When I collected YEARS of photos of lovely kitchens from favorite magazines -- I found that I was always drawn to the pictures of painted wood cabinets in kitchens .... all shades of white, cream, gray, ivory, green (in my case -- a soft grayed-out green) -- and black too!

I do like wood in many other things! :) I would have LOVED to have wood floors -- but the cost was simply not right for this house -- in this neighbourhood. So we choose laminate -- in a wood look.

And -- in the case of this house -- when we moved in (1993) the wood cabinets in the kitchen were a medium brown stain. And there was a large window in the kitchen breakfast area -- BUT not in the kitchen! I simply wanted a lighter, fresher look - and in our case - painting the cabinets white proved to be the right choice. We still like the look -- every single day! LOL!

Even if we won the lottery (LOL!) and found an old house to renovate -- we would still choose painted cabinets in the kitchen .....

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

It is just a matter of personal preference.

I like painted cabs because they look sleeker and less home-y. If money was no object, I would have a house that could support sleek European style cabinets in a high gloss creamy-linen color. Yum!

Our new house will have painted white because that is what the house, a cutie country Victorian, wants. The land dictated the house style and the house style has dicatated the kitchen. To do something other than that would have been jarring and affected resale.

If I was buidling a dream kitchen where money was no object, I'd love fruitwood cabinets, handmade by Olde Worlde craftsmen in leather aprons and knee britches.

But most people have budget limitations, and frankly painted mdf or low grade wood looks better than builder's grade mass-produced cabinets.

Exactly what ideefixe said. It's all mass-produced cabinets made to look like wood or painted cabinets. Those cherry cabinets and furniture in most shops nowadays....uhhhh, that's a color, not a wood.

I have maple, frameless cabinets with a cherry finish and one nice thing about them is the hardness of the wood. Practically no dents or dings after 9 years.
But I love the look of painted cabs.

With this current home, my husband won out on the cabinet choice...cherry. Fortunately, most of the cabinet is a solid cherry, not MDF.

However, like teacats, I have always been drawn to a lighter painted cabinet. They just make for a sunny kitchen. :) Do I love my current kitchen? While it is a pretty kitchen - and something most home buyers would seek - to me, the dark colored kitchen is depressing (and the cabinets have darkened even more in the last two years.)

I much preferred my previous white kitchen. I even smile when I look at it now.:) Just so you know, when we were selling our home, the number one reason that the home didn't sell to a particular buyer? The kitchen was white and not cherry.

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Now I hear that white/lighter kitchens are coming back in. If we decide to sell this home, we will probably have trouble because the kitchen is too dark. Go figure!

Wood kitchens are still preferred in my neck of the woods.
I DO think it is a regional thing...

I think it's a regional thing too, and a lot depends on your light. I see a lot of painted white or antique white cabinets out here in California's Central Valley. But builders use a lot of the oak too, and many, like me, have that 20 or 30 year old oak in the tones that lean to orange. I love natural wood, especially dark woods like walnut or mahogany. I also love simple rustic pine. But I am not a purist who believes that wood should never be painted. If I had the money for a complete kitchen overhaul, I would hire someone to give it better flow. I would probably go for real wood, possibly in a fruitwood color. But if my husband is ever out of town long enough, or goes into a coma for a month, I may paint my orange oak cabs. I love this look:

And here is what I have now, the oak darkened with some minwax polyshades about 5 years ago. It works. It's fine. But I would love a new kitchen.

Red

Red, I think your cabinets are decent. You have the shaker-style doors which so many people want. I think paint is the way to go unless you really want a complete overhaul, which some people do.

I also love the CL kitchen. DH does not like the idea of grey at all, but I think it looks fab.

Thanks for posting. It's nice to hear that I'm not the only one that still likes natural wood. I agree that it's a regional thing, but it appears like almost everyone on the kitchen forum prefers painted white or cream kitchen cabinets. While I love the look of many white kitchens in magazines, I find that I feel more comfortable in the warm tones of a stained wood kitchen. I also find them to be more practical. We just built and had our kitchen cabinets stained in a fruitwood tone. Ideefixe's post made me laugh thinking of my cabinetmaker in a leather apron.

I think it's a matter of personal choice. I love my solid wood cabinets. We were lucky to find a small cabinet shop where everything is handmade and at that time, still quite reasonable. The cabinetmaker has since hit the big time and works exclusively for a couple of pricey builders in our area now. Our cabinets are oak but a brownish shade to them, no orange or yellow whatsoever. They have beautiful grain and the quality is wonderful. We were so very lucky to find this guy. There is no MDF anywhere on these cabinets. I do have good natural light in the kitchen and the cabinets are more of a medium shade, not dark.

