Hi friends!
I wanted to take the time to do a whole post on our new kitchen and let you know how much we love it. We decided after looking at our house the first time, that we definitely wanted to paint the kitchen cabinets. The cabinets were not our favorite, in a cherry finish and they made the kitchen very dark, especially with the black countertops that are there now. So, to lighten and brighten things up and to make them more interesting, we painted them 2 different colors. I knew we wanted to do white above and we tried out a couple of blue gray shades for the bottom and landed on Knoxville Gray, which we both absolutely love. It’s a Benjamin Moore color.
Top Cabinets: Benjamin Moore White Dove
Bottom Cabinets and Bar: Benjamin Moore Knoxville Gray
Both were painted with Ben Moore Advance paint, a really tough finish recommended for kitchen and bath cabinets.
I mentioned that we had our painter spray the cabinets and bar area and they really turned out great. We are very happy we paid to have that done before we moved in. One less mess that we had to deal with and it’s hard to get cabinets painted well unless you use a sprayer. That gives them such a nice finish. I have a sprayer, but there wasn’t time for me to try to do it, but if you take your time at home you can get a decent finish using a sprayer.
Here’s a reminder again of the Before kitchen. Nice, but very plain. Mark added the bar molding and beadboard, you can check out Adding Beadboard to the Bar post for that.
The bar is really the star of the kitchen now and Mark did such a great job with it. It totally makes this view so much better.
We still would like to do Phase II of the kitchen, probably next year, with new countertops, backsplash and sink. That will really make it our taste, so one step at a time. These aren’t great pics, but I wanted to show you what all we did to get to this point. There’s still a lot to do though.
The beautiful bar with corbels.
You can see how the kitchen flows into the family room. We are really enjoying the house a lot and settling in well. I’m getting used to a smaller kitchen and it’s actually less steps to take while cooking. I’ll get it all organized in time and any overflow things can go down to the basement. It will just take time to figure all that out, but for now, I have everything I need in the cabinets.
We hired an electrician to add under cabinet lights and those turned out great. He used LED strip lights and I love them. They really light up the countertops and those are a must for me, I really enjoyed them in my last house.
Here’s a shot without the lights on.
Bar area looking towards cabinets.
I don’t have a ton of countertop space, so I am leaving out my everyday things that I use. The painted cabinets are holding up very well. The only thing we had a problem with was early on before they cured for a few weeks, the drawers stuck in a couple of spots before I could get those rubber things put on and there were a couple of chip marks that I had to touch up. But nothing else since then, we think they will hold up well and Ben Moore Advance paint is very durable from what we’ve heard.
Sink area and a good shot at the cabinets and hardware. Liberty Hardware was great and sent us the hardware for the cabinets and we love them in Antique Brass.
It’s been nice to make these simple changes and get a new look in this kitchen that suits us both better.
You can see that one of my upholstered chairs landed in the breakfast area and I’m still figuring that out but I think it will stay for now. I already had it and don’t want to buy anything else until we live with things awhile. It takes time to figure out what house needs, doesn’t it? Some things we have figured out right away and others we will mull over for awhile and see where we land.
So that’s a peek into the kitchen cabinets with all the details. I know some of you might want to paint your cabinets too and have a pro do it is definitely the easiest.
Our painter here in the Atlanta area is Alberto with Nicholas Romero Painting and he was referred to me by a friend of mine, who I trust on these things. He and his crew did a fantastic job for us inside and outside, as well as the kitchen cabinets.
He charged $1100 to spray the cabinets and we bought the paint from Benjamin Moore which was an additional $200. You can reach Alberto at 770.900.6740 if you are in the Atlanta area and need a painter. I highly recommend him.
I’ll include some in progress pics for you too, since that gives a good idea of how it was all done.
All doors removed and everything was taped with brown paper to prevent overspray.
Fronts of cabinets were painted by hand and the sides and tops sprayed. Doors were removed and primed and painted with 2 coats of paint outside. Then he laid them inside to dry well, flipped over to spray the other side the next day. He was very through in his painting technique.
Since we didn’t plan to gut the kitchen, this was money well spent to update on a budget and get a look that we both love. So proud of how it turned out and we will get to Phase II next year.
Rhoda,
I love how your kitchen looks painted! Mark did a great job adding the bead board and corbels to the island! It looks like a nice piece of furniture now!
Awesome- love it. Great job.
We have the same kitchen hardware!
Can you take a pic of the rubber things you added to the drawers? I’m doing my own diy cabinets and would love any helpful tips.
