I had 124 ugly brass cabinet hinges and 62 gold cabinet knobs to change to satin nickel. I think they were at least 40 years old. I tried cleaning the hinges and spray painting them, but that did not work. While waiting for my order of hinges to arrive, I decided to try painting the knobs. I knew the knobs had a clear protective coat on them, so I researched ways to remove it.

I found a blog that showed the knobs in a saucepan with water and vinegar boiling for about 40 minutes. What a smell! I could not leave the stove while it was boiling so I figured out another way. I found a very small crock pot at Wal-mart for $9.00.I added water and vinegar, turned it on high, and added the knobs. 3-4 hours later, the clear coat fell off. I tried different spray paints that said "chrome", but I was not happy with the texture so I thought I would need to sand them more. (I used both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar.)

So, then I used angled sanding sponge blocks on the gold surface (after the clear coat was gone). Either it would work or it wouldn't, and I was going to trash or donate the knobs anyway. I sanded the knobs with 220 grit in a circular motion. I was thinking I needed to scuff them up more for the spray paint to work, but I accidentally oversanded one of the knobs.

First, I saw dull gold, then I saw silver when I continued to sand. I continued sanding and 60 out of 62 knobs were silver underneath the gold color. One knob had almost a copper color under the gold and one knob stayed gold no matter how much I sanded. No spray painting was needed. I got lucky!

I did have to buy a few new knobs (different shape) for a half bathroom, but I used the old knobs on the utility room cabinets, on entertainment center cabinets, on hall linen cabinets, and on the cabinets in two other bathrooms. Plus, I recycled instead of trashing. Really, who would want those old ugly knobs, anyway? I saved around $150.00 too. You could probably insert the screw into the knob, then insert it on a drill and "spin" sand the knobs (and your knuckles). Be careful though because I oversanded the silver area on one knob and found the copper color. (Probably the actual color of the metal.)

I trashed the interior crock because I am sure it should not be used again for food.

Clear coat...

With the top half of the gold sanded off....

Right half of knob matches my stainless steel oven fairly closely.

Completely sanded knob next to a gold knob.

Sanded knob next to my brushed nickel door knobs.

Works for me! Maybe this info will help someone else.