the tower with a new single oven. New doors and drawer fronts were added in a more clean lined style. The island had beefy end panels added for a more finished look. This kitchen had to be painted to accomplish these modfications.

BEFORE - Stained wood kitchen to be remodeled.

AFTER - Kitchen was painted after new doors were moved, microwave moved and kitchen island modifications. carlaaston.com

See more pics of these kitchens mentioned above in these posts, below.

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