I love my 140 year old home, but the kitchen was in need of an upgrade. Since replacing the cabinets was not an option, I convinced my husband to let me paint the solid golden oak cabinets. I did a lot of research...read many, many blogs and such and made my decision to go ahead and purchase products.
I started with a good cleaning with TSP and then a rinse with clean water and let them dry. I took all the doors down, but worked in sections, so as to not have my entire kitchen in a uproar. I also removed all the hinges. I have a 4x8' craft table, so that is where I worked. I did sand around each knob area, for extra adhesion, but didn't sand otherwise. I applied 1 coat of a bonding primer, called STIX. Very expensive, but apparently allows your paint to stick to any surface, so well wterorth the cost. Then applied 2 coats of CIL Premier Paint in the colour Wedding Silk, which is actually a Benjamin Moore colour. I chose to do the insides of the doors as well, so drying time took longer as I couldn't flip the doors until they were good and dry, but since I started with the insides first, if anything stuck to them after I flipped them, at least it would be on the inside. Then I mixed a clear glaze (2:1) with another Benjamin Moore colour called Italian Leather, a dark, rich brown. I quickly applied with a brush and went right to wiping it back off. I just wanted a bare hint of colour and to take down the cream brightness, and hopefully look a little antiqued. I rubbed and rubbed till the doors were evenly coated, really, I took almost all the glaze off, but since the cabinets were oak, the glaze settled nicely in the grain. After the glaze was dry, I top coated with two coats of Oil Modified Polyurethane. The cabinet doors under the sink I actually gave three topcoats, just because they always seem to have water dripping down them.
They look amazing! Even hubby agreed it was a good decision, as the dark, dated kitchen now looked fresh and light. We have since put in a new floor, a dark, bamboo look vinyl, which is so soft and cushy and really accents the light cabinets. All in all, it took me 8 days...which wasn't bad, and doing it in sections was a good idea, as I didn't have to find a place to put all the doors. I did a total fo 4 sections, each one from start to finish before starting on the next one. It also gave me a finished product to enjoy and keep me motivated to finish. We also replaced all the knobs, hubby picked them out at Hobby Lobby in the States. They are all different, but go together, but then, we are just quirky that way. I love my kitchen now. Next is replacing the mactac inside the cabinets. :P