Remember when my kitchen looked like this, all naked in it’s Birthday suit? Well naked no more, the kitchen cabinets not only have doors, but bright crisp white doors!
Here’s a picture of what my garage looked like for almost two weeks while I worked EVERY night on these suckers. I used Rustoleum’s “Cabinet Transformations Kit” in “Pure White”. ALL of the reviews I read were outstanding and I hate to be the first but I have to say it… I’m not sold.
#1- The base paint is supposed to cover in 2 coats, mine took 4. Why does everything I paint take excessive coats?
#2-The decorative glaze looked terrible and thankfully I had a sample to try it on or I would have ruined a cabinet. So I skipped this step on the rest.
#3- I was cautious to apply the protective seal coat lightly, and it still yellowed in places. So bad in a few places that I had to go over it with another (5th) coat of the base paint.
Here’s my recommendation: If you are absolutely sold on doing the cabinet transformation kit do all of the steps on a sample so you can do a sample of the glaze. Also, don’t use the protective seal coat that comes in the kit. Use Polycrilic. I love that stuff. No globbing or yellowing like the stuff in the kit. Here’s a few more  “after” shots of the finished product.
We still have some serious work to do including hang cabinets above the oven, put a side piece on the open shelving, install a microwave, get stainless appliances, put down wood floors, switch out the plugs and switches for white, find a better light fixture, etc. BUT… for now this is a MILLION times better than this!
Anyways…. I am SO done with cabinets. For Now. Until I paint my bathroom cabinets. Ugh.
Update (6/28/13) Check out my tutorial for A “DIY Cabinet Transformation Kit“!
at least your bathroom cabinets won’t have as many cabinets! 🙂 i felt the same way after i painted our bathroom cabinets but here i am a few months later, itching to do the kitchen – it just seems like such a daunting task!
i was interested in reading your method of painting – i followed the Young House Love tutorial perfectly, which they swore by and had done in several other rooms in previous years and confidently stated that the method had always held up well over the years. well, our bathroom cabinets already have scratches and nicks where the paint has worn off! this has kept me from wanting to do the kitchen as our kitchen cabinets get banged into on a daily basis by the kiddos. anyway, i’m curious to hear how your cabinets hold up… you’ll have to let me know. how did you decide to use the rustoleum kit? there are so many different methods out there, it’s hard to know which would work best.
i’m realizing as i read your post that the YHL tutorial did not involve polycrylic… i wonder if that’s where my problem lies?? hmmmm
anyway, nice work on the kitchen!! it has taken a complete 180!!! so impressed with your ideas to move things around and turn it into a more functional space. love love love the handles 🙂
Thats a big bummer that your already have scratches. So far so good, but ours only have a weeks worth of wear and tear, let me tell you in 6 months-1 year. I have to think the rustoleum top coat, then the paint over than, then the poly has to be somewhat durable?
I’m glad you like the transformation, amazingly that was all super cheap, now we’re just saving for the wood floors and stainless appliances, then it will REALLY be a total transformation!