A pinch of this... a dash of that...kitchen cabinet transformation!

Finally, my kitchen cabinet transformation is over! It only took me three weeks!  I was very busy at the same time and had a very limited work space. First, let me tell you, I rent my apartment, therefore I do not want to invest a ton of money into fixing it up. However, I have made a few inexpensive changes. When I moved in, back on '06, my kitchen counters and back splash were a burnt orange formica, hideous! I asked my landlord if I could remove the formica and put in tile. Of course he said, "yes".  And lucky for me I was able to get my friend's father to do the labor for free. I found some discounted tile at Home Depot and whole project cost about $100.

kitchen before

kitchen before

new kitchen counters and cabinets before

Here you can see the new tile counters and back splash. The change in tile helped brighten up the space, but recently I've wanted to brighten it up even more.

kitchen cabinets before

This year I decided my kitchen could use a face lift, that's when I found the Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformation kit. My landlord was nice enough to pay for the kit and let me pick the color. I chose Quilter's White because it is more of a cream than a stark white.

The transformation process does take a long time, therefore, if you can get some extra help I suggest you do because it will speed things up. Also, the instructional CD says to apply two coats of paint and one coat of the protective top coat. However, I applied three coats of paint and two coats of the protective top coat. After applying the two coats of paint I noticed it left streaks and the dark color of the wood still showed through, so I decided to apply a third coat and am very happy with it. Also for the protective top coat one coat did not protect the surface enough so I applied an additional one.

kitchen cabinets after

knobs I chose

cabinets after

cabinets after

Since I chose such a light color I decided to add hardware to the cabinets. The new knobs will help keep the doors and drawers clean. I suggest if you are choosing to add knobs I would drill the holes before painting. Since the paint was so thick some areas cracked when I started drilling. My next door neighbor was visiting when I was drilling and suggested I use her electric drill instead of my battery powered one. The power of the electric drill helped tremendously and I didn't get anymore cracks! The power in that thing is amazing, but it is extremely loud!

Over all I am very pleased with the outcome and would suggest the cabinet kit to anymore looking to change things up a bit without spending a great deal of money.

Happy Cooking!