If we were building again, I'm not sure what I'd do. I love wood cabinets. I have also seen some glazed cabinets I like very much, particularly if used with wood countertops - I'd love that, at least on an island. I think that's probably what I'd do, still have my wood cabinets with a painted/glazed island and maybe a painted hutch or other piece in the room.

Unless you know you won't be in the house for long, I wouldn't worry about resell, I'd worry about what I liked.

tina

Red, your kitchen is beautiful. Your cabinets look great in the picture and the overall look is warm and inviting. It is an "after" kitchen, don't waste your money redoing it.

redbazel - Tell me about the Polyshades. Is that something you rubbed on?

I love natural as well as painted wood. For me when I see some painted pieces I think they actually look better than real wood. Who was it just posted that gorgeous hutch with the marble top? There is not a natural wood piece out there prettier than that hutch as far as I'm concerned.

I also have those 80's oak in this house and before I put the house up for sale, I think I'll paint them to help get the house sold since the oak is out for so many these days. They have darkened over the last 21 years and are not as attractive as they once were. Even with RAF the natural color is gone.

As far as the regional thing goes, I wonder which regions we're talking about. I'm in the SF Bay Area, just for mapping purposes. :)

Despite being a fan of natural wood in the kitchen, I am definitely seeing the beauty and charm of painted cabinets. I would take them in a heartbeat over my orange oak. But there's no way I could tackle the job of painting them myself. Anybody here pay to have theirs done?

In the '80's I thought of oak as "quality". Now the wood grain seems too heavy. I think it's nice you have the option of painting wood, not just replacing it for the current trend, which is cherry! As long as there are poeple wanting to sell us somehting, we will have "trends"....keeps us buying!

What I have a hard time with is.....people painting antiques.

I could give a hoot about what's in/out. I do for me. :) So I have a mix of painted and natural cabinets in my kitchen. Between all the bathrooms, they are 50/50. For those, I went with what was going in the adjacent bedroom and what would be better.

I wanted an English unfitted kitchen. My cabinetry was made in England and finished on-site. Here is a hutch in my kitchen. fyi, there is chicken wire in the top doors that doesn't show in this photo.

Either side of the range are also the stained pine. The fridge unit is painted/glazed cream (you can see side of it in above photo). Island is painted F&B French Gray with an antique pine top. There is a hutch between kitchen and laundry room that is painted black with wood counter.

Mixing continues through our home in furniture selections. While most hardcase pieces are stained, I have many painted pieces as well. Like the above poster, I'm not for painting antiques.

DD1 has lived in the Bay Area for 5 years. Her rentals have always been painted. She's in a North Bay cottage now with a recently remodeled kitchen. It's also painted (sage green). The main house (landlord) has mixed stained and painted.

Some people on the furniture forum had a difficult time when I cut a hole in an antique dresser to transform it into a vanity, but then they also reassured me it was not a one of a kind or an antique that was handmade. I too would have a difficult time painting a very rare and expensive antique.

Allison, would love to see more of your home! I'm also in the North Bay.

Hi Linelle........My cabinets are white in my almost new home. (5 yrs. now) The reason I chose white is because when my builder showed me some of the cabinets in houses he did, they looked streaky to me. In other words as my husband says, it was an open grain type wood & when they stained it, you saw the wood streaks. I wanted something like furniture cabinets if I did stained. My builder built the cabinets & then a cabinet maker did the doors so to avoid the whole issue , I chose white. I always loved white anyway so I felt like it would be a safe choice. Very glad I did now as it turned out well, I think. Here is a pic of my kitchen with white cabinets.
Hope this helps! Bonnie

Bonnie, your kitchen is gorgeous. Love the white cabinets and dark counters. Would have this look in a minute.

Okay, so how anal do you have to be to keep 'em this sparkly white after 5 years? I have white tile counters and I'm totally OCD with wiping my counters. They are spotless at any given moment. But then, I like a clean kitchen. I'd think that the normal kitchen grunge (grease, dust, hands) would eventually sneak up on you. I used to have white Pergo floors in the kitchen (what was I thinking?). They showed EVERYTHING and, as a result, I was forced to keep them spotless. Now I have red oak and NOTHING shows. I'm afraid when I do my next hands and knees cleaning, I'll be totally grossed out.

bonniee - I had to do a double take when I saw your kitchen. Thought it was mine! there is just something about a yellow and white kitchen that makes my heart happy. :)

Did you ever shop at Shabby Chic (either Corte Madera or Fillmore Street? You may know her. lol

Thanks. I have pictures posted here and there.

