RTTPYO #4: How I Painted My Kitchen Cabinets White to Fix the Gloomiest Kitchen on Earth (Part One)
- nvilu7
- May 7
- 8 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
How I started brightening a dark Portland kitchen—without a $20K renovation
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About the RTTPYO Series
RTTPYO stands for Removing Things That Piss You Off — the small home problems we tolerate for years before finally fixing them.
In this series, I tackle one everyday annoyance and show how a simple design change can make a space work better.
The Gloomiest Kitchen on Earth
When I was looking for a condo to buy in Portland, one of my must-haves was lots of light.
When I first entered the condo that became mine, the main living area was awash with light. I fell in love immediately.
The condo maximized potential sunlight. The main living area faced West and had two huge windows, a windowed front door, plus sidelights on either side of the door. The bedroom faced East and also had a large window. No matter what time of day, if the sun was out, I could maximize my exposure to natural light.
It was perfect—except for the kitchen.
The kitchen was at the back of the condo behind the central load bearing wall. It had a windowless back door that went out to a small deck. The light from the large dining room window adjacent to the kitchen never reached it.
The countertops and backsplash were covered by a mustard-colored, light-sucking ceramic tile. The cabinets were in great shape (good) but stained a very dark mahogany (bad).
It was The Gloomiest Kitchen on Earth, where cooks went to die of sadness.
After the wonderful natural light in every other room (even the bathroom had an East-facing window), that dim kitchen was deflating. Removing the load bearing wall would have solved the light problem, but that would have been extremely expensive and eliminated over half the kitchen cabinets.
Despite the somber kitchen, I bought the condo and resolved to focus on the lovely light in every other room.
Brightening the Kitchen, Part 1
Before moving in, I painted the entire condo and swapped out lighting fixtures, including adding a bright ceiling fixture in the kitchen. I painted the kitchen walls a bright aqua the color of a Miami pool, but it barely made a dent in the gloom.
A couple of years after moving in, after the millionth futile grout-scrubbing session, I replaced the kitchen sink and countertop and added an aqua glass tile backsplash to add sparkle.
The changes cut the gloom, but not as much as I had hoped.
My Kitchen Cabinets Must Go
Soon after the kitchen upgrade, I started a new job where I spent two weeks out of the month traveling, most often to sunlit California. Spending half my time away from home in a mostly sunny geography reduced my annoyance at my gloomy kitchen, and left me with little time to solve the problem.
Until the pandemic, when I abruptly stopped traveling. Stuck at home, I started fixing the things in my condo that annoyed me.
One of those things was my dark kitchen.
The obvious solution was to get new white cabinets. But, after researching the cost and time involved, I was gloomier than my kitchen.
New cabinets for my small kitchen were at minimum $20K. Installation costs were usurious. Wait times were interminable.
But more than all that, I simply balked at replacing something that didn’t need to be replaced—even though it wasn’t working for me. My current cabinets were solid wood, in excellent shape, in a simple Shaker style that I liked a lot.
I decided to keep them—and paint them myself.
Painting Kitchen Cabinets
A decade earlier, while living in Pittsburgh, I painted my kitchen cabinets because they were made of ugly laminate and I couldn’t afford to replace them. At that time, painting kitchen cabinets was a long, drawn-out process involving strong surface prep chemicals, oil-based paint, and awkward, bulky rubber gloves.
But I had a basement to do it in, which kept the hideous stinky mess out of sight (and smell). It took eight weeks to complete, but it turned out great.
Now, though, I lived in a condo with no separate work area. The project would be in my face 24x7.
Did I want a light and airy kitchen bad enough? Was there an alternative approach to painting my cabinets that involved less stink, no dangerous chemicals, and two months’ worth of evenings and weekends to complete?
I considered hiring a painting contractor to do the project, but the waiting lists were as long as the ones for new cabinet installation, and the cost was just as high. I decided to do it myself.
To avoid insanity (and stink), I wanted to be able to complete the project in two weeks or less, using water-based paint.
Selecting Kitchen Cabinet Paint
After much Googling, I discovered that water-based paint could now be used to paint kitchen cabinets, removing the stench, most Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), and chemical-resistant gloves from the process.
Also removed: a minimum of eight hours of waiting for oil-based paint to dry before applying the next coat of paint.
After a week of dithering, I selected DecoArt® Satin Enamel paint in Pure White, which comes in eight ounce plastic jars with screw lids (great for keeping the paint from drying out). DecoArt Satin Enamel paint is water-based and dries in 1-2 hours to a very durable satin finish. No primer or sealer needed.
It sounded too good to be true, so I bought a jar and tested it on the back of one of my lower cabinet doors. The paint passed with flying colors.
I decided to go for it. No more sorrowful cooking. No more gloom.
Before buying the paint, I mulled my color strategy. Should they be all-white? Should I do something a bit different? I considered painting the door backs a different color, painting the cabinet boxes a different color, or painting the upper cabinets a different color than the lower cabinets.
