Cabinet Painting Plans

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This just in: Rustoleum, the makers of the countertop paint I revealed last Monday, also make a cabinet painting kit. Woo hoo.

We all know how time-consuming painting one’s cabinets can be. We’re talking sanding, cleaning, priming, sanding, cleaning, paint coat #1, sanding, cleaning, paint coat #2, sanding, cleaning, possibly a third coat or final finish poly… many, many steps.

The folks at Rustoleum have apparently cut down on the red painter’s tape and are finally giving us a product that delivers on the promise of making cabinet painting easier. And quite frankly, I can’t wait to try this product out.

As a person who hasn’t found a full review of the product (and you know how much of a review sleuth I am), I’m reluctant to buy a kit to cover the entire kitchen. But my bathroom cabinets are perfect guinea pigs, so we’ll start there.

The kit is a little more complicated than the remove-from-box-and-begin version for the countertops. There are actually steps for this kit. That must be followed. Meh. I wish I could skip right to the paint, but at least it’s not a twelve step program like the original method. And it comes with a DVD, so even OCD types like me can obsess and make sure we got everything right.

Steps
Step #1 is a deglosser which would be key for my cabinets. They may be old, worn oak, but we had to use TSP and oven cleaner on the entire kitchen to get rid of the grease, remember? I’m not expecting perfection, but I know that dulling the surface will help the paint adhere much better.

Step #2 goes right to the bond coat. That’s right – no primer step! You go straight from treating the cabinets to slapping on paint. And other great news? It’s not oil-based. It’s actually a specially formulated acrylic latex, which means that cleanup is with soap and water. No harsh chems to kill off those brain cells. Good thing too… I’m pretty sure my writing has gotten worse in the last year thanks in part to paint fumes.

Step #3 is the optional glaze coat. I am not usually a fan of glazes on cabinetry, but this kit gives you the option and a cloth to apply. I plan on skipping.

Step #4 is the protective top coat. And then, you’re finished!

Sounds easy, right? I’m sure that my results won’t be a perfect ten, but that’s the whole reason I want to try the kit out on the bathroom cabinets, anyway. Since I plan to replace them later, I’ll be able to do a temporary upgrade without spending a lot of dough, extra brain cells, or time. Win-win… er, -win.

Color Choices
So, now comes the fun part – what color options do I have? As you recall from my countertop painting post, there were limited color choices (only 16) and the kit didn’t come with true swatches to see the finish. In hindsight, I probably would have picked a different color if they had – the gray wound up being a smidge too blue. While there are no true color swatches with the cabinet kit either, there are two separate base tints – one light, one dark. The light kit comes in 11 different shades, three of them being an ivory or white (Pure White, Linen, and Quilter’s White). And yes, there is a gray as well – which looks so pretty, but you know that I’m biased. The dark kit comes in 24 shades, which actually range from mid-tone to black. And as I mentioned before, the kit also comes with an optional glazing step. Considering the dramatic color change with and without the glaze (see here for the full range), that means that the 35 original shades are doubled, bringing the grand total to 70 different color choices. Here are the options I am considering:

Quilter’s White (not a pure white, so might look quite lovely with a warmer hue):

Winter Fog (my favorite, as evidenced by my inspiration post):

Bayleaf (too green, so I may try to see if they will throw a little Castle in there to make it the perfect dark, muddy gray):

Kona (not too brown or too black, just like my favorite mascara):

Cost
There are two kit sizes depending on your kitchen’s needs. The smallest covers 100 sq. ft. and costs $79.97 at Home Depot (see this vendor page to find out where it’s sold near you). If 100 sq. ft. won’t cover it (pun intended), there is a larger kit which has enough for 200 sq. ft. and will set you back less than one hundred and fifty bones. Granted, this isn’t as inexpensive of a test run as the countertop paint (which was only twenty bucks), but it’s still a fantastic price if you are considering a major kitchen reno and want to see the full look before spending thousands and having buyer’s remorse.

I plan on picking up a kit of my own once I narrow down the paint color this week. I’ll take it for a test drive in the primary and guest bathrooms and may even paint the floor (this stuff is suppose to stick to anything and I HATE those linoleum floors) just for fun. Then, as usual, I’ll share all of the good, the bad, and the ugly with all of you, including my complete honesty if it lived up to my expectations. In fairness, I’m setting the bar pretty low, so we’ll see how it goes!

Which color do you think you might want to try? Do you think that you would try the kit, or would you stick to the tried-and-true (albeit time-consuming) prime and oil method? Or would you not even bother with any of it and consider starting from scratch the only option? Be back next week to show you my results – wish me luck!

*I did not get paid for endorsing or announcing this product; this is my opinion only. I just look forward to new products and love trying them out!