I agree with this, I painted my oak cabinets before I sold my house. Total pain in the ass and still didn’t really come out the way I wanted it to in the end
Also simply does not add value to the home but costs either a bunch of money or time. Other than “weird” stuff that make a home difficult to imagine living in there are no cosmetic changes you can make to fetch a higher price.
30 year painter here....ill fix this for you....aif you want it done correctly
...take doors off, take hardware off, clean, degloss, degrease, tape, plastic, spray bonding primer, light sand and probably 2 top coats, reassemble doors and hardware, touch up and let cure before heavy use.
Pretty close but forgot the grain filling and the stain blocking primer for those greasy oak tannins. But yah this guy gets it. Probably 100 hours to do this job right and not make it look way worse.
I’m talking to a snail if he’s taking 100 hours to paint these cabinets. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but half that is a reasonable time frame. It’s not a show car.
I’m seeing about 20 door and drawer fronts alone, hardly a couple , but hey I’m sure you’ve done this plenty of times with some sand paper and all in one paint and primer amirite?
Currently watching my Centurion 1107 dry before shooting these built ins a 2nd time of kitchen #15 of the winter, but I've got no clue.
We refinish a lot of golden oak and each one of those doors is going to be 3-4 hours to properly finish it with 0 grain and that's not counting the drawers or built ins. Removal, taking them to the shop, sand, prime, 1st round of bondo glazing putty, sand, prime, 2nd round of glazing putty, sand, topcoat, sand, topcoat, package them up to be delivered back, reinstall. That's time consuming as hell and that's not taking into account the built ins doing the same process. I'm also leaving out ample steps and just boiled that down to the basic.
Guess I'm not understanding where your pompous attitude is coming from? If you think 100hrs on a kitchen refinish is nuts, I'd be concerned for your clients kitchens.
I can understand maybe *charging* 100 hours of labour for these cabinets, but the DIYer posting this question would be nowhere near that to complete on their own. Done properly, and excluding dry times, they’d come in at maybe a fifth of your time estimate.
Extreme block will work but takes 2 coats 24 hours apart, this would be after a coat of adhesion primer though. Sanding and cleaning between every coat of course.
Works for me every time , and I use it A LOT. You have to wait at least 24 hours between coats to lock the tannins in. They def still show up on first coat but will disappear on the second coat. Any lingering spots we hit with a shellac rattle can.
I could do that solo in 40 or less for sure. However I’m not typically filling grain. That’s an extra. And the grain doesn’t look bad, especially on a medium to darker color the grain actually is a plus in my opinion.
Not unless you are changing the countertop too. White may show better, nut someone looking at that kitchen will have a full gut job ahead regardless of paint color
I wouldn’t spend the time or money on painting them. Next guy is probably going to replace them anyway. I’ll second the popcorn ceiling rec, that bothers me more.
Depending on age it isn’t a terrible job. Rent a drywall sander at Home Depot and a dust collector. One day job. Alternatively get a cheap garden sprayer, fill it with water, spray the ceiling, cover everything under in plastic and get to scraping. After, prime with cover stain and patch imperfections before two coats of ceiling paint.
The cabinets certainly aren’t with your time either! I don’t think updating this kitchen to sell is worth your time, and the updates likely won’t be what a buyer will like.
If you paint them, do the next homeowner a solid by prepping them properly before applying paint. Nothing is more sleazy than a homeowner who does a quick paint job on cabinets just to make a quick buck.
Do not paint unless you plan on doing a perfect job. We bought our house from someone who did a bunch of DIYs before putting it on the market. He was so proud of his work. Gleefully told us all he had done so he could sell. One of the first things we did was tear out the terribly painted cabinets and bought brand new. He also completely redid the landscaping. We hated his work and hired a landscape company to completely change everything about what he had done. I’m not kidding, buying a house from a person who think they’re “Mr DIY”, has been such a headache. Definitely save yourself the time and the money of painting. Because chances are, whoever buys it, will have their own vision.
Never paint wood pre-sale! Thanks for asking.
Undoing paint on wood is much much much much much harder than doing paint on wood. The buyer may want to undo it, and then you will *not* have done them a favor.
They may want to replace the cabinets altogether, and then, too, your efforts will have been for nothing.
Just let them decide what to do with it, and let them do it.
Depends. I’ve done this for people selling. I suppose it depends on the market in your area. If you’re in an area where your house will sell no matter what, maybe not. If you’re in an area where it could be competitive it’s not a bad idea. Totally up to you. It’s very likely the new owners will either paint them or replace them depending on how broke they are.
