We just moved into our house (built in 1998) and would like to change out the hardware in the kitchen. The current hardware is brass and we would like to go black. Once i started to take apart the hinge i noticed that there are a lot of pieces and that the cupboards are custom. They have custom dowels. I have the blue prints and figured out that they are custom cabinets from Al's Cabinets and Amerock hardware. I went to the local Al's cabinets and he made some calls and said they do not use that type of hinge anymore and that they only come in brass, silver, white ($3.50 per).

Short-term:
My husband and I need to save up more money to fix up our kitchen, but figured the hardware would make a huge difference for now

-Can i paint the hinges black for now? Any ideas on what kind of paint? Get new handles? There are 64 hinges in the kitchen

Long-term:
-We would like to refinish the white cabinets since they have a lot of nicks on them. Is there a certain kind of wood putty that we could use and have our cabinets not have hinges showing anymore?

Would love to hear advice!