“You can’t paint wood!” 

It is the first argument I hear from the husband when I suggest kitchen cabinet refinishing using paint in a customer’s home. The wife is all ears, excited about the possibility of turning her dingy oak kitchen into the white dream kitchen she has always wished for, but her husband is reluctant to paint wood. Why are men such wood lovers?

The thing is, that even if you change the back splash, countertops, hardware, appliances and everything else in the kitchen, if you don’t address the cabinets, it will still look like a dated kitchen. The only difference is that will look even worse stacked up against all the other updates you have done.

So, what are your options? Well, you can rip out the kitchen and start from scratch but that is a big renovation with a big price tag. 

What I often discuss with homeowners is refinishing the cabinets. Many homeowners are surprised that painting kitchen cabinets is option that can produce professional results at a fraction of the cost of replacing cabinets. It’s a sensible solution if your cabinets are in good condition and you can’t justify the expense and inconvenience of replacing your kitchen, simply because you don’t like the colour or wood finish.

To get the best finish though requires using the right products and the right techniques. It also requires hiring professional painters with experience in this specialized line of work. Proper prepping of the cabinet doors and the bases is essential in getting the best, long-lasting results. So, unless you are talking about painting the cabinets in your summer cabin on Salt Spring Island, where rustic is appropriate, painting your kitchen cabinets is not a do-it-yourself job.

We recently completed the repainting of the kitchen in these photos for a homeowner in Morgan Creek, South Surrey. The customer was thrilled with the results. They are now having us come back to repaint the interior of house this Fall to complete this transformation. We used Benjamin Moore Advance for the cabinets and the colour the homeowner chose was Benjamin Moore Dune White (CC-70).

A project like this will take approximately two weeks from beginning to end and can be done with limited interruption and inconvenience in your kitchen. The results speak for themselves. So, if you are considering options for updating your kitchen, give us a call and set up an appointment so we can help you convince the wood lover in your life that painting your kitchen is a good idea.