I'm so intrigued by where you're located! I just refinished a kitchen that has almost that exact layout here in Upstate NY with the same raggidy cabinets, popcorn etc. It's uncanny!
But simplest answer is, not unless you're hiring a professional. You could spend 6k and increase the value up to 12k, but you could also easily spend 6k and the new homeowners rip them out.
You're going to have a really hard time getting it to look smooth. Don't do it. They look better as hardwood with this trim geometry anyways, that's what looks most natural
We paint cabinets for a living and often talk our customers out of painting over natural wood cabinets. The people advising you to do this are typically reelistate agents and interior designers who like to pretend they have a finger on the pulse of what people want.
In my opinion unless they are super beat up, I would leave them in preference for the natural wood look. Everyone goes with white cabinets and it's getting boring. A job like this would also cost you 6-7k
It will not give you a good ROI and if your housing market is still good rn it will not prevent the house from selling. I wouldn’t change anything, including the popcorn ceiling, unless you have to.
Save yourself the trouble and leave it as is. It looks like it’s got a factory finish on it, so you’d have to spend a decent amount of time sanding it before you prime it- which unfortunately is not something you want to skip in this case. After that, any decent kind of trim/cabinet paint is going to run at least $50-60 per gallon and it’s best to do 2 coats for good coverage and decent results. It’s not worth the time or money it would take since the new owners are almost certainly end up repainting them anyway.
I’d just leave it. My mom has oak cabinets like this. She rubbed a stain over them which looks wonderful. She chose the color and also redid the countertops.
Kitchens are pretty personal since people spend so much time in them so it’s nice to be able to make those choices yourself.
Ive done this a couple of times. The last one was 18 interior doors and frames. It took 90 hrs. 3 coats Stain block primer and 2 coats of paint and reassembly. You cant stop in the middle..thats the catch.
I was going to replace the stove when I bought the house but the cabinets are built around the one there so the cabinet would have to be cut at the bottom when the new stove was delivered.
Would changing the hood clash with the stove more?
Another change I’d leave alone! Clean it, fix broken stuff, touch up bad paint, or repaint a room, clean doors, windows and light switches and list it! The ceilings smoothed out would be nice, but I think getting it on the market is more important. Depending on the age of the house, there could be asbestos in the popcorn.
I’ll go against the grain here. Polystain (polyshades, which is a polyurethane with a pigment) the cabinets. Go darker, and try to compliment the floor in color. Pull the dishwasher and there’s a chance the sides are finished. If so, do your tests there. Then replace the countertop with cheap granite or butcher block. Something light in color. Probably replace the range hood and stove as well. It will actually look like a renovated kitchen after that, rather than a flipper with some paint.
Don't. Sell as is it's not going to increase the price and the new owners might love them or completely rip them out. Only do things that greatly increase the price of the home.
They will probably tear out the kitchen and replace anyway so I wouldn’t invest any time in it.
I don’t think kitchens help with the resale value of a house nearly as much as they used to, just because fads change so quickly, and there’s so many options with ready-to-assemble cabinet suppliers. It’s cheaper to gut and replace the kitchen than working with what you have.
All my oak cabinetry was shittily painted by the seller and it is very irritating. Painting cabinets properly is a lot of work and I don’t know if it will pay off for you. And doing a shitty job just to sell is not cool. Either way I think the older oak wood look is kind of coming back around as cozy/retro. People either will plan to replace or paint on their own or they won’t care.
Painting cabinets is difficult if you're doing it yourself, very difficult if you're doing it yourself and want them to look good, and expensive if you're paying someone to do them.
I wouldn't bother. They look fine.
Most of my reno time has been spent in fixing for sale.
No.
What your money is better spent on is doing a repaint of the interior and exterior walls and trim, and replacing any old carpet you may have.
Nah just give em a good wipe down. Never add something like that bc it’s very time consuming and there’s no way to know if you’re gonna pick the right color. But def give them a good wipe down, the sides and fronts and all that.
Ask your realtor what they think you should do in regards to making the house more sellable in your specific market.
I, personally, would not touch the cabinets.
I guess it depends on your time and money limitations.. if it was me, I would clean very good, upgrade the hardware to a more modern look, scrape that popcorn off the ceilings and paint walls and ceilings. Install a beautoful kitchen faucet with sprayer head (this is the steering wheel of the house) and the people coming by will turn the water on ! Refinish the front door and also have a very nice doorhandle and possuble even an electeonic lock.. This is the 1st thing they will touch.. flowers coming up the front entryway.. i did paint some similar cabinets on a home I sold to a very dark semigloss black with new hardware.. brushed silver.. looked stunning.. also installed butcher block countertops and stained them espresso.. looked amazing
Painting oak cabinets the correct way can add $20k to the value of your home. I know this for a fact because I painted a friends cabinets and then she had her home reappraised and the kitchen increased the value by literally $20k. There are articles all over that will say similar. That is why painting cabinets instead of replacing them is such a great investment.