HI, Shari, it’s just those little round clear rubber bumpers that you can find at Home Depot or Lowes. I’m sure you’ve seen them. for glass pieces or drawers or whatever you want to protect.
Looks fantastic. Love the choice of colors and the new detail on the bar area.
Looks great! I’m so happy for you!! Seeing you in this new stage of life is a little bit surreal in the best of ways.
My cabinets and counters are the colors of your before. I loved it 10 years ago when I picked it out, but I’m ready for a change. I’m actually planning on blue and white and am hoping to be able to hire a painter before the end of the year. With all the Hurricane Harvey rebuilding going on though, I may have to wait. But I’d rather wait than DIY because I want a professional look. That, and I just don’t have the patience or energy to do it myself.
Lovely job on your cabinets. Wish I lived in Atlanta so Alberto could do mine! Did his price include all the prep work, sanding, removal, reinstallation, etc or was that just for spraying of the cabinets?
Barbara, that was for all prep and putting them back together. He took off all the cabinet doors. I meant to add pics of that too, so I’ll go back and do that.
The kitchen does look awesome and Mark did a great job on the bar area!
I LOVE the Ben Moore ADVANCE line! We used it on our 60 year old very dingy cabinets in white dove. We painted by hand about four years ago & it has held up SO well!!! Since you only have two adults in your home, it should hold up really well. We have 2 tiny kiddos & still no problems with it. I find it easy to touch up as well. Your kitchen is beautiful!!!
Looks fabulous – before you know it, you’ll both be sitting in those lovely chairs facing the fireplace and loving life as the adorable couple you are!
Congratulations on everything (and the island is spectacular…WOW!)
I love the colors you chose for your cabinets! Mark did a fantastic job building out the bar area! It looks fabulous and actually looks like you had a whole new kitchen install! It was well worth the money to have your cabinets professionally painted. I wish I could find someone who could paint my laminate kitchen cabinets.
Rhoda, you and Mark are a talented duo. My cabinets were painted over six months ago with BM advance. They are in pristine condition and are all white. I’m thinking about going dark on the lower cabinets. My husband wishes I wouldn’t read decorating blogs. Haha The bar looks like a beautiful piece of furniture.
HI, Sue, haha that’s a good point! We all get ideas when we read blogs, don’t we? I do the same! We were going for that look on the bar, making it look like furniture. Mark is really proud of that one, as he should be!
Love what you and Mark did to give your kitchen a new look, it is gorgeous! The bar with all the details is the star!
Great choices! Beautiful kitchen!
Looks great, Rhoda. I love the Knoxville Gray and finish on the bar Mark did. I would’ve been a nervous wreck for any mist from overspray beyond those papers around the interior perimeter!
Rhoda, your kitchen looks great! I love the BM colors that you chose! I am so happy for you and Mark!
Your kitchen turned out just beautiful! The extra work to the island really adds to the overall look. I’ve moved many times, but have never had a white kitchen! The cupboards in this last house are expresso color. They are dark, but the room is full of light and very open so not overwhelming. However, if we end up moving one more time, a white kitchen will be on top of my wish list!
Have a great day!
It ALL looks GREAT!!! I’ve JUST replaced all of my 1980’s brass hinges, faucets and hardware and brass comes back in style!!!!
I know! I still don’t love the 80’s/90’s shiny brass, but I do love antique burnished brass.
Have you seen if there is a spray paint in the antiqued brass? Love your hardware!
Jan, I’m sure there is, there are many metallic spray paints that I’ve seen gold so I would think there would be. Haven’t tried one though.
`~I basically have the same cabinets and dying to pint them! My husband insists we hire a professional I wanted to DIY… however I think this is a job for a professional for sure. Did you use the same white as your trim? Or is that necessary?
HI, Amy, no we didn’t use the same white as our trim. We don’t know what the trim color is since it was already here and we aren’t changing it, so to add to it we color matched the trim so we could get white for our beadboard and any other trim work we need. But the cabinets don’t have to match the trim. Our trim is pure white and the cabinets with White Dove are an off-white. I didn’t want to attempt to DIY this either, plus we didn’t have the time to do it, so hiring it out was the best option especially since we hired them for interior wall painting and all the exterior painting too. Get it all done at the same time! Marian, Miss Mustard Seed is doing a series on her blog right now about DIY cabinet painting that she took on, so you can see the steps she did. Quite extensive! and she used Ben Moore Advance too.
Wonderful look for the kitchen! At least the kitchen isn’t a high traffic zone to the garage like here. Do you have room for a rolling cart island? That would help with food prep if your husband likes to help in the kitchen or you might have room for a skinny stationary one. I miss my island so . Your bar looks amazing and what a great job!