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Am I crazy for painting my oak kitchen cabinets?

Im remodeling my kitchen with oak cabinets. Im going with country/primitive look and I want to paint the cabinets a dark country blue, then sand them to give them a primitive/antique finish but everyone is telling me Im crazy. I thought the guy at the paint store was going to fall over. Am I really crazy for doing this to my oak cabinets? What's the big deal?

Public Comments

  1. I don't think so because that is exactly what I did to mine only in green. And, my neighbor is doing hers in burgandy. The oak just looks dated and tired. Every builder in our area during the 80's through the late 90's used oak in the tract homes so it is very common. Now the builder's are using maple, birch, antique finishes and cherry which makes ours look cheezy. I even covered the backside of my oak cabinets on the breakfast bar side with beadboard that I painted green. I think it will give your kitchen a semi-custom look for very little money.
  2. I don't think so.....I think Oak is way over used. Besides it is your KITCHEN ! You have to work in it....you better like it ! I may suggest though, looking into giving your cab's a face lift...meaning just replace the fronts...Many Home centers sell just the fronts and you can inexpensively replace them with something more desirable.....Personally I like Cheery and/ or Maple.....Hickory is good too....... Reworking your oak Cab's is going o be hard....Oak is hard to work with because it is SO Hard ! Sanding is a chore but with the right tools..... Good Luck !
  3. not really, a lot of wood furniture has been painted over for various reasons, maybe give the wood a protective clear coating, before painting over, in case you or who ever wants to revert back to wood finish later, test your colors and and styles for design as well, other option is to find stain that may match new design, other option is to remove cabinets and replace, Debbie Travis Paint Selector http://debbietravis.canadiantire.ca/debbie.html Behr.com Explore Color http://www.behr.com/behrx/workbook/ Color Schemer - Online Color Scheme Generator http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html ColorBlender online color matching toolbox http://colorblender.com/ palettes search, http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/search SketchUp - Home http://sketchup.google.com/ sketchup 3d warehouse, http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=kitchen&btnG=Search&styp=m ..
  4. I think it is because oak is an expensive and hard wood. Men generally think that hard is sacred. Like getting your cat fixed is some kind of feminist conspiracy! If you PAY for oak and THEN paint it, that is dumb. Same as paying extra for (black) ebony and then painting it green. But if oak is there and it is your kitchen and you don't like it, then by all means, paint away. If you don't want to get it down in the pores of the wood, and never be able to get it out-in case one day you might like the look of expensive oak again--paint a CLEAR paint on first. This seals the wood, and sets it up for one coat (or 2) of paint to cover it. Otherwise, there will be tons of paint that will never come out of the pores. Good luck.
  5. No we did exactly that, painted them white. That is what's in now.
  6. I would not do that to the oak finish. Oak is beautiful as it is. If you ever get tired of the paint color, it would be a job to change it. Plus, I have never seen cabinets that are painted that the paint sticks very well on. Keep the original oak finish would be my advice. Accessorize with the primitive things and it would look good.
  7. Well you can always strip the paint off some day.
  8. I had oak in my other house. I wanted white, but it was a big upgrade price. Since this was a new house, I never mentioned painting them...my husband would have thought I was crazy. The house we live in now had wood cabinets; they were 70's and very outdated. We painted them white and distressed them. We have new nickle finish hardware and it looks GREAT!!!!! You are not crazy. Go for it. Men love stained wood...I Hate It! I love painted wood. Just beware, it is a lot of work, but well worth it. And besides, it's you house. If people don't like them, the don't have to come over. You can also tell people when they make the house payment, they can complain....lol We went to Lowe's paint dept. We told them what we were doing and they sold us a great primer. It is oil base, but after it dries, you can use any type of paint, oil or latex. It seals very well. Good Luck!