Quick Kitchen Cabinet Refresher

I mentioned before that the kitchen in my new house is small.  Not only is it small but it has limited cabinet space and the cabinets are original to the house.  The previous owners did a great job of painting the outsides a nice white and putting on new modern knobs.  So the outsides are not bad at all.  The insides on the other hand…well they left a bit to be desired!  Enter my Quick Kitchen Cabinet Refresher Project!

Since space is limited I have to use all the cabinet space I have and with the dark interiors, they felt so crammed and dingy to me.  I thought a quick paint job would freshen the insides up to match their fresh outsides!

Not only were the insides dark but they had some awesome contact paper on them that was older than me!  “That’s rrreeeeaaall nice, Clark!”

I started off by removing any contact paper from the shelves that had pulled away from the shelf itself.  I found a few layers!  The bottom layer was ELECTRIC LIME GREEN!  No joke! 

I painted 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of white semi-gloss.  Don’t think priming is necessary??  Think again!  It’s worth the time!  Primer is cheaper than paint and it provides a good base for your paint.  It also helps the top coat go on smoothly and cover the dark wood beneath it. 

I then found this stainless steel looking contact paper at Lowe’s.  I love it.  I applied it to the shelves and it instantly brought my dated cabinet shelves into this decade!  The pictures don’t show how pretty it actually is but they look really modern now! 

When I open the cabinet doors, it is bright and fresh and much better than the dark yucky insides they were.  This project was simple and cheap and has a maximum impact because I am in my kitchen most of the day, making 3 meals and snacks so it makes me happy they they are now not so dated. 

Once our dining room furniture arrives and I can fill my buffet with kitchen stuff, and get everything finally settled, I am thinking of some fun little vinyl projects for the inside of these guys!  Can’t wait to share!  If you have old cabinets and they aren’t your dream cabinets…why not have some fun with them in the meantime?  Ohhhh…maybe a stencil back there!  The ideas are flowing! 

This will hold me over until I can re-do my kitchen the way I want to…someday!   Have old cabinets too?  Try painting them.  It will make you happy every time you open your cabinet doors!