And the winner is...Montpelier Ashlar Gray

Kitchen/Family Room colors have been a struggle since I moved into this house. I painted the kitchen cabinets BM Nantucket Gray which I have enjoyed but the mistake I made was to have Home Depot match another BM color Dunmore Cream and it came out much more yellow than beige. I ended up adding some white to lighten it but I've not been happy since I painted it 5 years ago. I've been trying to find another wall color but have struggled to find something I liked that went with the cabinet color. Recently I decided that the cabinet color although gray, had more green than beige and before I repainted the walls, I wanted to repaint the cabinets.

Current cabinets and wall color

I have been contemplating this for a few weeks and wavering between off-white and grey. I like the look of off-white but felt that it was too unforgiving. While browsing Pinterest this week, I came upon a color that I thought might just work - Valspar Montpelier Ashlar Gray - about the same color tone as I currently have but more beige. I figure once I get the cabinets done, I can then repaint the walls and I'm going back to the darker earthy tones that I've always loved and enjoyed in my homes. I'm just not a yellow gal!

So I woke up this morning, ran to Lowes and bought a gallon of Montpelier Ashlar Gray in eggshell and a gallon of Valspar Mountain Smoke (not sure yet what I'll use this for - hallway? accent wall?) and decided to get started on the cabinets. Lucked out that they were having a sale and got a great price on the paint.

First step is to remove all the cabinet doors and hardware. I am fortunate that the previous owners already numbered all the doors and drawers and they are still intact. There is a number taped inside each component of the cabinet and a corresponding number written on each piece either on the inside of the drawer or where the hinges are secured to the doors. When you put the cabinets back together, you want to make sure you have each piece in the right place and the numbering system makes it goof proof. Just make sure when repainting that you don't paint over the number. I place all the hinges in a ziploc bag and the pulls and knobs in a bowl so that I have all the correct screws with the pieces.

Next step is to lightly sand all the components and the base cabinets. How much you have to sand depends on what you are covering. Since I had primed and painted only a few years ago with a similar latex eggshell paint, my repaint only required light sanding.

Cabinet prepped for painting

I also decided to do my project in sections, starting with the peninsula. This way I can do a section in the evenings after work or whenever I have some free time. This allows me to lay out several doors on my kitchen table and paint each side, allowing plenty of drying time. Because my colors are so close, I found I only needed one coat of paint to get nice coverage and the actual painting time goes very quickly.

Painting over the old color

Old vs New Paint Color

All the bases and doors on the peninsula are painted and tomorrow I will re-attach all the hardware and reinstall the doors. I prefer to wait a day to make sure all the paint is really good and dry. The last time I did this I rushed this step and ended up chipping some of the finish trying to rehang the doors. Going to take my time and do it right this time.

Finished Peninsula

Finished the peninsula but realized the pad to my palm sander was too worn to continue. Had to take a break until I could order a replacement pad on the internet since none of the local stores carried parts. Finally received the replacement part and was able to get back to my project. I had also thought about replacing the knobs/pulls with clear knobs but at a price range of $3 - $12 per knob (and of course I like the $6.30 one), I decided to stick with my existing black knobs that I had replaced when I initially repainted the cabinets. When you calculate needing 40+ knobs and I have a small kitchen, this can easily get to over $500 just for knobs. And cabinet handles will run you even more.

Decided to do the upper cabinets next so I wouldn't be working over top of finished cabinets. Again removed all the doors and removed all the hardware. Lightly sanded all surfaces using medium grit sandpaper and my Makita hand sander. I sanded the doors in the garage but had no choice but to sand the cabinet bases in place. My sander has a collection bag but you still get dust. Removed some items from the area but left most items in the cabinets. After I finished all the sanding, I went back with a vacuum and damp cloth to remove any dust.

The prep work is 80% of the effort on this project. The actual painting time is minimal and again I painted using a cabinet roller and paintbrush for areas that the roller couldn't reach or cover. Painted the back side of the cabinets, let them dry overnight and then painted the fronts.Always go back over and check to make sure you don't have any drips or paint pooling in crevices before the paint has time to dry.Will touch up today as needed and then reinstall all the cabinet doors.

Completed Upper Cabinets

Upper Doors - Cabinet Fronts

When taking down the doors, I noticed a few doors where they hinge screw holes where not fitting tightly. This would be common in an older kitchen like mine where the cabinets had been redone on more than one occasion. While I had the doors down, I took some wood filler and using my finger forced some of the filler into the hole. Once dry, this will give the screws something to grip. Once the hole is sufficiently filled with filler, you simply wipe the excess off with a damp towel. You would also do this if you were changing the type or position of your pulls. If you go from a double pull to a single pull, you would fill in the old holes as needed.

Screw holes with filler

Next is to do the same process for the remaining base cabinet doors and drawers. I only have three doors and 5 drawer fronts so the bulk of the project is completed. If you have more space for your doors/drawers to dry, you could do the project in one step. However since the weather is so humid, I opted to refinish everything inside and my kitchen table was the obvious work space. This limited how many surfaces I could do at any one time. I have a table that extends to almost 8' with the leaf giving me a pretty nice sized area. I ended up doing my kitchen in four stages which of course takes longer since you are continually cleaning brushes and rollers and re-mixing the paint.

Below are pictures after finishing all the cabinets and painting the walls Mountain Smoke. Very happy with the new color. Next is to finish the rest of the hallway and dining area in the same color and the yellow paint will finally be gone! New stainless or black fridge/dishwasher would be nice but since the old stuff is still working, will hold off on that for now. Would also love to replace the white formica at some point but of course I want a higher end product that the budget just doesn't support. I had also contemplated having them resurfaced by Miracle Method like I did with my tub enclosures. Doing nothing for now.