Thank you so much, Linelle & Newhomebuilder! Actually the kitchen is very easy to keep clean. You can see right where you may spill something on the cabinets & I just take an old soft t-shirt damp cloth & wipe across them. Every once & awhile , I damp dust them all. We had white formica in too many kitchens so wanted something different. My granite is called Brazilian Black & is close to uba tuba in color.......has silver, gold & dark green flecks in it. My laminate wood is Uniclick Select Cherry color , very similar to gunstock & I just take the Shark steamer I have & run across the floors. It gets out all the smudges & smears. I have some Tile Lab Stone & Tile Cleaner , available at Home Depot that you can fix in a spray bottle & use to shine the counters to showhouse shine. You can buy a big bottle & just mix it with water , very inexpensive that way. Spray it on , wipe with sponge , then dry with microfiber cloth & you're done!
Hope this helps!
Newhomebuilder, that is funny we have the same kitchen almost. :) Yes, I agree about yellow in a kitchen....very cherry color for me as I don't LOVE to cook but the color makes me want to spend time in there so I end up cooking - LOL! Bonnie

Linelle, I think a lot of it has to do with the size of the kitchen. When we first built this house I had an average size kitchen with dark stained cabs. I absolutely loved them! But as the years went on, the darkness started to get to me, even though it has a west window in it.

So now we made the kitchen bigger and once the darn painter gets here, the new cabs will be white. White really opens up a kitchen and makes it cheery, imo.

However, the larger kitchens I've seen with dark wood are absolutely gorgeous, because the largeness of the kitchen is perfect for dark wood.

If your kitchen is small, I'd go white/crean, IF you like that color. And you can add so many colors to accessorize the kitchen too!

Oakleyok, my kitchen is small but has a ton of cabinets for its size. It would be impractical and unrealistic for me to think I could paint them myself. So, there's that. Also, I have white tile counters which, along with my white appliances, could create snowblindness, given the bright natural light.

It's probably a chicken/egg thing, better put in a different thread, but I couldn't consider redoing the cabs without replacing the counters (not with tile, not white). Not sure which to consider doing first.

I do love the look of dark wood, but mostly either on a floor or on some moveable piece of furniture. Too high on the wall (e.g., cabinets) it can become oppressive.

I'll run it past my paint guy. Curious if he even does cabinets.

All of the kitchens on this thread look great. Newhomebuilder and Bonniee, your white kithens are beautiful. Would you mind sharing what colors you used for the walls and cabinets? Also, I would love to know what type of cabinet doors you each have.

I have decided to paint my golden oak cabinets white since our kitchen is not large. Our doors are the ugly recessed type with cathedral arches. Unfortunately, even the lower cabinets have the arches (which I think looks really weird). We hope to be able to replace the doors soon. For now, we will paint them and add hardware which would be a huge improvement. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful ideas and helpful advice that is shared here.

Unless your oak cabinets have a thick enough existing finish that the grain is filled in and you can just do a light sanding to give the surface some "tooth", if you paint them as-is the open grain will show through as pockmarks in the paint. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Thankfully I didn't mind it but most people find it objectionable. You'll need to use an annoying product called "brushing putty" or "grain filler" to get rid of that. (Not to be confused with wood putty, which is a firm paste. Brushing putty is more like a very thick paint.) You sand off the existing finish, brush the filler on, scrape off the excess with an old credit card or plastic scraper when it's partially set, let it dry and sand it smooth. Then prime and paint. Some people say multiple coats of sanding sealer will fill in open grain but it didn't work for me.

Johnmari, thank you for the heads-up. I have read another thread about painting oak cabinets that explained the problem with the grain showing through but I had forgotten what the stuff used for filling in the grain was called.

If I were not going to eventually replace the doors, I wouldn't worry about the grain showing. I don't think it looks bad. However after I replace the oak doors with beautiful smooth doors it would probably look mismatched if the boxes had grain showing through. What I plan to do is use the brushing putty on the boxes only. The doors aren't worth that much effort. I wish I knew where to find some inexpensive doors that I could live with because I think that sanding the doors will be the most work.

The worst part is that we have the same cabinets in both bathrooms and our built-in wall unit in the living room as well!

Try Scherr's for replacement doors. I haven't used them but they get rave reviews on the Kitchen forum and elsewhere for having good quality at reasonable prices. IIRC their Shaker style doors and similar plain styles were very well priced for being custom sizes, especially the paint grade poplar. Their website is being a little spazzy today so if it won't cooperate with you I suggest downloading their .PDF catalog.

B/C I just don't like it! :)

Personally I'll never understand painting perfectly good wood because you're told "it's not in fashion". I know my Mom did it in the Seventies and my Dad stripped and restained them for her in the eighties when wood was again "in". God love them both. All our kitchens have had real wood cabinets. If building a new home and you love painted ones and save by getting the MDF or whatever they use for ones purchased painted that way, that I can understand. Linnelle I'm like you and love natural wood. I choose natural in just about everything.

