bigdoglover - thank you for your very nice compliment. We're pleased with how it turned out. For about 3 years we planned a remodel with new cabinets and a minor layout change but the present housing market in our area just does not warrent such an investment. All the painting was DIY. Same products used on all cabinet surfaces, inside and out. We cleaned with Dirtex after sanding (get corners well) and using a tack cloth to remove the dust. BIN primer is a bonding primer. Recommend the original shelac (oil) based. It dries really fast. Sacrifice a good brush as cleaning one is nearly impossible. So long as surfaces are clean it attaches. One coat of primer. After priming, caulk any floating panels on the doors with a paintable caulk followed by 2 coats of paint. I'm sure other paints are entirely suited we just selected Cabinet Coat (brand) because it is durable. As to distressing, I can't offer any advise. The doors and drawers were painted laying flat after removing hardware. Cabinets remained in place. The only difficulty was in learning how to apply the paint as it skins rapidly so there is little time to rework runs. Learn to make long strokes going with the wood grain. Recommend doing insides first to learn. The raised panel look you are after possibly could be made through application of trim onto your existing cabinets. I've seen it done on home bars and the look is authentic. Good luck. We did our kitchen from appliance purchase to completion in 37 days though we had some really fast turn-time from the granite fabricator during a slow period for them.

CANDY RED Steel Cabinets, Oh My !! I really needed a good laugh - still grinning! Our realtor just suggested the Red color on the day that our contract was accepted - this buying and selling of our house has been a real experience, in these times - roller coaster of negotiating on both ends! Our nerves are shredded but we remain steadfast - maybe this is the reason that we just cannot decide what to do with our new, OLD Cabinets!! We need a VACATION on an Italian Beach, maybe we would see something there that might inspire us? We love the tropical, warm breezes and all of the colors that feel so relaxing! Candy Red cabinets might be nice for a visit but we need a more tranquil space, I think! Turquoise is my favorite color of blue but then I like most all of the cheerful blue shades! What if the Old cabinets were painted a light shade of Turquoise and then the walls, one or two shades darker. Perhaps the hues of the Sea will look good with the sandy tones in the ceramic tile floor! Our current house has most every wall painted a medium hue of Sea Blue with softer shades of complimentary blue in some smaller rooms and two rooms being a warmer sunny shade! May sound like a bit much but we have never grown tired of these seaside colors in all of these years! So if we use some - Turquoise hues in the new kitchen - what accent colors do you see? Maybe a bit of the Red or perhaps some Coral or even some warmer Peach? Is this why some of you have a decorator? Most of my friends ask me to help them with design but these Metal Cabinets have just been an unexpected challenge and we know that we will only want to paint these ONCE! Very tempting to sell them and order our favorite Cherry Wood Cabinets!! And we still have to figure out how to remove the old plastic wall tiles in the Kitchen or else we will be painting over them just like they did before! The new house is 80 years old, with plaster walls and lots of wall paper to be taken down, also!! We did order the new Bosch Dishwasher, today - have an Asko but DH wanted to try the Bosch, hope this works well for us. Like to have a new Frig. with the freezer on the bottom, we have that now with our Sub Zero and it is wonderful, will miss it! ANY suggestions for a more affordable, SS Frig, counter depth and not too tall - because in the new Old Kitchen there are vintage, wooden pantry cabinets built into one corner of Kitchen and around the Frig. Just wonder, should these wood pantry cabinets be the same paint as the metal cabinets, or the darker Turquoise like the walls or re-paint them white! ALL of your Ideas are so very Welcome! Rose

rjinga, A few months ago there was a poster who had removed the vinyl covering from her ugly kitchen cabinets and repainted them herself. They turned out BEAUTIFUL. She had a good eye for decorating because the whole kitchen was fabulous, and it was done on a shoe string if I recall correctly. Can't remember her name. It seemed to me that she was fairly new to GW (but then, I was also new at the time). I think she did most of the remodel herself. Her father even logged in so he could congratulate her on the forum. Maybe others here will remember who I'm referring to. Anyway, she said that removing the vinyl was very easy - it pulled off in whole sheets, then she just filled and primed them. I remember there was also another poster who had good results removing the vinyl. (Wish I could remember what they call that stuff. LOL, I'm getting old.) How about it, guys -- anyone remember the poster who showed us pics of her DIY kitchen?

I did a retrofit in my house. We switched from baseboard radiators (which were previously cast-iron radiators) to in-floor hydronic throughout the entire house. It was a tremendously time-consuming learning experience and installation process. Our second story was fully gutted during a major reno, so we installed PEX on top of subfloor in between plywood sleepers. We also used aluminum heat transfer plates. Flooring on that entire story is either tile (bathrooms) or strand-woven bamboo, which was not cheap and was the only wood-look flooring we could find that both the flooring manufacturer and the hydronic system designer approved. Our main story has 100-year-old Douglas-fir flooring. We did what you described: stapled-up PEX with aluminum heat transfer plates and insulation underneath. The Doug-fir in our kitchen, however, was too hammered to refinish (it was under many layers of linoleum and sheet vinyl and full of holes and water-damaged spots). So in the kitchen, we considered either porcelain tile or LVT - and ended up going with the LVT. It has been a dream to walk on, has not shifted at all with changing heat/humidity, and is very durable even with lots of big pets and muddy ski/hiking boots traipsing through daily. Keep in mind that the temperatures required for in-floor hydronic are much lower than for radiators. If this is news to you, I'd recommend finding a local hydronic specialist who can do the heat-loss calculations for your space and also design/install a multi-zone system that allows different water temps for spaces with radiators vs. in-floor heat.