Eventually I decided to stick with all-white for maximum brightness.
Spoiler alert: they turned out great. Here’s what I learned.
How to Actually Paint Kitchen Cabinets
The actual painting part can be tricky, but I discovered a few shortcuts.
Practice your painting technique on the back of one door before deciding to go all-in.
If the surface you’re painting is finished with polyurethane, use a 3-inch mini paint roller with smooth roller covers and apply the paint with a light touch to get the best results. Mini rollers are much easier to maneuver in tight corners and don’t get as heavy as a standard-size roller when loaded with paint. Another bonus was that I got a thin, even coat of paint that dried fast.
I used a roller most of the time, but in some areas you’ll need to use a brush. I found that a 1” slant-tip brush worked best.
I bought additional smooth roller covers so I could clean each roller after a painting session and have a dry roller to start the next session.
After I had applied several coats of paint, I found I could use the roller more than the brush and get good, even coverage in most areas, which saved me time and gave me better results.
Step-by-Step Kitchen Cabinet Painting Process
Here is my step-by-step process for painting my cabinets. Super-tedious but well worth it.
Preparation
Determine how much paint you’ll need. One gallon of paint covers 350 to 400 square feet with one coat of paint, and most paints need at least two coats to cover. I calculated the number of square feet using the height and width of the walls on which the cabinets were hung. The higher the contrast between the original cabinet color and desired color, the more coats you’ll need. If you decide to paint the backs of your cabinet doors (I did), it will increase the amount of paint you need by ~30%. When calculating how much paint you’ll need, don’t forget that you’ll also need to paint the cabinet boxes and the exposed sides at the end of a cabinet run.
Degrease your cabinets. I used Krud Kutter spray and old towels, using each towel once to avoid redepositing any grease.
Add decorative trim (optional). Before you paint, consider whether you want to add trim to cabinets and/or drawer and door fronts. For example, I decided to add crown molding to the top of my cabinets so they looked more finished. I measured the cabinets and purchased the crown molding as part of my prep.
Set up your project area. In my condo I didn’t have the luxury of a basement, so I moved everything off the countertops, removed all non-essential furniture from the kitchen, and covered the remaining furniture, countertops, and floors with old sheets to catch any paint drips. My dining room table and a 6-foot utility table became my main work areas.
Remove Cabinet Doors, Drawers, and Hardware
Label, then remove cabinets doors and hardware. Do not skip this step—future you will hate you if you do.
Sketch your kitchen cabinets and number every door and drawer. Guard this map with your life.
Write each number on a piece of painter’s tape and affix to the corresponding door or drawer. Write that number on another piece of painter’s tape and affix that to the door/drawer opening.
Remove the cabinet doors and drawers from the cabinet boxes.
One door at a time, remove the handle/pull and hinges and place them in a bag. Number that bag with the same number as the cabinet door.
If your drawers all use the same size handle/pull, you can put them into one bag.
Put the hardware in a safe place.
Cut and attach door/drawer trim if that’s in your plan.
Paint
Position the doors and drawers for painting. I laid out each door right side up on a table and used saucers, jar lids, and coasters to raise the doors off the table surface to avoid smudging the paint. The drawer fronts didn’t need this extra step because I could set them down on the drawer backs after painting them.
Paint (finally). I painted all the door fronts first, letting each dry for three hours, then flipped them over, setting them down on the saucers, etc., and painted the back before letting them dry overnight. When I painted the door backs, I removed the painter’s tape with the door’s location number and placed the tape directly under the door. After letting the paint dry for 3+ hours, I lightly reapplied the tape to the door backs.
After a week, I was making great progress. I had completed five full coats of paint and reckoned that I had two or three more to go.
I could see that my painted cabinets would make a huge difference in my kitchen. All the detail and the tedium was going to pay off.
And then the Great Ice Storm of February 2021 hit and upended my timeline, along with everything and everyone in the Portland area.
This is exactly what I used to paint my kitchen cabinets:
Prep Supplies
Krud Kutter Original Cleaner Degreaser
Microfiber Cleaning Cloths
Painting + Tools
DecoArt Satin Enamel Paint – Pure White
3” Roller Frame with tray
1” Slant Tip Paint Brush
Setup + Protection
Painter’s Tape Multi-Pack
Folding Utility Table —so handy you’ll wonder how you lived without one
Optional Upgrades
Cabinet Hardware —I like quality of Franklin Brass hardware, and their Amazon page shows a wide range of finishes and styles.
Still contemplating whether to paint your kitchen cabinets yourself?
Download the free Kitchen Cabinet Painting Checklist for a realistic step-by-step guide, supply list, labeling system, timeline expectations, and several warnings designed to prevent tears, regret, and mysterious leftover door handles.
Up Next
After an ice and snow delay, I finish painting my kitchen cabinets.
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