Amazing Chalk Paint® Transformation on Oak Kitchen Cabinets

A few months ago, I was hired to paint the dated, oak cabinets in this spacious kitchen.  The owners wanted a custom look without replacing all the cabinetry, which would be quite costly in a kitchen this size.  

Before

The kitchen looked drab and uninviting before, with the heavily grained oak overpowering the whole space. It was definitely the perfect time for a fresh look in this kitchen.

After

After scrubbing the cabinet doors with an orange oil cleaner, I applied three coats of Old Ochre Chalk Paint® to cover the open grain of the oak. I sanded all the doors using super fine, 600 grit sandpaper before painting the third coat.  After the final coat of paint, I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand all the edges, adding dimension to the drawers and doors. When all the sanding was done, I applied two coats of Annie Sloan's Clear Wax over the paint and the finish turned out smooth and silky.

The man of the house, who happens to be a contracter with an eye for detail, was fairly skeptical that Chalk Paint® would live up to its reputation as the best paint in the world.  I think he was also a little bit doubtful in my ability to handle painting a kitchen this large all by myself and, although I did not let it show, I was a bit doubtful myself (my business partner sprained her ankle the first day on the job). However, by the time I finished painting all the cabinets, he was singing praises!

The old linoleum was replaced with a rich, dark, hardwood, which offers the perfect complement to the creamy cabinetry.

Initially, the owners were considering replacing the tile countertops with a solid surface, like granite, but after seeing the painted cabinets paired with the tile, they love the combination and decided to keep the tile.

They put iron cup pulls and knobs on the cabinetry, which definitely added to the new custom look of the kitchen.

 Old Ochre is a beautiful, soft color and it brings much needed warmth to this spacious kitchen.

Another enhancement the owners added to the cabinetry, is the lovely crown molding on top. This is such a small detail, but it made a monumental improvement to the look of the kitchen cabinets. 

The final improvement to this kitchen was replacing the boxed-in flourescent light with an elegant iron light fixture.  What a lovely kitchen we created together!