If you'd like to change the look of your cabinets but don't have the money of the need to replace them try Cabots Waterborne polystain. Lowes carries it. I was told by a clerk that's used it that it really will work over existing finishes if you are going darker. I know many have tried Minwax Polyshades and love it, but in my experience it's impossible to keep it from streaking. I have a can of the Cabot Waterborne polystain and have used it on unfinished wood and was impressed how even the color is. The first time I used Polyshades was on unfinished wood and even then it streaked.

I had the same thing... very nice cabinets and kitchen design, but oak from the 80's. I just got tired of the color and opted to paint them... along with all the wood trim in the kitchen breakfast area. WOW... what a difference! Our space looks totally different with just the lighter color. We actaully painted them a lightly less than white color (Benjamin Moore's Cloud White) and used Cabinet Coat by Insl-x. Since oak has a pretty deep grain we used about 3 coat's of primer... Zinsser's oil based Cover Stain... it did a great job filling the grain. We lightly sanded before and sanded smooth after. We has a glass like finish to apply paint to. Several people have asked if there are RTF and others think we replaced the cabinets. We changed the top molding and replaced our off white corian with a dark granite. I am proud to say, we did the work ourselves over several weekends and it looks like we spent $40,000 on a complete remodel. We spent about $200 on paint and painting supplies and $40 a sq ft for the granite.. installed. Shop local granite fabrication shops. They are less expensive than the chains and you get to pick out the exact slab(s) that will be installed. A local "chain" had the same granite for $60 a sq ft with a charge for the cut outs and charged $12 per linear ft for the beveling I chose. That alone saved me about $500 and I was not charged more for having the edge beveled or for the sink or cook top cut outs. We also bought new cabinet hardware (saved 70% shopping online) and appliances. I am not a big do-it-yourself person nor is my husband. He always calls someone for repairs, etc, but painting is one thing any of us can do. My husband was so proud of all my hard work and the money we saved on labor, that he opted to buy all new appliances. You would think we had a contractor come in and do all the work. We we surprised at what we accomplished. Try it yourself. The worst you can do is have to hire someone to do it if you find you are not getting the results you want. I still can't believe we did our project.

jeane72 - I would LOVE to see some before and after pics! That sounds like one amazing makeover.

jeane72, did you install the granite yourselves? Wow!

How long did it take you to complete your cabinets? Three coats of primer!

My painter did my room doors in place. He told me he does cabinet doors the same way, so he can do the front and inner surfaces without having to flip them over and set them down and possibly mar a surface. Makes sense, but it would seem more fraught with problems painting vertically.

Are you asking why would anyone buy a house or install wood cabinets only to paint them later? My reason was that I liked this house. I had to buy a house in a hurry for a long explanation that I will not go into here.

I did not like the wood colored cabinets but I wanted real wood cabinets. Real wood cabinets are more expensive than mystery wood cabinets which most contractors use as painted cabinets, so it is less expensive to buy a house with painted cabinets (installed by the contractor because they use a cheaper grade of wood for that).

If you like real wood, you should install the cabinets you like and keep them but if you like white cabinets, it is always smart to have good cabinets of real wood underneath. I personally like the color cabinets I have (taupish-white) for my kitchen because it is otherwise dark with wood cabinets.

I also did not want granite (although I got it) for similar reason, I cannot change it out if I tire of it, another reason why I like to paint my cabinets -- I tire easily of countertops, draperies, upholstery, etc.

If I have good cabinets, I can paint them and change out the countertops; if I have a good foundation (good sofa), I can have it reupholstered, but if it is of poor quality, there is no use, it won't last long enough to upholster anyway but I do like good stuff, and I like the underpinnings to be quality, so I chose a house with good wood cabinets so they would hold up and I chose to paint them because I wanted a lighter look in my kitchen.

Hi Kendog........I tried to answer earlier but my internet service was going in & out. Thank you so much for the compliments on my kitchen. The walls are painted Eddie Bauer Amber Yellow from Lowe's . The cabinets I believe were SW Extra White. The style of the door I think is just a basis raised panel door........the cabinet maker made them for the builder & it is their usual basis style. Hope this helps & good luck! Bonnie

Hi patricia43, I wasn't so much asking why people would install wood cabinets and paint them later. I get why that happens. What was an eye-opener for me was that some people prefer painted cabinets over real wood, even nice wood and choose them outright over wood. For me, with not great wood that ain't getting any better, painting is definitely more budget-friendly than replacing or even refacing. Got all the cabinets I need and they're structurally sound, just too orangey oak.

newhomebuilder - I think your cherry kitchen is beautiful! I also love the color of your walls, would you mind telling me what color you used?