Kitchen Re-do '15 - Dishwasher/Cabinets

When we talked about getting a dishwasher, it seemed like something very far into the future.  We had no space for it and the cabinets that we did have, did not even measure correctly to exchange a dishwasher for a cabinet. 

We would have to literally cut out two cabinets and try to re-patch the second cabinet up or pay at least $5,000 to get new ones.  We also looked into a professional company coming and repainting our cabinets.  That option was about $3,000.  So, after exploring numerous options we decided to stick to the original plan and paint them all so that they were matching. 

The last option about killed Hubby and I, but it was the option that worked for our budget.  The total cost including primer, paint, tools, & new hardware was about $300.  You could probably get by with even less than this, but we wanted to get good-quality paint, so that it would last.

The FIRST problem was that we got kicked out of our kitchen.  To paint the cabinets, you have take the doors off and take everything out of the cabinets.  Then you sand them down.

Hubby gets only so much time off during the week and so we were trying to work on it during that time frame. It was a busy time of year and he couldn't take extra time off.  This was also when "T" ended up in the ICU, so we were kicked out of our kitchen for weeks.

("A" learned how delicious fast food is and now his favorite restaurant is McDonald. He consistently asks to go to "Donalds" to get "gogurt." I think he was the only sad one when we moved back into the kitchen.)

We had to move back out of the kitchen when we had the the new countertop installed and then another partial move for completion of the back splash.  It was definitely a process. 

This is what we did to our cabinets:

1. We removed all the doors and hardware.
2. We sanded the actual cabinet box.
3. Then we had a carpenter friend cut out a portion of the cabinets to make a space for the dishwasher.  He took the remainder of the unused space and made it back into a working cabinet. Yes, he is pretty awesome.  :-) 
4. Then we were able to sand all the doors down (outdoors)
5. Next we painted the cabinet boxes with primer and then our paint color.  We gave them 2 coats of each.
6. Lastly we did the doors. We sanded them, painted them, antiqued them and then reattached new hardware.
7. We attached the doors to the cabinets and it was done.

Now, this was over a 2-month period.  By the time we installed the countertop, we only had the cabinet boxes primed and painted; we still did not have the doors done.

Antiquing is really an option that didn't have to be done. In fact, my husband isn't a big fan of it.  However, with two little ones, I figured that the doors would look like they were "antiques" before the week was up.  So I decided to antique them before the kids could. 

Because I did the "farm kitchen" look, I was able to get away with it and it only added to the look.  I REALLY love it.  Once I painted the doors, I took sand paper and sanded down the corners and fronts of the doors in random places.  Like, I said before, I really love it but it's an acquired taste. 

Next time, we will talk about our counter-tops. - Rejoicing in the Present