kitchen cabinet makeover for $170

I'm so excited to finally reveal our "new" kitchen, that cost us less than $200 to makeover!

Here's the "before" shot of our stock oak cabinets. Nothing was wrong with them, I just wasn't in love with the orange-y color and cheap appearance.

...and the "after"!

First, we counted the cabinets and made little tape labels. "U"s for "upper", "B"s for "below", and "I"s for "island". Then we taped them on so when we unhinged them we would know which went where.

Here's what we used. I really utilized my dad's knowledge of this stuff while he was here {visiting from Michigan}.  I didn't think to keep the receipt for the prices, but this stuff was so cheap...

Light sandpaper- to smooth any rough edges and also helps adhere paint to wood.

Mineral spirits- to wipe over sanded wood to get it clean and dust free.

Rags- for mineral spirits. You could use any ol' rag though

4" foam rollers and rolling pin- the foam rollers keep paint really smooth & even.

One gallon of Behr paint & primer in one in Sweet Molasses. Two quarts probably would've been enough, but now we have enough for the bathroom cabinets too :)
-Not sure what the Floetrol was for but we didn't end up using it-

Start by lightly sanding the doors you took off. Thank goodness my dad helped with this! It was a blazing 105 that day in Phoenix!

Next up: Mineral Spirits. We worked out in our garage, but I guess you could do this project inside- the mineral spirits don't have a strong scent.

Next is painting. We chose Sweet Molasses by BEHR. If you don't use the Behr paint/primer in one , you'll want to put a primer on before you paint to help it adhere. But getting the paint/primer in one seriously saves time.

While the cabinets and drawers were drying, we painted the shell of the cabinets. We did the inside lip of the cabinet drawers but not the drawers {as pictured} because once the drawer was on the track you wont see that anyway.

We chose this super sleek, modern hardware from Home Depot.
Last step is adding little rubber bumpers to the inside of the doors so they don't slam.

Voila!

It seriously looks like brand new cabinets... you can even see the wood grain through the paint.

The day we finished I was watching HGTV and this couple had brand new cabinets installed that were the exact same color and hardware, and it cost them $2000! {Didn't they know you can paint wood?!} All this cost us was a gallon of paint, hardware and minor supplies! Total: $170.

{there's that orchid again...always making a cameo!}

We have a really open floor plan where the kitchen looks out into the living room through a half wall. All our furniture is espresso, so now our kitchen is finally cohesive with the rest of the room.

I decided to take the stuff down from atop the cabinets to give it a more minimalistic, clean look.

And there you have it! Before you spend big bucks installing new cabinets, first try to DIY. Painting them is easy, cheap and makes a BIG impact. I've seen black, white, even turquoise- look amazing! Next up for us- new floors and a back splash.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I can't stop staring at my "new" kitchen :p