Great job...nice changes!! Congrats!

Very nice reuse of old old cabinets and floor plan. Refinishing the surfaces make a world of difference.

so much better, congratulations.

Wow! What a beautiful kitchen!!!

Very nice. Where did you put the microwave?

My kitchen is very similar (built in '92) and we are getting ready to redo surfaces also. I ready like what you have done. What did you use for counter top, backsplash and floor? I am debating between Quartz and Corian for counter top. I just found this site 2 days ago and it may be more of a problem than a help, as I am now overloaded with ideas. Thanks for posting your new kitchen. If anyone else has opinions on counter top products, I would love to hear those also.

Very nice!

beautiful job!

Wonderful job! What did you use to update the cabinets? How long did it take if you did it yourself? Any tips appreciated, thanks!

That looks so lovely ! Great job ! Inspirational !!!

Sugarcakes2, we added a counter to an empty corner in the kitchen for the microwave and coffee maker. Trading the black stand alone stove and microwave for the slide stainless stove and stainless hood really opened up the area.

Gwen76, we chose Granite (Ivory Fantasy) for the counters. The tile is from Ceramica I can't remember the name of it, I really like how it softly blends with the granite.I have tile on the floor that we had installed a few years back.

rbengtzen, we painted the cabinets with BM Gentle Cream. I should not say we, we hired a professional painter to do the job. Took 5 days from start to finish.

What a fantastic makover using the cabinets you already have! You did a beautiful job! It just goes to show that paint goes a long way to stretching a budget so you can spend $ on the other things!

The paint completely transforms those cabinets. If I hadn't seen the before, I would have assumed you custom ordered them. Love love love.

Beautiful - what an improvement! Everything looks great.

Really, really nice. This is the poster kitchen for anyone wondering whether or not they should paint their cabinets.

Wow, I am stunned by the cabinets. And by keeping the same hardware you worked around the problem of old holes, new holes, and the hinges!!!!!!!!! such a problem because the old ones show, the new ones today don't but requires a lot of new carpentry to install the new kind and then you have the old holes showing. Really super job. May I ask: how much did it cost to have the cabinets painted?

i liked that you repurposed the existing cabinets and made the kitchen your own...better than throwing it all out when people are remodelling they should think of habitat for humanity or salvation army to give their old things new life in someone less fortunates home....and lots of old cabinetry is solid wood......great job i love painted cabinets..have them in my home...

This looks fab - love that you reused your cabinets. Like others here, I love painted cabinets. We're refacing our kitchen - some new cabinets, some existing will get new doors, new hardware, countertops, backsplash - so I love seeing what others have done when they haven't gutted their existing kitchens. The cabinets we're not using will go downstairs to the laundry room and a storage room. Your kitchen looks so welcoming - great job!

Thank you for showing that there is live after builders grade wood cabinets! Painted cabinets -properly done, make you smile every time you enter the room. Some colors really are therapeutic that way, not cerebral. Who doesn't want to be happy these days!

Beautiful!! So nice to see you reused the cabinets!

Congratulations, great job! Perfect reuse of cabinets. Love the color and the backsplash.

Lovely! Are the cabinets oak? How visible is the grain with the new paint?

Was there alot of sanding to take off the brown oak color before painting? Did you use a step-by-step product kit to remove the old and then paint the cabinet? Beautiful work!!!

Wow! Add my compliments, please! This is just beautiful - the painted cabinets are really pretty. The transformation is just wonderful. Nice job.

You did a wonderful job Dianne. It is beautiful. I am sure you are enjoying it so much more now. Every time you walk in the room you've gotta smile!

Very nicely done! We have similar cabinetry that we are about to have painted - really helps to see an end product! Love the stove/hood setup... We'll have to consider making that change as well. Thanks for sharing!

sorry, don't see much improvement except for the paint on cupboards ...you should consider building in the frig

I LOVE it! It's so nice to see someone who's biggest change is paint and tile, which is all I can afford to do to mine. The before photo is dark enough I couldn't even tell, was there a stove by the fridge? What a terrific makeover! You make me wish I could start on my cabinets tonight!

Feels light and good in there! Nice work - bye-bye 90's!

Personally I love what you've done - I'm not sure what mudite meant - it looks like new countertops, backsplash, painted cabinets at the very least. Not sure if you changed the appliances or not but it looks fab.

Again...Major improvement...great job!!

Love it!! Did you change the window of painted it the same color as the cabinets??
Thanks for charring!! I will be doing the same thing so it gives me a perfect image!!!! :)

What kind of ceiling is that, Jennifer?

Looks wonderful! Are the cabinets Oak? And does the grain show much? Was it expensive to hire someone for the cabinets?

Looks Great!!! We are thinking of painting our Oak cabinets white...we have black granite counter tops. Think it would brighten up the kitchen. We have a lot of Oak trim through out the house. We don't know how it will look if we just paint the cabinets and kitchen island white, and leave the pantry and laundry door's and trim in the kitchen the original Oak color? Our kitchen is opened to our family room with a step down... the family room has a lot of Oak, all the woodwork and doors that lead out to the deck. We had a wooden rail that divides the kitchen and family room... we just remodel that area, we took down the wooden rail and my husband build a glass block bar/counter and we refinished an old bowling alley lane, painted it black... we love it... you can never have to much counter place. :) I would love to get some other opinions..I am attaching 3 pictures.. one with the old oak rail.. 2 with the new glass block bar.. .you can also see some of the kitchen with all of the Oak color.. Thanks Lucy

Super cool bar Lucy. Great job. If you paint the cabinets I would paint the doors and facings also. You won't be able to find a stopping point, so keep painting.... :-)

Thank you, I really hate the thought of painting every room... LOL.. not sure what we will do.. :)

Hi - this is for Gwen 76, who was considering Corian or Quartz countertops. We bought quartz and really love it. It's easy to clean and does not get ANY marks on it from anything. I had a sample of Corian and some other solid surface types. We have some plates and serving dishes (Oneida) that are rough on the bottom, so I rubbed it on the sample. The bottom of the plate made marks. The marks were faint and maybe they buff out, but we are really hard on our living spaces, and I didn't want to have to be careful in the kitchen. I think we would've been better off with some laminate than with the solid surface. That's my 2 cents.

Granite doesn't scratch.... Corian is terrible about scratching....... especially the high gloss type.
IMO, granite is well worth the extra cost.

This is beautiful! I'm hoping to re-do our kitchen next year--we had a basic remodel done back in the '90's and I am SO over it. I'm getting some great ideas from your picture and posts. Thanks!

Painting the old cabinets really did the job. Nice !

Painting kitchen cabinets is the single most transforming thing to any kitchen......... and one of the least expensive renovation options.

To Kroze: I'm pretty sure it's pine!

That's amazing.... brings back memories of days gone by... very lovely.

great job

It is said the biggest change is made with paint. I say go one step further, after painting the cabinets, glaze them a darker color over it. The glaze is simple to do. Roll on glaze, remove most of it with a rag, leave traces in groves. It just gives a more professional and custom look to painted cabinets. You want to avoid having your kitchen cabinets look like the ready-mades from Home Depot. Good job, though. Beautiful transformation.