Also I didn't sand all of them either (got lazy) and hasn't seemed to make any difference and washed down well with sugar soap first.

Your kitchen looks fantastic !! How is your countertop holding out ? I was considering using the same product.

It's holding up better than I could have hoped! I always use a cutting board and don't put hot things on it but my son dropped a glass from the top cabinet and smashed all over it, didn't leave any mark or scratch? It was a horrible job to put on but I highly recommend it for hard wearing.

Wow. Love it. How much was it all?

Wow, I'm impressed at the transformation ! You should be proud of your work. And that stove is too adorable.

Looks great!
What make and model for the dishwasher and stove?

Wow! it looks just as good as the "new, amazing ones on here". I never would have imagined that painting those types of cabinets would come out so nice! Would you mind telling us around how much you spent?

Everything but the paint was cheap finds from eBay. From memory they were approximately.
$160 paint
$320 tiles (over estimated and didn't use them all)
$200 countertop kit.
$400 dishwasher (dishlex)
$140 handles. (Lots of cupboards on other wall of kitchen, not shown as not finished yet)
$540 oven (not our best buy, was taken by the look of it, didn't realise it wasn't fan forced) chef brand.
This is Australian dollars too.
Thank you for all your great responses to my kitchen, I was disappointed I had to go this way but was quoted 5200 for a new one, without benches, handles or appliances.

beautiful remodel! Love it - so nice to see a "real life" kitchen too. I enjoy looking at the huge, fancy $60,000 kitchens but that's not the world I live in! Thanks for sharing!

wow great job!!!

Looks great!! My mom has those same cabinets in her kitchen, Definitely going to show her this. I bet she'll start painting tomorrow.

Looks wonderful! Nice job!

Truly an inspiration! Enjoy!

Looks great. I am bookmarking this because people often ask if those products work out. This is really nice.

Thank you for all your kind responses to my kitchen, I waited months before putting it on here because it's a small, cheap kitchen but I'm so glad I did now. Maybe it's not so bad after all. :)

Good for you---Great Job!

You did a really, really great job. You are an inspiration. I am so happy you posted your redo.

It looks lovely!! You did a nice job!! I venture to say that the majority of us don't have kitchens like pictured in Houzz,

Wow, this is inspiring! thanks a lot for sharing this.

AWESOME!! Did a great job!

Great job!

denanddale, real world and real fantastic! You guys did a great job ! Yes, It is thrilling to look at these huge and gorgeous designer homes and vicariously live in them for a moment :) but ...
No shame in a smaller house ( I try to remind myself of that too, as I upload pics for our small and inexpensive house for help!) :) It really is so nice to see these types of affordable improvements - thank you for sharing !

What a beautiful transformation!!!

Nice update for this small kitchen. This update brought it to modernity.

Very nice!! we also did an update to our kitchen with very similar cabinets.

Here is our project totals:

Paint & Paint Supplies - $350 - Did it ourselves
Countertops - $800 - installed
Backsplash Tile - $250 - Installed $250 = $500
Floor Tile - Hard to say because this includes the whole entryway, entry hall, and landing for basement stairs.
Tile - $1000 - Installed - $1000

Total - $3650

Wow! What a transformation. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your kitchen and the valuable information you passed on.

@modfan. I actually had screenshots of your fantastic kitchen in my phone. That's where I got my inspiration from, note the similar tiles. Haha.
Still need to do the under cabinet lighting. I've got battery operated ones but they really don't do anything.

Your new kitchen looks really beautiful. What a great job you did. The transformation is amazing and very inspiring. Thank you for sharing.

Looks great! So many people have those same cabinets, I'm sure the pictures of what you have done will be an inspiration to them!

All I can say is WOW! Great redo on a limited budget.

Great job!! Who cares if its small and cheap. Most of us don't have a huge kitchen with a 30k reno.. This is more real life and very practical for the average person.. I would rather see something like this than a 60k kitchen I know I could never afford.. I'm glad u put this up!! B proud of your work, it looks awesome.. And it looks like you put a good chunk of change in it also!!

I would say based on the "before" photo, this was a much-needed facelift. Great job - I like the white and black contrasts with the multi-colored backsplash.

Very beautiful! You did a great job. Go enjoy your new kitchen.

Great job! It looks so modern and clean. Anyone can make a beautiful kitchen with $$$, but the true talent is when someone can make a kitchen look like this on a serious budget.

Great transformation! It looks very clean and contemporary.

I love these kinds of transformations because they require great vision and careful planning. amazing results!

What an awesome job!!!! I had the same kitchen and had I seen your transformation first would have tried, but I had searched and searched and finally decided to have to start all over. I am happy with my new kitchen but both my bathrooms have these same vanities- Did you use a brush for cabinets or did you roll them? What kind of paint for top coat? semigloss? I had wondered if the new chalk paint would work on them. You really did an awesome transformation!

Fantastic job! This is what we need to do. Do you mind sharing the brand and color of cabinet paint, counter,and backsplash tile? Are cabinets a pure white or a softer white? Did you use Cabinet Transformations by Rustoleum or something else? And is the countertop using the Counter Transformations from Rustoleum?

This looks amazing! Gives me hope about what can be done even on a lower budget. I love the countertops!

Wow, these cabinets are all over the world, and you did a great job of updating them - great kitchen on a budget which I will try to emulate with mine!

Looks great!

The kitchen looks great! Big or small, every home deserves design attention.

Love your remodel! I've been searching for a remodel of these 80s cabinets. They are all over the place, yet so few have tried to remodel them. I'm going to run it by my hubby and see if we can do it. For the cabinet paint, did you use a pure white, or a slightly off white? I've heard it's not recommended to use a true white, but rather a slightly off white, like a linen color or a warm white. Yours looks great, so I'm curious to know.

And the back splash tile - is that real tile or those new "smart tiles" they have that look like tile but aren't?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Smart-Tiles-10-20-in-x-9-10-in-Peel-and-Stick-Mosaic-Decorative-Tile-Backsplash-Muretto-Blues-in-Blue-Box-of-6-Tiles-SM1059-6/205863553?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cG%7cBase%7cPLA%7cD59%7cDecor&gclid=Cj0KEQjwgoKqBRDt_IfLr8y1iMUBEiQA8Ua7XccMEksosLP4bFVcvtil1z1HcxiJw61Ulu5UFWRKSEYaAoeC8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

I am amazed at how great those cabinets look with the paint and new hardware. Love this makeover.

What a change!

Nice work. Good budget.

Wow! That is a great job. I had to re read to figure out if they were the same cabinets.

No matter what, you did a great job! Well picked colors too! Looks better than some of the high budget ones on here ;)

Wow!! What a difference. Goes to show what you can do on a budget. Great job!

Very nice - well done!