Steps for Painting Kitchen Cabinets (Without Sanding)
Buy a cabinet painting kit and get the paint tinted to your preference. Good commercial kits contain a de-glosser to remove any older coats of paint on existing cabinetry. The de-glosser eliminates the need to sand or prime surfaces that are already finished.
Wood cabinets are back in a big way in 2023, continuing the trend we've been seeing over the past couple of years. These aren't your honey oak cabinets from the 1980's…
After cleaning, you may notice that your oak cabinets have lost some of their original color or finish. To restore the natural beauty of your oak cabinets, you can re-oil or re-stain them. If you choose to re-oil, use a natural oil such as tung oil or linseed oil.
Nowadays oak cabinets are making a comeback in the kitchen. In some cases, homeowners are refacing their old honey oak cabinets to give them fresh new life. They're replacing dated cabinet doors with new Shaker style cabinet doors.
Pair Oak Cabinets with Light Tones
Use white or light-colored walls, flooring, and countertops to brighten a space. Shiny surfaces, including glass tile and stainless-steel appliances, can also reflect light and give the room a visual lift.
With a modern design, you want to keep it simple and pair oak cabinets with basic white or dark countertops. Another option is to install waterfall countertops. It's the best way to feature oak cabinets with modern finesse and create a great focal point.
So yellow toned beiges, orange toned beiges and grays with a warm, creamy beige undertone will work well. Avoid the green toned beiges as they start to look flat against the warmth of the cabinets. If you surround the warm oak with another warm color, it's going to blend in and look purposeful.
If you look at a color wheel (google it)… the color on the opposite side is the “neutralizer”. So by painting the walls with a gray that had a purple undertone, it reflects onto the cabinets neutralizing the orange on them. Try it.
PREPARE YOUR CABINETS
You'll want to get two buckets that are large enough to swish a rag around in the water to shake it of excess dirt, and you'll also want a good natural wood cleaner. Murphy® Oil Soap gets deep into grime to break up dirt particles and it's safe to use on wood products like cabinets.
If you want to downplay the honey oak, stay away from colors on the opposite side of the color wheel - blues & greens (and grey too). They will make the honey oak "pop". As Debbi said, stick to warm tones of cream. I would paint the walls, replace the flooring, and update the pulls and ceiling fixture.
“Most contact paper goes up easily and comes off without any damage,” Birmingham says. “You can do a wall, a whole room, or just some cabinet fronts like I did in my kitchen.” If you've got older kitchen or bathroom cabinets that you want to refresh but don't want to paint them, this is a viable option.
Look to contrasting colors that are a bit cooler in tone. Shades of blue, green, grey, white, and greige (grey beige), are all options. By making the oak stand out in an intentional way, it feels fresh. Neutral colors are always a good choice when working with oak cabinets and trim.
One outdated trend that many of us are all too familiar with is golden oak. In the '80s and '90s, this honey-toned wood finish was all the rage, and people put it evvverywhere. Flooring, railings, doors, trim, baseboards, cabinets… you name it.
A staple in kitchens of the 1980s and '90s, these golden-toned wood cabinets have fallen out of favor as white and gray cabinets have risen in popularity. If you don't like your light-stained cabinets, but they're in good shape, consider refinishing or painting what's there.
You can use commercial cleaners, like Murphy's Oil Soap, to clean cabinets. You can also make your own cleaners from ingredients in your kitchen that are eco-friendly, effective and affordable. Vinegar is the go-to natural cleaner when faced greasy cabinets.
White remains the most popular kitchen cabinet color for this year, although clinical pure whites are being replaced with warmer and more natural tones. White is timeless and will create an airy and refreshing ambiance that will never date.
And while gray might be falling out of favor, white is still holding on strong—it's still the number one kitchen color with 35% of people choosing it from 2022 to 2023. Beige nabbed the third top spot with 18%, followed by blue with 6% and green with 5%.
A well-loved, class option, Shaker-style cabinets will remain a top kitchen design trend in 2023. Shaker-style cabinet doors are known for their recessed center panel and clean lines. These doors are so versatile they work with various design styles, from traditional to modern.