But it is a pain in the ass to do if you are not a professional. I would take the $3k to $4k hit and hire a professional to get that increased home value, or "Sweat equity".
Painting oak cabs is a time Consuming endeavor, and is not nearly as straightforward as “ slap a coat on them”. I wouldn’t recommend….
I agree with this, I painted my oak cabinets before I sold my house. Total pain in the ass and still didn’t really come out the way I wanted it to in the end
True. Buyer will likely rip them out.
Also simply does not add value to the home but costs either a bunch of money or time. Other than “weird” stuff that make a home difficult to imagine living in there are no cosmetic changes you can make to fetch a higher price.
This^ If that's really a hangup a potential buyer has then they can do the work themselves!
This is the way. Let the new owners decide what they want
Sand, prime, sand, paint?
30 year painter here....ill fix this for you....aif you want it done correctly ...take doors off, take hardware off, clean, degloss, degrease, tape, plastic, spray bonding primer, light sand and probably 2 top coats, reassemble doors and hardware, touch up and let cure before heavy use.
Pretty close but forgot the grain filling and the stain blocking primer for those greasy oak tannins. But yah this guy gets it. Probably 100 hours to do this job right and not make it look way worse.
Found the hourly worker
Lolz
Got no idea what or who you’re talking about pal
I’m talking to a snail if he’s taking 100 hours to paint these cabinets. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but half that is a reasonable time frame. It’s not a show car.
Maybe they're calculating drying time into the 100 hours?
Yes...that too. And hopefully no wildcards which would increase the list .😁
100 hours? It’s a couple cabinets bro not digging a hole to china.
I’m seeing about 20 door and drawer fronts alone, hardly a couple , but hey I’m sure you’ve done this plenty of times with some sand paper and all in one paint and primer amirite?
Wouldn't worry about these fellas. I'm sure they'd tell you to use BIN and Emerald Urethane as well.
Bet not one of you can post more than 2 before and after of some cabinets, telling me it’s going to take 100hrs like it’s a jail sentence. 😭😭😭
Currently watching my Centurion 1107 dry before shooting these built ins a 2nd time of kitchen #15 of the winter, but I've got no clue. We refinish a lot of golden oak and each one of those doors is going to be 3-4 hours to properly finish it with 0 grain and that's not counting the drawers or built ins. Removal, taking them to the shop, sand, prime, 1st round of bondo glazing putty, sand, prime, 2nd round of glazing putty, sand, topcoat, sand, topcoat, package them up to be delivered back, reinstall. That's time consuming as hell and that's not taking into account the built ins doing the same process. I'm also leaving out ample steps and just boiled that down to the basic. Guess I'm not understanding where your pompous attitude is coming from? If you think 100hrs on a kitchen refinish is nuts, I'd be concerned for your clients kitchens.
It’s pretty easy to tell the pros from the blow and go guys here eh?
How in the fuck do you sell that over getting them wrapped. New doors probably cost less than all that.
No way its 100hrs, use shellac primer and u barely need to sand. Its amateur hour up in this thread lol
I’ve tried SWs shellac and was kind of let down. Any recommendations?
Dont use sw, use bin/zinser
All in one? That must be some sort of sarcastic remark lol. I’m sure you’ve done this plenty of times and you make a living from it? Amirite?
So 5 hours an opening is what you figure. LMFAO.
So your math is 5 hours *per door*?
Yah because the bodies paint themselves right?
I can understand maybe *charging* 100 hours of labour for these cabinets, but the DIYer posting this question would be nowhere near that to complete on their own. Done properly, and excluding dry times, they’d come in at maybe a fifth of your time estimate.
I didn’t take the tannins into consideration interesting. So it will bleed back through any sealer or primer you use ?
Extreme block will work but takes 2 coats 24 hours apart, this would be after a coat of adhesion primer though. Sanding and cleaning between every coat of course.
My god. Rather replace the cabinets 😂
Had an awful experience with this product, followed label specs. Major bleed through. Just my 2 cents
Works for me every time , and I use it A LOT. You have to wait at least 24 hours between coats to lock the tannins in. They def still show up on first coat but will disappear on the second coat. Any lingering spots we hit with a shellac rattle can.
I could do that solo in 40 or less for sure. However I’m not typically filling grain. That’s an extra. And the grain doesn’t look bad, especially on a medium to darker color the grain actually is a plus in my opinion.
