Kitchen Cupboard Makeover

 This was our kitchen when we bought the house. I honestly didn't mind the color of the cabinets, and they were really nice cabinets. However, that wall on the right that you can only assume is there, we took that wall out. I wanted the same flooring throughout our entire upstairs so that it flowed really well, so therefore we had to take out the kitchen tile. I wanted a dark hardwood looking floor (Pergo) and obviously that wouldn't look great with dark wood cabinets. So the whole thing needed a makeover.
I searched Pinterest high and low and decided to go with slightly off colors instead of painting the whole kitchen one color. I decided to do Repose Gray on the bottom cabinets and Alabaster White on the upper. It is such a slight difference that you almost can't tell, so in retrospect I should have just painted them all one color. Oh well.
I took off all of the bottom cabinet doors, hinges, and drawer fronts. I sanded them all down with an orbital sander enough that the finish was off. I laid everything down on some plastic in my living room because we were pulling that carpet up and I wasn't too terribly concerned about drips.
Then I got my trusty Valspar cabinet paint (link below) that I had color matched previously, and off I went. I did a lot of reading about cabinet painting and decided to go with a foam roller. It covered quite well and looked a lot more professional than a brushed look. There were a few areas that I had to gently sand down because they had a bubble effect going on, so after gently sanding them off I brushed that area again.
The cabinet paint doesn't require a finish so once I got all of my coats on (it took three!) they were done and I was oh so glad. I ended up putting the same hardware back on because I didn't mind it, and they looked fabulous!


Kitchen Before (pictures from when we bought the house)

After I painted the bottom cupboards Repose Gray

The next day (or maybe it was a few days later) I tackled the upper cupboards. I took everything off and started the process all over. The white didn't cover as well as the gray so it took an additional coat. 

Yep that's my kitchen mess but at least you can see both of the colors of cabinets. It's the slightest difference. 

And here's the pro pics we took when we listed the house. I was in LOVE with those cupboards. 

After two years of heavy use the paint held up really well. I touched up a few areas before listing, but I honestly was pleased with how well it held up. I will be using it again. 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Valspar-Cabinet-Enamel-Semi-gloss-Latex-Interior-Paint-Actual-Net-Contents-124-fl-oz/999918096

The great thing about this paint is it's a bit more pricey ($50 a gallon) but it went a LONG way. I used it to paint our stair railing, two pianos, bathroom vanities, and more!