Kitchen Transformation: White Cabinets & Painted Counters with White Appliances

After living here for two years, we finally decided what improvements we wanted to do to our kitchen: Paint out cabinets white to match our white appliances and then paint our counters too! “Going Green” is a good thing these days, but our kitchen had just a little too much green! With green countertops AND green linoleum, we felt like we needed to use a lawnmower in there instead of a broom. So let’s discuss our kitchen cabinet transformation, which is phase one in our kitchen makeover. Our builder grade kitchen cabinets had a simple oak looking finish that felt a little dated to us. Since day one of looking at the house with our Realtor, we had been tossing around a few ideas about how we would really like our kitchen to look. Usually the kitchen is one of those selling points, but for us it was the potential we could see in the kitchen. After we purchased our house, we decided to not jump into anything too serious for the kitchen makeover right away, as we wanted to make sure whatever we did we would like for a (really, really, really) long time. Some of our ideas included sanding or using some kind of chemical stripper to remove the finish on the cabinets and then staining them a darker color. We also loved the idea of painting them white to brighten up the entire kitchen/dining room space. After brainstorming through all of our ideas, researching each option, and pinteresting different kitchens, we finally decided to “Go White” with all of our cabinets. While on one of our many trips to Lowe’s, we came across a Cabinet Transformation Kit made by Rust-Oleum that had almost everything in it needed to refinish our kitchen cabinets. We did a little googling and had found MANY positive reviews and remarks on how easy the process was and the results were BEAUTIFUL! Obviously we don’t do this for a living (kudos to those who do!), nor had we ever painted kitchen cabinets before, so the easier, the better! Although we hadn’t talked to anyone we knew who had used this exact product before, we did watch some YouTube videos that made us believe the Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformation Kit just what we needed to refinish our kitchen cabinets. We really liked that the kit was available in different colors and included an optional decorative glaze that we could use to give the cabinets a wood grain looking finish. If you decide to purchase this kit, make sure to have it tinted the color you want at the paint counter (or click the color option online) prior to checking out. We accidentally missed this step when we first purchased ours and had to return it (we were just too anxious to get started). We took the kit back to Lowe’s (with our receipt) and the fine folks in customer service allowed us to take it back to the paint desk and have one of their helpful employees tint it for us. So what color did we pick? (Drum Roll please…..) PURE WHITE! That’s right, we decided to go with the all-white cabinet look over the dark stained idea. Since we have almost brand new white kitchen appliances the previous homeowners purchased, we won’t be upgrading to stainless anytime in the near future, so we figured we would help the white appliances blend in, as opposed to stand out. The Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformation Kit does include everything you need to get started, but we did have to purchase a few more items:

• 2” Synthetic paint brushes
• 2” Foam brush
• 2” Painters tape
• Disposable containers
• Disposable gloves
• Lint free rags
• Elbow Grease (Cannot be purchased, you have to supply this yourself!!!)

Here are a couple of our Instagram photos documenting the process. Now, we never said it was easy, or mess free! It definitely requires some work! Something we found EXTREMELY helpful was the included instructional DVD. This walked us through each and every step. (Those very same videos can be viewed here) Here are a couple photos of some parts of our freshly painted white cabinets, prior to us painting our countertops using the Rust-Oleum Countertop Transformations Kit and before we added our backsplash. Then as you can tell, we painted the countertops. And then added in a tile backspalsh. This is the completed space, which we absolutely LOVE!   Overall, we are glad we chose to use the Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformation Kit for our kitchen and are MORE than pleased with the final results. It definitely brightened up our kitchen area and made it a happier place. Allison even CLAIMS she may cook more now too! Although I’m not getting my hopes up on that, the entire process was totally worth all of our hard work, we enjoyed transforming our kitchen together, and are now sitting back and enjoying the completed room before moving onto our next project.

{ Below is a photo recap of the different phases and an updated photo of how our kitchen looks almost three years later! We still LOVE it! }

Here is a breakdown of the other changes we have completed and a list of additional kitchen blog posts and sources from where we got everything! UPDATES:

• Painted Kitchen
• Installed Mosaic Tile Backsplash

CABINETS:

• Painted Oak Cabinets White using the RUST-OLEUM Cabinet Transformations Kit (Light Tint / Large Kit) /  “Small” Kit
• Changed Cabinet Hardware to Cosmas Oil Rubbed Bronze Handle Pulls  & Cosmas Oil Rubbed Bronze Euro Style Bar Handle Pull
• Changed Cabinet Hinges to ones that are “no-show”

COUNTERS:

• Painted Countertops using Rust-Oleum Countertop Transformations Kit, Desert Sand (Large Kit) /  “Small” Kit
• Installed Beadboard on Bar Area & Sides of Cabinets
• Purchased Counter-Height Bar Stools: Home Decorators Collection’s Brexley Parson Counter Stool (with Chestnut Legs)

LIGHTING:

• Updated Flush Mount Light with Modern Light to Match Chandelier in Dining Room
• Replaced Two Recessed Lights with Pendant Lights
• Updated Light Switch Plates (no visible screws!)
• Installed Under Cabinet Lighting

ACCESSORIES:

• Updated Floor Vents
• Installed a Moen Brantford One-Handle Pulldown Kitchen Faucet in Brushed Nickle
• Designed Custom Kitchen Artwork (by yours truly, available for purchase in the Allison LeAnn Design Etsy Shop!)

Maybe one day we will….

• Buy a New Dishwasher
• Install Wireless Under Cabinet Lighting
• Install Crown Molding
• Purchase & Install Hardwood Flooring (Dark Wood Color)

We will be posting additional details on our kitchen makeover in the future. (( You can receive all of our future posts in your inbox by signing up HERE to be adding to our VIP List! )) We hope you love our kitchen makeover! Have you transformed your kitchen cabinets before? Any tips or tricks for others considering the process? Have a question about our kitchen? Ask away! We are happy to share any details with you!