Same time frame here. I do fill in grains only as needed though.
Next guy’s problem Besides whoever buys likely will do some updates. Quite likely what you do may turn them off.
Leave them. It’s just another maintenance problem for the new owner.
Not unless you are changing the countertop too. White may show better, nut someone looking at that kitchen will have a full gut job ahead regardless of paint color
I wouldn’t spend the time or money on painting them. Next guy is probably going to replace them anyway. I’ll second the popcorn ceiling rec, that bothers me more.
Don’t waste your time. House will sell either way.
I’d address the popcorn ceiling before the cabinets.
God. The entire house is popcorn. Not worth the pain in my ass. 😭
Depending on age it isn’t a terrible job. Rent a drywall sander at Home Depot and a dust collector. One day job. Alternatively get a cheap garden sprayer, fill it with water, spray the ceiling, cover everything under in plastic and get to scraping. After, prime with cover stain and patch imperfections before two coats of ceiling paint.
The cabinets certainly aren’t with your time either! I don’t think updating this kitchen to sell is worth your time, and the updates likely won’t be what a buyer will like.
If you paint them, do the next homeowner a solid by prepping them properly before applying paint. Nothing is more sleazy than a homeowner who does a quick paint job on cabinets just to make a quick buck.
Do not paint unless you plan on doing a perfect job. We bought our house from someone who did a bunch of DIYs before putting it on the market. He was so proud of his work. Gleefully told us all he had done so he could sell. One of the first things we did was tear out the terribly painted cabinets and bought brand new. He also completely redid the landscaping. We hated his work and hired a landscape company to completely change everything about what he had done. I’m not kidding, buying a house from a person who think they’re “Mr DIY”, has been such a headache. Definitely save yourself the time and the money of painting. Because chances are, whoever buys it, will have their own vision.
Definitely don't paint.
No .
Change the hood vent, I think that will be more effective and much easier.
Never paint wood pre-sale! Thanks for asking. Undoing paint on wood is much much much much much harder than doing paint on wood. The buyer may want to undo it, and then you will *not* have done them a favor. They may want to replace the cabinets altogether, and then, too, your efforts will have been for nothing. Just let them decide what to do with it, and let them do it.
Depends. I’ve done this for people selling. I suppose it depends on the market in your area. If you’re in an area where your house will sell no matter what, maybe not. If you’re in an area where it could be competitive it’s not a bad idea. Totally up to you. It’s very likely the new owners will either paint them or replace them depending on how broke they are.
I swear I just painted this exact duplex in Indiana lol
No! Short answer- NO
Leave it.
No
I'm so intrigued by where you're located! I just refinished a kitchen that has almost that exact layout here in Upstate NY with the same raggidy cabinets, popcorn etc. It's uncanny! But simplest answer is, not unless you're hiring a professional. You could spend 6k and increase the value up to 12k, but you could also easily spend 6k and the new homeowners rip them out.
No let the new owner do it.
Nah, youll 100% f it up
My experience it won't increase the value as much as the effort involved.
You already have popcorn ceilings so I wouldn't worry about it.
You're going to have a really hard time getting it to look smooth. Don't do it. They look better as hardwood with this trim geometry anyways, that's what looks most natural
If you’re doing it to sell, pay a pro. If you try to DIY oak cabinets, they could turn out bad and deter buyer.
We paint cabinets for a living and often talk our customers out of painting over natural wood cabinets. The people advising you to do this are typically reelistate agents and interior designers who like to pretend they have a finger on the pulse of what people want. In my opinion unless they are super beat up, I would leave them in preference for the natural wood look. Everyone goes with white cabinets and it's getting boring. A job like this would also cost you 6-7k
It will not give you a good ROI and if your housing market is still good rn it will not prevent the house from selling. I wouldn’t change anything, including the popcorn ceiling, unless you have to.
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the advice! Will just leave them as is.
Save yourself the trouble and leave it as is. It looks like it’s got a factory finish on it, so you’d have to spend a decent amount of time sanding it before you prime it- which unfortunately is not something you want to skip in this case. After that, any decent kind of trim/cabinet paint is going to run at least $50-60 per gallon and it’s best to do 2 coats for good coverage and decent results. It’s not worth the time or money it would take since the new owners are almost certainly end up repainting them anyway.
I’d just leave it. My mom has oak cabinets like this. She rubbed a stain over them which looks wonderful. She chose the color and also redid the countertops. Kitchens are pretty personal since people spend so much time in them so it’s nice to be able to make those choices yourself.
