This is a wonderful transformation. I also have oak cabinets, and have been considering painting them, but realize it is significant work to do the job properly.

Looks amazing love it! I too have a medium oak cabinets in my kitchen, bathrooms, bookcases, stair case, all doors & trims. I feel it's way too over whelming as much as I would love to change it, my hubby likes the oak cabinets. We had our home built 1994 I loved the show home we looked at back then, maid a few changes at that time but want to do some up dates big time.

We had Oak Fireplace, trim, bookshelves etc. that I painted about 8 years ago. My husband fought that decision too because he thought the wood was pretty. Now, I think he is glad that he did it.
I like older homes and cottage style so I like painted wood. It took 8 more years to do the kitchen because it was warm and cozy looking. I really am glad we did it.
By "we" I mean the painter. She did it by herself and it took her about a week and a half to finish. She wiped everything with a stinky dehlosser, caulked everything, sanded, painted, sanded, painted, sanded and painted.

It really opened things up and made me purge a LOT of clutter.

I am still working on that!

I love the change though! :)

I am thinking about doing ours but am worried about the grain if the wood showing through. Was going to use Benjamin Moore advance. What do you think?

Looks fantastic. My kitchen is 16 years old. Maple cabinets, dark granite and medium brown hardwood floors. I think I'm going to have my cabinets painted professionally in dove white. Thanks for the inspiration! What color did you paint the walls?

I also painted the walls in the kitchen Acadia White.

My painter swears by the Oil based paint for the trim and cabinetry. I know it will yellow some and that is why I went with the Acadia rather than Linen White.

It does show the grain and an occasional crack, but that doesn't bother me. I like the texture. I must be on crack then, because I love it. However, I am from Louisiana where Cypress is the wood that is preferred to Oak, so painting Cypress is a harder call here. I am just not wild about the orangy Oak stain, if it is a darker stain. I would LOVE to stain my pine floors a darker color, but that is a nightmare to do after living in the house and having to move everything and literally move out of the house while the process is done or at least that is what I have heard.

I believe I can't use oil based paint in CA, which is the state in which I live. This is one reason I am reluctant to paint my oak kitchen cabinets.

Oh, that stinks.

Nice job. I love your flooring too. I did a similar thing and painted my oak colored wood cabinets to white. It had black counter tops and appliances so the look is classic like it was original.

We have no oil based paint inCanada and people find paint for cabinets there are many choices and they don’t stink for weeks either.

Laurie, I saw your picture in a comment you posted on another users question. These are beautiful! I was thinking of painting my oak cabinets as well, but using milk paint, because of it's stated ease of use. My only question is, can you see the oak grain in your cabinets? It doesn't look like you can.

Yes, the grain shows a bit, but I actually like it showing. It looks like what it is, real solid wood. I paint a lot of things with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, which I think is similar to Milk Paint. My concern would be chipping or not being as "hard" as regular paint. The wear and tear might show more? I painted my barstools with ASCP in Graphite. I waxed it and the paint has rubbed off in a a few spots. All I know is that painting the cabinets has made a HUGE difference. I love them now! It is worth the effort if you do it yourself or worth the expense if you hire someone. Let me know if you go for it! I love 'before and after' photos.

Amazing job!!

Thank you Laurie. Im going to try a small oak cabinet in the laundry room first, to try it out on. I will absolutely post before and after pics.

Good plan!

so what is the big tip for convincing oak loving husband to paint it??

One other question Laurie. I cannot tell from the picture, did they paint the toe boards white too (the narrow, rounded molding at the bottom of the cupboards where they meet the floor), or leave them?

The project came out beautifully. I invite you to follow our architectural design firm for
some more inspiration as you move forward with transforming your beautiful
home.

Yes, we painted the toe molding too. As far as convincing the husband, well, we have been to a lot of newly constructed high end homes in some of the new developments in our area and they all had white kitchens and walls. Our Oak was looking dated and dingy (30 years old) and since I had gotten bids from painters, he knew that there would be no labor on his part. His brother is a cabinet guy and retrofitted our lower cabinets with drawers in as many areas as possible. (That took some convincing, but, "OH, WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!!" I am able to access my stuff and stay so much more organized. Actually, once I got this going, he decided that we needed to take out the hideous fluorescent box and add two pendant lights and 4 recessed can lights. Our house looks so much better!

Two other views (taken before I added the drawer pulls on the new drawers).

I have those same Pottery Barn pendants. Everyone who sees them, loves them. Great job with your kitchen.

Thanks, they were actually the Chinese import Pottery Barn knock off pendants. They were a challenge to wire because the colors of the wires were different. I hope they don't melt. ;)

I painted the orange oak cabinets in my vacation condo 8 years ago. They still look great. I have included a picture of what the oak looks like in another until. My husband added a bit of trim to the top of ours. The brightness more than makes up for the oak grain showing through.
I always use oil for cabinetry. It has a different look that I prefer over latex. The odor is not an issue. The dry time doesnt bother me - if you rush painting you kitchen you may as well not do it at all. I have quite a bit of experience with chalk paint. It would be a mistake in the kitchen.

The cabinets look great Hellokitty66, but if I may ask, why do you say milk paint in the kitchen would be a mistake?

Im not sure about milk paint - but chalk paint typically has a wax sealer. Cabinetry in a kitchen is more likely to need a cleaning - which is not a great combo with wax. Check out all the schmutz by your cook top (side walls by the exhaust fan) and around your knobs. There is a huge learning curve with the wax. If you want chalk paint cabinets in your kitchen - go for it. But I'd practice on a lot of junk first to see exactly what you are in for. New DIYers should get some doors and practice all the methods. Old oak cabinet doors for experimenting on are really inexpensive at ReStores.
I have maybe a dozen cans of AS chalk paint. Its a lot of fun. I have also made my own. I have painted many kitchen and bath cabinets with oil paint. My kitchen island is painted in AS chalk paint. I have used latex on a built in... It's on my list to re do in oil.
Painting kitchen cabinets properly is a lot of work. If you do it in a weekend - you probably didnt do it right. Be sure about your finished product. And, yes, you have to take the doors off :)

hellokitty I love your kitchen cabinets painted! What color paint did you use? It is amazing how many different shades there are of each color!

I dont recall the color. It matched one of the flecks of color in the formica and looked good with the floor.

I love it. I painted my kitchen cabinets also

and replaced old tile counter tops and backsplash. Nothing makes me happier then turning on all the new lighting I got installed by saving money on new cabinets,

Nice transformation!

Definitely looks better.