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Would you paint oak cabinets?


MyLittleBears
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I love the look white cabinets in a kitchen. I know it's a trend but I think it's lovely. My cabinets are solid oak and are a honey-oak color that goes with everything but I am so tempted to paint them off-white with chalk paint, but don't want to regret my decision a few years later. I have a country french theme going through the house (except boys' rooms, of corse) Would you do it? 

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We did and they looked great. You will have to prime them and to multiple coats if you don't want the grain to show through. Also, depending on the style of doors you have, keeping the paint from clumping in the doors is challenging. We took all doors and hinges off, but we wanted them to look professionally done. My husband also put trim on the tops and bottoms of the upper cabinets, which made them look even nicer.

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I love the look white cabinets in a kitchen. I know it's a trend but I think it's lovely. My cabinets are solid oak and are a honey-oak color that goes with everything but I am so tempted to paint them off-white with chalk paint, but don't want to regret my decision a few years later. I have a country french theme going through the house (except boys' rooms, of corse) Would you do it? 

 

Yes, absolutely, but do all the prep work and spray the doors if you can. 

 

I had a nondescript colored kitchen painted white and it looks so bright and clean.  White is timeless.

 

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I did. It looked beautiful. We sold the house 3 years later and got a lot of compliments on it.

 

I used chalk paint - so no priming. If you have a spot with some grain or stain bleeding through, put some shellac on it, wait, and repaint. Check out the Purple Painted Lady for lots of how to videos and info. She helped me (virtually). Some people use a different finish in kitchens, but I used the Annie Sloan chalk paint wax - it was perfect.

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So my understanding is you don't need to strip the finish if you use chalk paint? Is that right?

Yep. You'll need to clean them though. And if there is anything greasy spilled - you may need to do a small section with the shellac or it could show through as a darker area. I didn't even take off the cabinet doors.

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No. No, no, no. I love the look of natural wood far better than painted wood. I think most people who have jumped on the painted kitchen cabinet bandwagon will regret it once it falls out of fashion again. Natural wood is timeless.

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I love the look white cabinets in a kitchen. I know it's a trend but I think it's lovely. My cabinets are solid oak and are a honey-oak color that goes with everything but I am so tempted to paint them off-white with chalk paint, but don't want to regret my decision a few years later. I have a country french theme going through the house (except boys' rooms, of corse) Would you do it?

Yes. As a designer on some tv show used to say, just because it's wood doesn't make it special. LOL.

 

I do not like oak at all. I don't like the grain that so many people like. And the honey oak is my least favorite. I love white cabinets....you probably can't completely cover up the grain, but you might not even want to. A lot of people like the grain look.

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No. No, no, no. I love the look of natural wood far better than painted wood. I think most people who have jumped on the painted kitchen cabinet bandwagon will regret it once it falls out of fashion again. Natural wood is timeless.

Interesting. I think of white cabinets as timeless.

 

I wanted to do red cabinets. I fear THAT would be a fad. So I probably won't. Especially since I know this is not our forever home.

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Yes!  We are ripping out all of our oak cabinets and placing white.  That said, I would read, read, read on painting them prior to doing it.  It is a HUGE job.  The entire cabinet must be take apart, labeled and cleaned.  Chalk paint does not give the smooth finish that many people are looking for in a white kitchen, so make sure you are sure you want a more rustic look before going forward. 

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I also dislike the look of oak, the grain is too heavy for me.  I would either paint them white (full disclosure, I'm currently in the middle of a kitchen remodel and we're putting in brand new white cabinets) or I would gel stain them a darker color.  I would look online and see which look you like the most.  

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Nope.  I like the wood look much better.  It would be a tragedy to give up something so nice IMO.

 

Couldn't possibly agree more.  Natural oak is going to come back - because it's classic, IMO.

 

On the other hand, paint requires care and updating.  And I hate white cabinets so there is that.  I honestly think white is going to be on it's way out.

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Yep! I painted an oak paneled room once and I'm about to paint my brick fireplace. It drives my dad nuts because "how will you undo that if you don't like it?" I don't know but I'm painting it anyway!!

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Well, I guess I'd wonder if you can ever go back once you paint them.  Meaning if you decide you'd rather go back to the natural wood if they can be stripped and refinished.  If yes then to me there is hardly any risk at all.  If not, well then I guess you need to decide if you are ok with that.

 

As nice as white looks though, I wonder how long they stay looking clean and white.  I would be afraid I'd see every little mark on them.  Kinda like stainless appliances.  I like the look, but the one stainless item I have (my range) is such a pain to keep clean. 

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Well, I guess I'd wonder if you can ever go back once you paint them. Meaning if you decide you'd rather go back to the natural wood if they can be stripped and refinished. If yes then to me there is hardly any risk at all. If not, well then I guess you need to decide if you are ok with that.

 

As nice as white looks though, I wonder how long they stay looking clean and white. I would be afraid I'd see every little mark on them. Kinda like stainless appliances. I like the look, but the one stainless item I have (my range) is such a pain to keep clean.

You definitely see more on white than on oak.

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Yes! We painted ours a couple years ago, and we love our kitchen now! (And we have young kids in the house btw.) We did a warm, soft gray on the bottom cabinets that has slightly bluish undertones and cream on the upper cabinets.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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I don't mind yellow, but I was surprised that was the new "in" thing.

I don't mind yellow, either. I think some of the greys are nice, but I couldn't live with those.

 

When I painted our cabinets, I did a muted turquoise first. It sounds weird, but it was pretty. We kept that for a year, and then I wanted to try an off white. So I did that over the turquoise, and distressed just a tiny bit before waxing. We put it on the market 2 - 3 years after that, and had a ton of compliments.

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I would (and did) a few years ago (another one who strongly dislikes oak).  When we bought the house, oak cabinets were standard and I went with the least offensive oak option (to me) and had them use a whitewash finish (I hate honey oak!).  I used the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit and did the kitchen and bathroom cabinets in a dark espresso - didn't regret it for a moment.

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I hate yellow.

 

You know, I dislike yellow too.

 

For some unknown reason, I went off on a yellow binge in my first Craftsman house, because it had a lot of dark, natural wood. 

 

I've never wanted to be anywhere near yellow again since those days. 

 

Edited by TranquilMind
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We did it 2 years ago, under pressure from the realtor, to sell the house.

 

We ended up not selling and I hate, hate, hate them.  I miss the natural oak, and had I known we were staying, I would have done something entirely different.  

 

We are committed to staying here a min.  of 6 more years now since my youngest is in school and in 7th grade.  I need to figure something out.  I hate them.

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I do like the yellow idea, with maybe doing the pantry wall in light yellow. I have french country cabinet pulls in oil rubbed bronze so that the cabinets look like pieces of furniture. The oak color is very rich and  it did dress them up quite a bit but I still love the off-white look. It would go well with stainless steel appliance. Ugh. I'm still so torn. 

Edited by MyLittleBears
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I do like the yellow idea, with maybe doing the pantry wall in light yellow. I have french country cabinet pulls in oil rubbed bronze so that the cabinets look like pieces of furniture. The oak color is very rich and it did dress them up quite a bit but I still love the off-white look. It would go well with stainless steel appliance. Ugh. I'm still so torn.

Check out Annie Sloan ChalkPaint colors. So many choices...

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