Has anybody tried this?

Winchester

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Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation: http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/

We have been talking about trying this on our old kitchen cabinets. It's a way to give cabinets a bit of a new/updated look and it supposedly works on wood, melamine, and even laminate. The kit will cover about 200 square feet of cabinets, including doors and drawers (not the interiors, obviously). We are close to that limit as we have a lot of cabinets (plus we'll do the ones in the bathroom, too, while we're at it).

The cabinets are about 30 years old, dark and dingy. I have tried to keep up with them; I clean them well at least twice a year with Murphy's soap, put lemon oil on them every spring (and sometimes when I do a big fall cleaning), and dust them weekly, not to mention a Swiffer or two throughout the week when I'm in the kitchen. So I try. But well, they're old. And, unfortunately, I cannot afford, nor can I really justify, spending a small fortune on new cabinets. We priced new ones and.....oh geez, they are expensive. And we have a lot of cabinets in the kitchen.

With this kit, you can take your cabinets lighter or darker than what they are now. Supposedly, if you can paint, you can do this.

I am looking to lighten the kitchen up a bit and the biggest way to do that is to lighten the cabinets. From the before and after pictures I've seen from people who have done this, it can be done, but there's a lot of work involved. We are DIYers, largely because labor is a big expense with all home improvement projects and because we like doing things like this. But I don't know......

So the first step is to remove the doors and take them to the basement. While one of us is working on the doors and drawers, the other one will be in the kitchen working on the cabinet frames. It's basically a 4-step process: they need to be thoroughly cleaned, then painted, then glazed (the glaze will be removed), then the top coat is put on to protect the newly finished cabinets. We figured we'd do the top cabinets first, then do the bottoms. We're taking off the hardware, will have to fill in the holes from the old hardware, and will replace everything with new knobs....we'll clean the door hinges, though, and re-use them. While we're at it, since our cabinets don't go all the way to the ceiling, we're going to add some crown moulding to the tops of the cabinets for a bit of a decorative look. We're putting lighting at the top of the cabinets, too, as well as lighting between the cabinets and the countertop. That should do a lot to give extra light to the kitchen, while giving a bit of an update to the kitchen as well. I'm excited, but I'm really nervous, too.

I don't know how we're going to keep the cats away from the kitchen while each step dries. I guess we'll have to keep all of them back in the bedroom all day long with the door shut as The Girls (Mollipop and Tabby) will be able to jump over any gate we put up, even if the Old Ladies (Whisper and Bootser) can no longer do so. And cat hair would not look good on newly done cabinets.

Any ideas or suggestions for cabinets? And other ideas for lightening up a kitchen?
 
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Winchester

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I hope so......I really hope it works. I was surprised that Rick was willing to try it, but we're going to give it a go. Sometime in July probably....I bought the kit over the weekend. Thanks, Lana.
 

AbbysMom

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I'm curious how it works out too. Take some pics during the process for us. :)

What color are you thinking?

I hate my cabinets. they are an off-white laminate with wood trim.
 
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Winchester

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Thanks guys! I'm really excited, but really nervous, too.

We'll probably start it sometime in July....I'm planning on taking a week of vacation from work to try to get it all done within one week. Don't know how that will go. I would also like to do the moulding at the top of the cabinets and possibly add some nice end panels, and maybe some corbels and such. We will have to get everything so that we can do it all at one time. I am looking at a wood hood for the stove, too. We have a stainless stove, but never bothered to get a new hood, so Rick said we might as well do that, too. We'll have to see how much this is all going to cost. I have a budget set up and I don't want to go over that amount.

My BIL is going to help me install lighting between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. With a dimmer switch.

I'm not really sure of a color yet, but am looking at Biscotti, English Cream, and Vintage. Although I rather like Winter Fog, too. I don't want to go too light, but I'm so tired of our dark cabinets. (You buy the kit at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. then they will mix the tint for you. It does not come pre-tinted. I bought the light kit and the guy at Lowe's told me to just bring it back with the sales receipt when I'm ready and then he'll tint it at that time. He knows that I'm dithering between colors.) One of the big issues with this kit is that many people seem to run out of the glaze. The company will mail out extra glaze for people with proof of purchase. But it seems to be an ongoing problem.

I will take pictures.....I always take pictures.


Thank you for responding to my thread.

(BTW, they also have the same kind of kit for countertops!)
 
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AbbysMom

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Interesting about the countertops, I hate my countertops too. :lol3:
 
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Winchester

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I had a dentist appt yesterday morning....the receptionist's house was built in the 1920s and her cabinets are that old; they've never been replaced, although she's painted them a couple times. She has a dark kit (she's going from light to dark) and they're going to start work on their cabinets next week. She said that, after they're finished, we're invited to stop by and see her "new" kitchen.

We're looking at starting the project the week of July 9th!
 
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