This was probably the most time consuming prep I have ever done. Most of the screws were in odd angles and needed to be unscrewed by hand. I was able to use my cordless drill for a bit, but the battery pack is so bulky that it got in the way a lot.
I bagged the hinges in one bag, the hardware in another, and the screws for things like the spice rack add on in a small bag. I bought some polished nickel spray paint for the hinges, but I think we are going to buy new drawer and door handles if we can find something affordable. We have a tight budget so this is only an optional thing at this point. I also figure if need be we can live without these for a while until we can save a bit more $.
Then I started cleaning everything. I mostly emptied out the cabinets, cleaned the cabinets out of all the dust, and used this TSP substitute deglosser. It’s supposed to be green. I don’t really know. Probably a rip off. Anyway, I sprayed this on the cabinet frames and all the doors, wiping it after letting it sit for a while. I also put some painter's tape around the bases of the cabinets. This makes things easier. Then it was time to paint!
It has been highly recommended around the blog world to use Zinsser’s Bullseye 1-2-3 primer. It’s water-based and it is supposed to stick to any surface. We'll see how this works out. Most pros recommend that you sand first, but I was just too lazy to do this. With a dog running around and an open kitchen, it seemed hard to have dust flying everywhere and it sounded like a long, time-consuming process. I might be kicking myself later for this, but I’m going forward with this anyway.
After the first coat of primer, I was a little scared. Was this going to turn out okay? I texted Mike (who was at work) and told him I was nervous about how this would turn out. He told me that even if it ended badly, we could always change it. He’s right. While it would be a giant pain to change it, we could always go back and sand. So I kept going.
After two coats, we both agreed that it looked much better than the dark cabinets. Our kitchen is in the middle of the house with no windows. White cabinets brighten up the room so much.
For the first few days, I did minimal work on the drawers and doors. I prepped them with the de-glosser and then started to prime the backs. I stopped there to focus on the cabinet bases. I figure if I can get those done, our kitchen will become much more functional and then I can go back to the drawers and doors. So they are just taking up space in the garage right now, but will soon be tended to. I just noticed putting up this picture (the only picture I took of the drawers and doors for some reason) that there is a smudge on one of the drawers. That must have been fixed right after I took this because the smudge isn't there anymore.
So that’s the progress so far. What do you think? Better or worse? We’re thinking better.
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