How I Painted My Kitchen Cabinets

I have been dreaming of a white kitchen and I finally did it!  My dad and my husband tried to warn me that it was a BIG project but I didn't realize until I was a week into it how hard it was!  It took me over a month to finish and a lot of tears but I did it and I am really proud of myself. 

Here's what my kitchen looked like before...

First, I started taking off all the cabinet doors and drawers.  I labeled every door and cabinet with a piece of tape with a letter on it.  I also put the hardware in a ziplock bag and put that same letter on it so I knew which pieces went where. 

After I had all the doors and drawers off and labeled, I sanded everything with a sanding block sponge.  Then I painted on some primer.  When the primer was dry I did three coats of Behr Ultra White paint.  

After everything was painted and perfect, I put on polyurethane to add a clear protective coat.  I did a layer to the cabinet frames and a couple of days later I noticed that my bright white paint was turning yellow!  My HUGE mistake was that I used oil based polyurethane instead of water based.  I bawled my eyes out and tried to sand off the yellow from the cabinets.  I ended up having to start over in some spots.  Thankfully I had only used the polyurethane on the frame and not the doors and

 drawers.  I finally got off all the polyurethane and fixed up my paint.  The whole family was happy when we could finally put our kitchen back together.

I will say that this project is not for the faint hearted.  It took a long time to paint, wait for it to dry, sand off drips and mistakes, and paint again.  I loved listening to my Pandora station when I painted during naps and bedtimes. 

Though it was hard and it tested my sanity, I would totally do it again because I love my new kitchen! It's so much brighter! If you're considering it I would say go for it!  But remember it is a HUGE project and will take some time.  I watched Lowe's "How to Paint Your Cabinets" video on YouTube to get started.  Make sure you get a roller brush and a nice brush bristle brush.  It's pretty amazing what paint can do! Yay for my new kitchen!