Colorful Kitchen Cabinet Transformation

Have you been cooking up ideas for your dream kitchen but don’t know exactly where to start? While the cabinets might seem like a daunting place to begin, a fresh coat of paint and primer on this area of your kitchen can result in a dramatic transformation. The kitchen cabinets are also an area of the home where you can have fun with color – from bold blues to moody blacks, colorful cabinets can be as on-trend as they are timeless.

This month we’re bringing you a dash of inspiration and a pinch of proper prep work, served up in a stunning kitchen cabinet transformation. To take this sunny space from boring to brilliant, we chose Oceans Deep for the kitchen cabinets. The dark bluish green with gray tones is subdued enough to cover a large area but still results in a space with a ton of personality. Oceans Deep is available in the KILZ^® Tribute^® paint line, a low VOC paint that offers excellent stain-blocking performance and durability – both necessary qualities for an area where sticky fingers and spills are inevitable!

Equally important as color choice in this kitchen cabinet makeover was the primer selection.  Since kitchens are prone to excess moisture and humidity, that also means that mildew can quickly become an issue. To ensure our cabinets would stay fresh for years to come we chose KILZ 3™ Premium primer, a fast drying, low odor and very low VOC primer that provides a mildew resistant coating.

Any professional painter will tell you that proper prep is key to the success of your project, and cabinets are no exception. If you’re ready to get started on your own kitchen transformation, below are instructions detailing how-to prime and paint your kitchen cabinets.

Step 1:

Use a screwdriver to remove the cabinet doors and drawers from the cabinet frame.

Step 2:

Remove all door handles and hardware. It’s always best to put each screw back exactly where it came from to ensure the least amount of stress on the wood.

Pro-tip: Put the screws back into the hardware, then seal the hardware and screws in painter’s tape and label it.

Sand the surfaces of the doors, drawer faces and cabinet frame. Do a first pass with 100-150 grit sandpaper then finish with a second pass of 180-220 grit sandpaper, always moving the sandpaper in the direction of the wood grain. After sanding, wipe down the surface with a damp cloth to remove any dust or residue and allow the surface to dry before moving on to primer.

Step 4:

Apply KILZ 3™ Premium using a brush or roller to ensure a mildew resistant finish. Stir thoroughly before and occasionally during use. Allow 1-hour dry time.

Step 5:

Apply KILZ^® Tribute^® in Oceans Deep (a satin or semi-gloss finish is recommended) with a brush or roller, moving in smooth strokes in the same direction as the wood grain. 

Step 6:

Once paint is dry, reattach hardware to doors and then reattach doors to cabinets.

Oceans Deep