Grab a can of Cabinet Coat in white. It's just "white". Try it and see how you do painting with it and if you like "white". It's a very simple solution but sometimes super simple is the right answer.

Marti, I really am pleased with your mockup, I was thinking something similar to that, then scrolled down and VOILA there it already was. You can blast it out of the park for us folks, then fret over your own. Trust your instincts....they are sound....and workable. If the front door is right there, and you have 22 inches of wall space available, I think you could find a 15 or 18 inch wide tall cab that is like 12 to 18 inches deep. Not a full depth cab,...And if you keep a long door on it, that could provide a place for a couple of hooks, to hang raincoats, back packs, whatever if you have kids, or have your guests hang their coats there as they come in. Just something wide enough for someone to rest their derriere if need be to take off muddy shoes? I also think you need to claim the counter space from your DH who is usurping it at this time. I realize how convenient it is for him, menfolks can become such creatures of habit. But my thinking is, you need all the counter space you've got for kitchen prep work. And, having the counter space on the side of the fridge that has the door handle. THAT is the perfect option. In my case, we have a French door fridge, and not being able to set something down on a countertop is making me consider having a stubby peninsula between the fridge and the sink, so it sticks out enough past the open doors to give me a spot to put down groceries or whatever. With a single door fridge, you know which side to make available for staging the groceries going in or out of the fridge. And Jessica, you are so right, this is a splendid group of friendly people.

My oops arbor and hole saw kit arrived today. My dummy door will go to a millwork shop tomorrow for a replacement astragal. The glass company should come by Friday to measure for replacement reed glass in the windows. The handlesets should arrive next week. I need to strip the finish from both doors, drill the new cross bores, stain and finish, install hardware and rehang. I hope I'm up to the task and can figure out how to do all of this without leaving the doors off overnight. I might as well start stripping them now, while they're still hanging. I can remove the doors early on "the big day", remove the hardware and strip the inaccessible places (top, bottom, sides and behind hardware). I'll need to stain 6 sides (1 hour minimum dry time) and apply paint as a clear finish (bobsmyuncle posted about it in another thread) - 2 coats front & back and 3 coats on edges. I need to get to the paint store to buy oil-based exterior paint for deepest color without pigment. I hope the dry time of the paint won't preclude me from finishing in one day -- I'll have to wait for one side to dry before putting a coat on the other side. I think I may try to have the glass installed after I finish everything else. If I don't damage the trim pieces which hold the glass, I can stain and finish them separately, then reattach when the glass is installed. I should be able to stick 1/4" plywood in the windows until the glass is installed. Sorry to go into so much detail, but if anyone is still reading this, do you think this plan will work? Thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: Paint as a clear finish

The hinges were the most difficult thing to figure out. I ended up going with heavy duty swing clear hinges (from Hardware Source and then carefully placed the frame trim so that it covered most of the hinges. You can see the barrel of the hinge protruding from the right edge of the trim in the first picture above. Note that to get the trim to fit down over the hinge, I needed to route out large notches in the back of the right side trim piece. The other big difficulty was remembering enough of college trigonometry to figure out how much the sides of the cabinet needed to slope in at the back of the cabinet so that the door would be able to swing open. (In my case the answer was 12.5 degrees) The total cost for this project breaks down as follows: $150 - wood (2 10' 1x8 poplar, 1 4' 1x8 poplar, 2 10' 1x3 poplar, 1 4'x8' sheet plywood, 1 pre-primed paint grade door frame) $90 - swing clear butt hinges $100 - pocket screw jig kit I don't have a secret compartment in the bottom of the bookcase, but I think I will put one there that will be accessible from the inside of the closet.