Post pics for help. We need to see what you cabs look like.

We are removing the track lighting, the whole perimeter thing, and replacing that lighting with 6 small pot lights.

The cabinets will be done professionally. We are trying to salvage the quality of the cabinet by either refinishing or painting them, and therefore saving the hassle of a complete overhaul.

The house is large and classic and lots of crown moulding etc, so I figured the cabinet style could blend decently if other upgrades are made.

Would you stick with the original oak or paint them white?

In terms of painting them white, do you think they would appear grainy?

Arched cabinetry making a comeback?

The arch top cabinet doors are probably so far out right now that they are poised to be the next hot new innovation on the kitchen redesign treadmill. You can be sure that they will be modern once again, there are only so many ways to do things to a cabinet door and the kitchen design industry demands change on a regular basis.

It's really hard to fill or hide the pores on red oak, and in a kitchen I'd fear them filling up with gunk over time and being obvious on a light painted cabinet. Doing grain filling and then paint won't be cheap to have a pro do it, then you'll still have the out-of-style arch tops. You might get prices for new door and drawer fronts (keeping the underlying cabinets) in a style you like for comparison.

And yes, reconsider the light box on the ceiling.

Yes, they will look grainy, per the photos you show. Is that such a bad thing? People do it all the time. Oak has grain, so just accept it. What you have now looks a bit dreary, so white would be an improvement. Having said that, your photos seem edited to omit a view of your counters. You can’t consider painting the cabinets without taking your counters into account. Or perhaps, given the age of your kitchen, the counters need to he changed too.

I really dislike grain. I like the photos of the white painted oak cabinets from afar, but not from closeup (the visible gray grains). That's my dilemma.

We are definitely doing countertops! However, I thought I'd leave that for another post because the colour will depend on whether the cabinets will remain wood or become white.

It's the floors that will remain as is.

So If I have a pro fill the grain then paint the doors white, will it still show the gray grains afterward?

If the pro is good at his/her job no you won't see the grain, or at least not such that you'd notice without a strong raking light. That means multiple coats of filler and sanding between, which is not cheap. And finding someone who will take that much care, which isn't easy. Your regular cabinet spray paint guys won't do it.

New doors using a flat substrate would probably be less expensive than an excellent paint job. As a DIY project I'd rather make a matching door from poplar or maple and paint it than do the work to fill the oak grain-- but then I really hate sanding.

I may be in the minority, but I like the arched doors. I would like them painted if you can make that work. Another suggestion I have is to remove some doors on the lower cabinets. I would replace them with drawers. It would break up the arches and the drawers would function so much better. You could also remove some upper doors and leave it open. Or you could remove some completely and have shelves. Good luck on your remodel.

If you "must" paint, would paint darker (to help hide grain & arch) - not white.

You can cover the arch with molding before painting. That will also help to hid a lot of the grain. I did this in my kitchen and bath. I didn't have an arch but I had curved corners in the bathroom and tons of oak in the kitchen.

Bouncy5 which cabinets would you remove to allow for open shelving?

ilikefriday hows that done? Do you have photo example? Do you mean the wood sink?

Here is my before and after. This was a DIY project on a bare-bones budget so nothing is perfect but I am very happy with the final result. This was done about 5 or 6 years ago. You said your cabinets would be professionally done. I'm sure professionals could figure out a way to cover those arches. I was just winging it.

As you can see in the lower left photo, I made squares with the molding and attached them to each door and to the sides of the peninsula. This covered the grooves in the doors as well as some of the oak. You could do the same and cover your arch. After all the molding was attached, I painted everything.

I did the same thing in my bathroom. The only difference was those doors had grooves that were not square. That had curved corners that I covered.

Has anyone ever flipped a cabinet door? Meaning the arches would be flipped to the inside of the cabinet leaving you with a plainer profile on the outside. Of course, the hardware hinges would need to be switched and filled. Here’s a sanple of what I found.

https://www.homesmend.com/can-you-flip-cabinet-doors/

Look how dark @ilikefriday painted her cabs, in order to cover up the grain of the oak. Plus, the multi level detail on the cabs, with the inconvenient gold ring pulls (installed low, in the middle of the lower doors), and mirror behind the sink…not a good look.

You wanted your kitchen to be ”clean and modernized.” What ilikefriday posted above, is the opposite of that.

Look, have your cabinets painted white, if it’ll make you enjoy the kitchen more. Just realize, the kitchen still won’t look modernized, or current. For that, the lower cabs would have the convenience of drawers, not doors. The cabinets themselves, would be a simple design, like Shaker. Can’t see much of your backsplash…but what I can see, it appears to need a good scrubbing, especially the grout.

@darbuka

I didn't paint my cabinets to cover the oak grain. That was a pleasant surprise as I was winging it. I painted my cabinets black because that is the color that I wanted. Do you think that just because something is a dark color it cannot be kept clean? The amount of dirt is the same regardless of the color. The difference is the amount of elbow grease required to cover it up. Perhaps you prefer to just allow your dirt to blend in as opposed to actually getting rid of it... That is not a good look. As for modern, my kitchen is as modern as my home so it fits right in. White cabinets are not my cup of tea and nothing about my home falls into the category of what people expect. The expected look is what my neighbor has. I find that boring, lacking creativity, and overdone.

