Slowly but surely, our house is coming along.
Finishing the kitchen is really the last major project to complete other than pos
sibly remodeling the basement. The kitchen has sort of been on the back burner though because 1) I knew what a major project it would be; and 2) a new counter top and sink aren't cheap. Anyway, I started removing and sanding the doors from the upper kitchen cabinets about a month or so ago. I couldn't start on the bottom cabinets because without doors it would be impossible to keep Kendall out of everything. So, while Kendall and Leah were gone to Nashville this weekend I decided to go ahead and try to get this project knocked out.
Here's the process I followed for anyone else who wants to attempt this:
1. Remove doors and remove all hardware. 
2. Clean everything with TSP solution to remove all grease/wax buildup.
3. Sand everything to dull the laquer finish so primer will stick. (This is where I wasted a lot of time and sweat. I took me a long time to figure out what "dulling the finish" looked like, so I ended up sanding most of the doors and part of the frame down the wood. If you do this, it doesn't hurt anything, just wastes a lot of time and engery.)
4. First coat of primer on everything.
5. Lightly sand everything.
6. Second coat of primer on everything.
7. Lightly sand
8. First coat of paint on everything.
9. Lightly sand
10. Second coat of paint.
11. Clean all hardware to remove built-up grime and grease. (I soaked all of it in an acidic mixture of vinegar and lemon juice, the soaked overnight in TSP solution, then leah and I scrubbed every handle and hinge with a toothbrush to get them clean.)
13. Primer hardware (Spray Krylon) 
14. Spraypaint hardware (Krylon Satin Nickle then Krylon Clear Satin)
15. Re-attach hardware to doors/frames
16. Re-hang doors
I finished re-hanging all of the doors at around 11:30 last night. I don't know how much time I put in sanding doors before this weekend, but since Saturday I have put in about 45-50 hours on this project. On the bright side though, I've only got about $55 in them and Leah says she really likes them.
Next on the agenda is a new countertop and sink. Hopefully, we are hoping to install these in the next few weeks. We'll keep you posted.
6 comments:
AWESOME! It looks great! Whenever you have an extra 40-50 hours feel free to come design-on-a-dime at my house! haha!
Looks great!!
Wow! What a difference. We painted our kitchen cabinets when we moved in and it was such a major project -ahhh, I don't even want to think about it. It's a miracle we're still married :)
I totally should have hired you to do our cabinets. Fantastic job!
this is very helpful. I've been wondering how to economically re do our cabinets and wondering what the best way to clean them was, thanks!!
Where can u get TSP solution?
You can get TSP at Lowes or Home Depot for about $5. It's a box of powdered chemical that you mix with water to form the cleaning solution.
I found it at Lowes near the paint, with all of the other solvents like paint thinner, acetone,etc.
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