How To Remodel Your Kitchen Cabinets For Just Under $60!

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DIY Kitchen Remodeling Project For Just Under $60

Have I ever told you how much I despise honey wood oak?

Anyway, even though I am not a big foodie, I still consider my kitchen to be the gathering hub of my home.

That is where we spend most of our time together sharing meals and enjoying each other’s company.

So naturally, when I saw the spacious layout of our open concept kitchen in our 2nd home, I was beyond excited!

Except for the honey oak wood cabinets… Bleh! 🙁

Needless to say, that was the first thing on my to-do list to completely redo for my DIY kitchen remodeling project, especially after seeing how gorgeous those kitchens were from the Parade of Homes Tour of 2017.

What made this project even cooler was that I was able to complete it for just under $60, here’s how!

Supplies Needed:

• A couple pairs of latex or rubber gloves
• Eye goggles
• Face mask
• 1 Gallon of Valspar Cabinet Enamel in White $50 @ Lowe’s Home Improvement Store
• 1 box of TSP powder @ Lowe’s Home Improvement Store
• 4 tarps/painter’s drop cloth
• 2-3 medium grit sandpaper
• 2-3 fine sandpaper
• 1 Automatic Screwdriver
• 1 can of Rustoleum Metallic Paint in Pewter (for metals, used on knobs & pulls) $4
• 1 roll of paper towels
• 2-3 dustless cleaning rags
• 1 bucket of warm soapy water (a couple drops of Dawn dish detergent is fine)
• 1 bucket of warm clean water
• 1 utility brush
• 1 paint tray
• 1 trim brush
• 1 paint brush
• 1 bag of foam brushes
• 1 roll of plastic wrap of plastic shopping bags (to line & cover)
• A bunch of rubber bands (to provide a temporary seal while you take a quick break)
• 3 Decorative hanging air plants (on clearance after Christmas) $3 @ Lowe’s
• A couple packages of paint triangles
• Notebook/Grid Paper
• pencil/pen/sharpie
• Painter’s tape

Step 1: Wash It

• Before we do anything else, let’s take care of business first, that’s you!

• Prep by wearing the right clothes for getting down and dirty.

• Not something you’d be caught dead wearing at the hottest night club in town with your girlfriends dirty. But the messy hair don’t care kind of dirty cause you gotta get stuff done around the house no makeup dirty!

• You’ll need old clothes and shoes that are comfy and that you wouldn’t mind it looking even worse while you are working, eye goggles, latex gloves, and a face mask.

• Now, fill up a bucket ½ way with a couple drops of dawn liquid dish soap,TSP powder, and warm water and wash down your kitchen cabinets a few times using a soft bristle utility brush (the kind you’d wash a car with) until you get all of that oily gunky grime off.

• If you have some really caked on stains, maybe something more powerful like a paste of baking soda and vinegar to really scrub it in and scrape it off with a plastic scraper.

• You want to make sure that your cabinets are completely free of oily gunk.

• Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your efforts because the paint won’t stick to it.

Step 2: Dry It

• After a few washes, depending on how grimy you’re cabinets are, you’re going to let it dry for a couple of hours.

• During this time, you want to make a rough sketch of your cabinets with a pencil on a piece of notebook paper.

• Then number each drawer and cabinet door, uppers and lowers with painter’s tape stuck on the inside of each door and drawer using your pen and tape.

• I know this may sound like a drag, but trust me, it will save you so much time and frustration later when you assemble each door.

• You can move on to step 3 while it is drying.

Step 3: Remove It

• Grab an automatic screwdriver, to make your life easier, and start removing the screws from each door hinge.

• Remove each drawer also so that the frame is exposed for sanding and painting.

• Line your garage floors or work bench area or flat surface with a tarp or painter’s drop cloth to protect the surfaces.

• Lay each cabinet door on 3-4 paint triangles (they keep your wet painted cabinets from sticking to each other) then on your flat surface.

Step 4: Sand It

• Using sandpaper or a sanding block, sand each cabinet door, drawer, and the entire cabinet frame.

• It might be easier if you have an electric sander.

Step 5: De-Gloss It

• Apply de-glosser on each cabinet door, drawer, and cabinet frame using paper towels or an old dustless rag .

Step 6: Prime It

• Apply primer to each cabinet door, drawer, and cabinet frame using a roller brush.

• If you need to take a break for lunch or run to the potty, cover you paint brush up with a plastic bag and a rubber band to keep it from drying it.

• That way, you won’t be wasting time washing your brushes each time you need to stop for a break.

Step 7: Paint It

• Apply the Valspar cabinet paint to each cabinet door, drawer, and cabinet frame using a roller brush.

Step 8: Dry It Again

• Depending on the consistency of the paint, dry overnight per coat of paint that you decide you need.

Step 9: Paint It Again

• For the final coat of paint, use a sponge brush to get into the nooks and crannies of each joint and corner.

• Then dry it again for another 6-8 hours or over night

• Depending on the weather, you might need to dry it for another 24 hours if it still feels tacky to the touch.

Step 10: Hang It

• Remember how we sketched out, labeled, and numbered our cabinets back in step #2.

• That’s going to help you so much now when you hang it up!

• Just use your sketch as a guide!

• Step back,  take a picture, and enjoy!

Optional:

We also had these metal knobs that looked pretty dated.

They weren’t oil rubbed bronze colored or anything like that.  

But they looked cheap and more plastic like, even though they were clearly metal in weight and texture.

I wanted to bring out that oil-bronze metallic look, so I tried using a can of the Rustoleum Metallic Spray Paint that I had on hand from a previous diy project and they turned out better than I had expected.

You can find all of these products above at your local hardware or home improvement store.

However, if you are short on time, you can also order them on Amazon since we all know how long it really takes paint to dry. 😉

Moral of this project:

You do not need to spend a fortune to recreate a high end looking modern farmhouse kitchen.

All you really need is some elbow grease and a lot of determination to see your project come to fruition.

Most of the items on the above list of Supplies Needed were already available on hand from my previous projects that I have done to my 1st house.

Therefore I did not need to spend any extra cash with the exception of the Valspar Cabinet paint, which was about $55 with tax, and some home decor items that I found on clearance from Lowe’s Home Improvement store.

These hanging glass terrarium air plants were on clearance during their after Christmas sale for only $1 each and I bought a handful to use around my kitchen and dining room!

And that is how you can remodel a kitchen for just under $60!