I think the mirror and cabinet pulls are fabulous. After all, there were no cabinet pulls at all previously. My guess is if you saw the rest of my kitchen you would gasp. Given your previous comment, those gasps would likely add confirmation that my design choices are spot on.

“Do you think that just because something is a dark color it cannot be kept clean? ”

@ilikefriday, on the contrary. I have a medium dark stain on my cabs, so I know all about cleaning a darker stain. When talking about cleaning, I was referring to the intricate detail on your cabs…definitely more difficult to clean the multi levels, than a simpler design.

@darbuka

That we can agree on. It is more difficult to clean the multi-levels. Life is about compromise. I hated both the oak and the grooves. This was a DIY on a shoestring budget of about $800 if I remember correctly. I painted these cabinets years ago and haven't regretted a moment. I am happy to clean the multi-levels if that means I no longer have to look at the cabinets in their original state.

I'm curious why you are not giving pictures of the entire kitchen?

Personally I think the whole kitchen is dated and just painting cabinets won't do much. I would start with giving the cabinet and backsplash a good clean, add new hardware and new lighting, take down that wood piece over the sink and then see where you are at.

Grain filler is essentially an MDF skim coat which absorbs paint uniformly. You will not see grain through grain filler regardless of how dark or light you paint your cabinets.

The problem with grain filler is that it adds another timely step to the process. You have to sand thoroughly to remove existing stain, apply grain filler, let dry, sand lightly (carefully) again, and then paint. With new doors only $30 - $60 each, it often makes more sense on full overlay or frameless to simply order new doors and save the labor. You can also choose your door style if you go that route.

Does everyone agree I should remove the wood piece over the sink? I was thinking to just have it made into a straight piece rather than removing altogether.

To some of the comments, it's important to consider the look and quality of the entire house before determining to switch out quality materials an dclassic styles for lower end materials.

Remove the strip above the window entirely, do not replace it with a flat strip. What is the open shelf next to the hood? Can that disappear? Were painting easy I'd say paint them and who cares about the wood grain showing through. However, it is no small task to paint cabinets.

I am not seeing the pics from the OP must be an issue with my monitor.

Weird. Looks like the pictures disappeared. I was seeing them before and now I don't.

Huh, her pics suddenly disappeared from my iPad, too. Perhaps she removed them??

At any rate, remove the strip above the window. It’s called a valance, btw. Even a straight valence is a dated look.

Raimondi what I mean is that I don't want to buy cheap cabinets. They will clash with the house. I understand what I currently have is dated, that's why I'm here. But replacement cabinets would have to match the quality of these rather than aan inexpensive set. That's why I'd like to salvage what I have. Well that and the fact that I don't want my kitchen ripped apart right now. I already went through a 6 month renovation recently with my basement.

The OP edited the post. The Houzz software will often remove images when editing posts and the images must be reposted. This is a side effect of guarding against other sites pirating images posted on Houzz.

just an FYI

Pics disappeared?? I'll readd them from my laptop later. It won't let me from my cell phone. Strange!

Kendrah I'm hiring someone to either refinish or paint.

That space is where microwave was. I'm considering removing the cupboards on either side of where the gas range will go & creating open shelving there instead - if I decide to change the backslash.

@beautywithin - why not just order replacement doors? They will run about $16 per square foot and likely be a cost savings over prepping the existing doors.

Ty byr911! That's what I get for editing a typo :/

Painting cabinets is not really difficult. Anyone who has some experience spraying finishes, whether homes, cars, or furniture can likely spray full overlay cabinets successfully, it really just isn’t that hard.

In fact, if you were to apply at an autobody shop with cabinet spraying experience they are likely going to consider that as little to no experience as would a house painter who sprays. It is just so much easier to spray small doors that you can easily manipulate than stationary or large items.

Certainly you might question the knowledge of coatings that a general painting contractor has, but you might also question the knowledge of coatings that most small cabinetmakers have. This is especially true when you start refinishing cabinets, as painting fresh wood is so different than removing and reapplying coatings.

@darbuka and @bry911 the photos are back!

We were budgeting & recently opted for the refacing & are thrilled with the results. They were a good quality cherry?- dark reddish brown. A neighbor a few yrs back had hers painted & they soon started to chip so we didn’t want them painted. You cannot tell- the new white has new wood doors & drawer fronts & new hardware.
I can’t comment on wrapped counter tops as I really have not heard of that before except for a few ppl on line used wallpaper or shelf liner for a DIY and it looked very cheap & my guess is it won’t hold up over years.

We refaced b/c the small kitchen in our downsize works well and I didn't need to change the footprint. Very happy with the results. I also had two of the lowers changed to pull outs and I love them. We went through Home Depot and they were fine.

Since my kitchen is oak, if I were to buy new white doors and have the rest of the cabinetry (minus the doors which would be new) painted, wouldn't it be obviously 2 different textures, as I wouldn't be buying oak but a modern lower expense shaker?

Also, while I prefer a lighter, modern kitchen (Im not into the greens just yet...), I keep reading that warmer, wooden kitchens are making their way into the norm again.