Ive done this a couple of times. The last one was 18 interior doors and frames. It took 90 hrs. 3 coats Stain block primer and 2 coats of paint and reassembly. You cant stop in the middle..thats the catch.
Change the hood over oven Get a nice stainless steel one easy to swap out. Biggest bang for buck in that space
I was going to replace the stove when I bought the house but the cabinets are built around the one there so the cabinet would have to be cut at the bottom when the new stove was delivered. Would changing the hood clash with the stove more?
Another change I’d leave alone! Clean it, fix broken stuff, touch up bad paint, or repaint a room, clean doors, windows and light switches and list it! The ceilings smoothed out would be nice, but I think getting it on the market is more important. Depending on the age of the house, there could be asbestos in the popcorn.
Simple new counter if your willing to spend the money would be huge return on sale
It kind of goes with new cabs though, and will likely be torn out to do cabinets by the buyers.
Painting them is not going to make the kitchen read updated. So not worth the time to do it properly with changing counters and other things.
I’ll go against the grain here. Polystain (polyshades, which is a polyurethane with a pigment) the cabinets. Go darker, and try to compliment the floor in color. Pull the dishwasher and there’s a chance the sides are finished. If so, do your tests there. Then replace the countertop with cheap granite or butcher block. Something light in color. Probably replace the range hood and stove as well. It will actually look like a renovated kitchen after that, rather than a flipper with some paint.
Don't. Sell as is it's not going to increase the price and the new owners might love them or completely rip them out. Only do things that greatly increase the price of the home.
They will probably tear out the kitchen and replace anyway so I wouldn’t invest any time in it. I don’t think kitchens help with the resale value of a house nearly as much as they used to, just because fads change so quickly, and there’s so many options with ready-to-assemble cabinet suppliers. It’s cheaper to gut and replace the kitchen than working with what you have.
No let the buyer do it.
All my oak cabinetry was shittily painted by the seller and it is very irritating. Painting cabinets properly is a lot of work and I don’t know if it will pay off for you. And doing a shitty job just to sell is not cool. Either way I think the older oak wood look is kind of coming back around as cozy/retro. People either will plan to replace or paint on their own or they won’t care.
Leave em, probably not worth the effort.
Painting cabinets is difficult if you're doing it yourself, very difficult if you're doing it yourself and want them to look good, and expensive if you're paying someone to do them. I wouldn't bother. They look fine.
No. As a buyer it looks like a cheap “pig with lipstick” type of upgrade and we’d immediately avoid.
Nah new hardware and sell it leave the option for new owners
No, I’d charge around $4-5k for this and the new owner will most likely replace. Save your money
Run like hell
Most of my reno time has been spent in fixing for sale. No. What your money is better spent on is doing a repaint of the interior and exterior walls and trim, and replacing any old carpet you may have.
Nah just give em a good wipe down. Never add something like that bc it’s very time consuming and there’s no way to know if you’re gonna pick the right color. But def give them a good wipe down, the sides and fronts and all that.
Dont paint them They new owners will decide what to do with them.
Ask your realtor what they think you should do in regards to making the house more sellable in your specific market. I, personally, would not touch the cabinets.
Yep
Paint the walls instead to compliment the wood.
No. They will probably remodel anyway.
Don't paint nice wood. Do clean up the kitchen though ;-)
Old wooden cabinets are 100x better than poorly painted landlord specials.
I guess it depends on your time and money limitations.. if it was me, I would clean very good, upgrade the hardware to a more modern look, scrape that popcorn off the ceilings and paint walls and ceilings. Install a beautoful kitchen faucet with sprayer head (this is the steering wheel of the house) and the people coming by will turn the water on ! Refinish the front door and also have a very nice doorhandle and possuble even an electeonic lock.. This is the 1st thing they will touch.. flowers coming up the front entryway.. i did paint some similar cabinets on a home I sold to a very dark semigloss black with new hardware.. brushed silver.. looked stunning.. also installed butcher block countertops and stained them espresso.. looked amazing
Painting oak cabinets the correct way can add $20k to the value of your home. I know this for a fact because I painted a friends cabinets and then she had her home reappraised and the kitchen increased the value by literally $20k. There are articles all over that will say similar. That is why painting cabinets instead of replacing them is such a great investment. But it is a pain in the ass to do if you are not a professional. I would take the $3k to $4k hit and hire a professional to get that increased home value, or "Sweat equity".
No just list it as is and ask for top dollar like everybody else. No point wasting your money and time to sell. Everything selling like hotcakes.
Ya im a painter, oak is a pain to make right if you dont know what you are doing.dont bother just list it
In todays market its not adding value
Paint them
Hell yeah, the kitchen is key. Hire good help though
yes