The painters will finally be here Tuesday to start our cabinet painting - YAY!
As I posted above, we had to get one new cabinet for above our fridge. I finally went to stores today to look for knobs. I couldn’t find any I really liked that would work, and only found 1 that I could live with. At the 3rd store I mentioned to the guy that I liked my current knobs just fine, but didn’t know where they came from to order more. (Happened to be the same store/guy I ordered the new cabinet from). He took a pic of my knob, and within a minute or so, found it on Amazon. Once I knew the name of it, I found out where it was available close to home. We went there just to make sure we wanted to keep the old ones, and husband and I both agreed they were just as good if not better than the others.
So, saved some $$$ on that.
Terrific! I hope you will post before and after pics when it’s all done.
It’s been over five months and we still love our painted cabinets. There is one set of doors that either expanded or aren’t mounted quite right and are rubbing. Our painter will address this. He is terrific!
@thumper1 (or anyone else) - I don’t usually have much luck posting pics - let’s see if this works.
We’ve pretty much made our decision, but you can tell me which knobs you like better.
They’re both nice, but I prefer the plain one on the left.
They are both very nice. I like the one on the right…a little detail on that one. But really, they are both nice!
The ones we plan to use are the ones
On the right. I did buy 29 of the football shaped ones, but we both like the old one just as much, and it since it’s round we won’t be annoyed if it is not “up and down correctly.”
I also like the one on the right.
We have a few knobs that are the oval football shape. When my kids were young I was constantly having to adjust them. Good point, I can imagine they would have driven me batty if I had them throughout my kitchen.
The ones on the right are nice, too.
My vote goes to the plain one. Easier to keep clean!
Agree on the easier-to-clean rationale for the plain knob!
Just throwing out there (and I know it wasn’t requestd!) - what a cabinet store owner told me when I was looking for new cabinets. He explained that folks who are buying or rehabbing cabinets for the second/later stage of life sometimes get cabinet handles (ex below) rather than knobs, because if arthritis or other hand mobility issues kick in, the person can still slip their hand in the handle and open - knobs can present more difficulty… fwiw
If we were getting new cabinets I might consider handles, but our old cabinets already have holes for knobs. The paint job is meant to last at least a couple of years, so we can decide if we are staying in this house (and might consider all new fronts or a kitchen redo), or are moving and painted will look “good enough.”
We looked at tons of handles and knobs. We were open to either, but never found a handle we liked at all. So…we went for knobs.
Our 1993 kitchen cabinets have never had knobs or handle. They open easily by just grabbing lower edge. It’s a clean look, and it seems the cabinet faces don’t get as grubby as my old kitchen with know. I know that won’t work for those with existing cabinets, but it is an option if installing new cabinets and aging in place.
1214mom - hope we see your before/after pictures! (we are rehabbing our kitchen too -deciding between painting and new cabinets - so love seeing others’ choices/outcomes!!)
I have seen many painted kitchen cabinets I like and that look good. And I’m a fan of redoing/reusing. But I do have to say as we are house hunting and I’m looking at LOTS of Zillow pics, sometimes it seems very obvious that a coat of paint has been put on cabinets. I do think it can be helpful to do some other updates that help not to date the cabinets.
For instance, one of those roll top appliance cabinets dates a kitchen. While cabinet hardware can be expensive updates hardware can modernize cabinets as well. But also recognize that changing knobs to handles can be A LOT of work!
Change out a cafe curtain for a Roman shade. Buy a couple of new countertop decor items like new canisters or Utensil holder
But also agree that painting cabinets can be good bang for your Buck and great if you are going to be living in your kitchen for some time.
The key to a good painted cabinet is someone who knows what they are doing, and doesn’t just slap a coat of paint on. The guy who did our cabinets did four coats on the grey part (two primer coats of KILZ) and five on the white parts (three coats of primer paint). Two coats of the color paint followed the primers. Actually, he might have done three on the white parts.
ETA…none of the coats of anything were applied until after the surfaces were prepared…washed with some toxic stuff….and sanded.
We were at a friend’s yesterday who painted their own cabinets. One coat of primer and then they used that antique finish on top…coat of paint and then some other stuff that you put on and wipe off. They definitely look like a DIY job. But better than what they had!
We had no knobs for 25 years on our oak cabinets. Doors and drawers opened just fine…but despite being very vigilant about wiping and cleaning…they just were looking grungy. Plus…I was totally sick of the golden oak. We like the knobs!
@abasket i did buy a new utensil crock to better match, and also a new butter dish. We don’t have any curtains or blinds in our kitchen at all…it faces the woods, and we like the natural light.
In our first house, we had very dark (and glossy) cabinets we hated. My husband worked hard to refurb with off white paint. It was a fabulous improvement for $18 and lots of elbow grease. But replacing the yucky green vinyl and green countertops were necessary too for the new look.
Above worked well for starter home. Today if we painted our cabinets (nicer house, twice as many cabinets) we’d likely hire professional.
We are using a pro, and they take the cabinet fronts off to paint elsewhere, and he will bring them back in a couple of weeks. The kitchen he showed me that inspired me to do this looked really good/excellent. I hope ours look as good when they are done.
We hired a pro too. Also took the doors off and not painted in place.