The trick about using boiling soapy water to remove burned or gunky stuff *does* work with teflon, even old/scratched teflon. DH has a habit of fixing stuff with BBQ sauce over it, and then forgetting to turn the burner off -we are talking charcoaled, caramelized glop here. Fill pan with water to 1/2" from top edge, add a few drops dishwashing liquid (I use Palmolive green) and bring to a boil. The soapy water will really rise up, so keep an eye on it. Once it comes to a full boil, turn heat off (add boiling water to bring water level to the top of the pan if it's burnt or goopy to the top), put the lid on and let it sit a half-hour to an hour. Use a credit card or similar thin plastic edge to scrape off the thick stuff, and then wash as usual in the hottest possible water. The fabric softener (sheet or a few drops liquid) works fairly well in non-teflon pans. In all cases, the pan cleans fastest if treatment is started before the pan has cooled off.

Painting is not too hard in itself. Getting good results is harder. Painting is all about preparation, materials, and technique. Most of your finished results are due to preparation. If you do not have painting experience, try something else first. Do you have a door hanging somewhere in the house you can paint? Or a bathroom vanity? Go through the cleaning, patching, sanding, cleaning (again). Pick the right primer if needed. Watch some videos online and paint the door. And yes, it really does matter which order you paint the various areas in. Wait the recommended amount of time, then apply a second coat. If you are happy with your test door results, and the prep didn't drive you mad (and you were able to properly prep and not talk yourself into skipping steps), then think about multiplying that amount of work by all the cabinets in the kitchen. If you aren't 110% sure you can handle that amount of painting then wait. Also realize the kitchen will be more coats of primer/paint than a typical interior door, with sanding in between in most cases. Just remember the worst thing you could do would be to underestimate what you are getting into and lose momentum and steam before you finish. That will add a lot to the painter's estimate. If you think you can handle it after your test door, go for it! Seeing a DIY project finished well is always a joy that keeps on giving.

JudyG Designs what is a light warm grey that has the right undertones to minimize the heavy yellow in the antique white? My plan right now will be to keep the cabinets the antique because this is the 2nd time they've been painted (the first time the lady did a terrible job and I had to fire her and have her work removed) so I am worried about painting them a 3rd time. So I will paint the walls a light color that compliments the cabinets and gives them a whiter appearance. Paint the trim the antique to remove any stark white, paint the door a dark grey with the right warm undertones, the ceiling creamy white and next year we will replace the back splash to something simple that is either mix of white and cream or like a creamy herringbone. What do you think?

I am in the midst of a multi-year renovation redoing a home I bought 5 years ago. Sadly it is taking forever, but I am in my 60s, have 2 older siblings that are nursing home bound and need help, had a heart attack and cancer - so my house reno goes as slowly as it needs to go. I do much of my design work in excel - just the easiest program for me to use. Step one was deciding the colors that must stay - I am not changing the flooring in my foyer or the pink brick wall that separates my foyer and living room. Same pink brick as the exterior of my home. I also own a lot of art and décor that I have collected over the years. I created a collage of some of these items overlaid onto a picture of the brick wall and flooring For the purpose of helping others I used different neutral families with my collage: I used the Maria Killam color wheel - not perfect, but it is easily accessible and gives a good idea of what direction to go with the neutral selection. Her wheel is missing greige and her green gray is more greige than green gray. The circle goes Pink beige (Not great with all my cool colors , but best of the beiges) Orange beige (Worse) Yellow beige (worse again) Green Beige (Still pretty awful) Green gray / Greige - (really muddy looking next to my colors) Greige is the color between green beige and green gray. Sometimes looks more beige, sometimes more gray Blue Gray - This is a contender, but feels too cool next tothe brick Violet gray - better with my art - just a bit off next to the brick Taupe ( the gray beige that falls between violet gray and pink beige) - works well with the brick and complements the colors - Taupe was my winner! Selected BM Frosted Toffee - described by BM as a rosy pink that fades to a violet gray. You can see the one piece of LVT sitting on the left, also a mix of lighter and darker taupe - works well with the paint. I did have to try quite a few taupe colors, all not quite pink enough and came off a bit muddy before I got to this one. Doesn't look terribly pink with such a big dose of pink in the brick. colors are always about the combinations not the individual color. See how orange the cardboard box looks next to the taupe wall. Here is my excel diagram laying out the colors from room to room as you walk through my home.