KITCHEN CABINET REFACING PROJECT:
How A Dull And Dark 1960's-Era Kitchen Was Transformed Into A Bright,
Visually Stimulating, Arts & Crafts-Inspired Space
How A Dull And Dark 1960's-Era Kitchen Was Transformed Into A Bright,
Visually Stimulating, Arts & Crafts-Inspired Space
A "Before" image of the cabinet banks. This is the way the kitchen looked since the house was built around 1968. The cabinets were finished with a cherry stain, which had darkened further over the years.
This is the original look of the pantry door.
This is an "After" image of the pantry door. Since there was more area to work with here, the grid pattern is slightly scaled up and a bit more elaborate than on the cabinet doors.
This is the new reverse side (interior) of the pantry door. The large brown rectangular areas are chalkboard paint, for writing on.
An "After" image of the cabinet banks.
The upper cabinets - detail A
The upper cabinets - detail B
The base cabinets - detail C
The base cabinets - detail D
Upper and base cabinets - detail E
The Refacing Procedure
STEP 1: Remove doors from cabinet boxes and remove door hardware
STEP 2: Apply stripping compound and allow to set up
STEP 3: Remove stripper from doors
STEP 4: Sand doors to remove any remaining old finish, and to smooth and prep surfaces
STEP 5: Lay out lines for applied Arts & Crafts grid pattern in pencil (Yes, they are a bit hard to see in the image.)
STEP 5b: Detail of grid lines and pattern
STEP 6: Apply painter's tape to define grid pattern
STEP 7: Apply paint to grid pattern (For this step, an airbrush was used; although it could also be done equally well with a paint brush.)
STEP 7b: Details of paint mixture for grid pattern
STEP 8: Remove painter's tape and clean up grid edges where necessary
STEP 9: Apply six coats of semi-gloss polyurethane finish, lightly sanding between coats. Replace door hardware when complete.
STEP 10a: Rehang doors on cabinets
STEP 10b: Rehang doors on cabinets
All photographs Copyright 2011 by Twisandal Arts / Michael Lolich.
Background tile pattern courtesy of: ava7patternspatterns.ava7.com
Background tile pattern courtesy of: ava7patternspatterns.ava7.com
