Hand painting oak wooden kitchen cabinets is a cost effective way to give an aesthetically pleasing look to your classic kitchen. This particular kitchen was approximately 8 years old and constructed from French oak. It was structurally sound and very sturdy but as usual with oak kitchens of this description, the orangey brown tinge had taken over and it was starting to look a little dated.
Here’s the brief:
The Client was putting the house on the market in the summer of 2013 and was looking to find out effective solutions to refurb key areas in her home, the kitchen being a main focal point was high on the list. The client pointed out that the existing Corian work surfaces were all in great condition, so no need to replace those, as was the flooring, this also applied to the high quality integrated appliances, in fact the whole house was in immaculate condition but it was the dreary look of the oak kitchen, that the client feared would possibly put off potential buyers! A new ‘Modern’ kitchen could mean spending 25K and the only thing making this kitchen look dated was the colour. A price to hand paint was agreed, which worked out at only 10% of what a new kitchen would cost! Dates agreed; I normally work on a 12 to 14 week lead time and the client was happy with that:
Let the work commence!
The Client had chosen ‘Strong White’ a colour from the Farrow & Ball colour palette, she had also decided to have new knobs fitted to compliment her new look kitchen; I also had to remove the large barrel type hinges which ran down the back edge of all doors and re-fit with some smaller on-frame hinges. Lots of filling and prep work to be done on this job! I would fill all the existing holes in the doors and draws and then template and re-drill for the new ones. Due to the extensive filling carried out, I have ended up breaking through the original lacquered finish, so to avoid any tanning (bleed through) from the oak, when I apply my water based top coats, I applied a shellac based primer called Pegaprim Isofix. Available from Holman Specialist Paints, it is the ideal primer for this type of substrate. With 2 coats of Isofix and 3 top coats, new knobs added and new on frame hinges, this kitchen has lost that brown aged look and is now bright, modern looking and deceivingly spacious.
The paint finish I use is not a bullet proof armoured coating but it is highly durable and easy to maintain, it can withstand the daily hustle of a busy family and is child and pet proof to a certain degree. I do recommend removing such children and pets during the painting process though as I cant guarantee they wont get painted and I do charge extra for this!
It can be organised chaos on some kitchen re-paints, especially when your limited for space, as with this one! My new drying rack system got some use and proved well worth 11 quid from Tesco, although this cheap quick fix rack helped me out for space for stacking doors and draws I was limited to weight and size of doors I could load on to it, so I’ve decided to invest in one of the new racking systems called Erecta Rack available from mypaintbrushes. I will let you know how I get on.
A hand painted kitchen like this can take 1 man anywhere up to two weeks to complete; meticulous preparation and degreasing is a general necessity. However, the sink, oven and microwave can still be used with care as well as the hob, providing no big fry-ups are made during the process.
This proved to be another happy client who seemed highly delighted with her new kitchen and was even debating if she should put the house on the market now, she was joking of course!
If you own an existing wooden kitchen and would like to discuss the options available to you for up dating, please do not hesitate to Contact me for a open, no obligation discussion to your requirements.
