Our Kitchen Makeover: From Oak Overload to Sleek and Modern

When we first moved in, redoing the kitchen wasn’t exactly at the top of our list. After spending a ton on the down payment, flooring, paint, the new stair railing, and a few bathroom updates, the kitchen reno was something we planned to tackle later. But as many homeowners know, sometimes “later” comes sooner than expected.

We started doing some research and stumbled upon a bunch of DIY ideas for painting oak cabinets. After checking out some options, we decided to brighten up the space with a clean, crisp white from Sherwin Williams (I’ll need to double-check the color name!). First things first: sanding. I grabbed my trusty DeWalt orbital sander and went to work removing that shiny oak finish. This was a huge job. With nearly 30 cabinet doors and drawers, it was a marathon of sanding, filling the grain with putty, and sanding again. And again. And again. I lost count of how many hours I spent refining those surfaces, but let’s just say it was a lot.

Once the prep work was done, it was time to prime and paint. I opted for a smooth foam roller—there was no way I was going to spray in the garage and deal with that mess. It took two coats of primer and three coats of paint, but by the end, the kitchen was transformed!

The cabinets looked brand new, and thankfully, all those hours of sanding and multiple coats of paint have helped them hold up surprisingly well over the years. I was so happy with the results that I did the same process for our art cabinet downstairs, the wet bar, and even the linen closet upstairs, all of which had those same oak doors.