Tutorial for Painting Two Toned Kitchen Cabinets

Are your cabinets outdated, the wrong color, or lack any Flare? Are you tired of looking at them every day and just want them GONE!? I will show you how to paint Two Toned Kitchen Cabinets. Our kitchen was in desperate need of a remodel. Everything had to go. We had stained pine cabinets and didn’t want to spend the money to replace them, therefore, we decided to refinish them. We cleaned them with Gold’s Oil, to freshen them up, but decided the pine color, just wasn’t doing it for us. Therefore, we wanted a whole new modern look. I decided to paint the cabinets an overall grey with a black accent in the grooves. You can check out our Kitchen Reveal here.

Two Toned Kitchen Cabinets

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PREP TUTORIAL:

Note: Before, you can do any painting, you need to prep inside/outside the home. The room needs to be clutter free.

1. Create a paint zone outside (in your garage), with saw horses, to lay your cabinet doors.

2. Clean the inside and outside of each cabinet door

3. Remove all hardware, including hinges

4. Put hardware in a Zip-Loc bag

5. Take a picture of your cabinet doors, so you can recall where each door belongs.

6. In the kitchen, you will also need to clean the outside of all the cabinetry. You can leave your food and dishes inside your cabinetry, if you don’t want to paint the inside, it’s up to you.

7. If you decide NOT to paint the inside then you will need to place plastic sheeting and tape on the inside of the door opening ( and the outside of your dishes and food).

8. The plastic sheeting will also cover your appliances, sink, and counters.

Supplies:

Zinsser Bull Eye 1-2-3 Primer
Cabinet Paint (comes with Poly acrylic, so you save a step and don’t have to spray or paint polyacrylic over your Paint color).
Paint Sprayer, (you can only use the paint sprayer for applying the primer, you CANNOT use it to apply the paint color because you WILL paint the grooves, which need to be a different color)
Foam roller (to apply the paint color)
Craft foam brush (to apply the color in the grooves)
Plastic Sheeting and Tape
Frog Tape

PAINTING TUTORIAL:

Step 1: Our first layer of paint was a white primer so you don’t have to sand. We used a small foam roller, but you can also use a paint sprayer. We painted the front and back of each cabinet door.

Step 2: Our second paint was Black for the groove.

We waited an hour for the primer to dry, then we applied a black paint in the grooves of the cabinetry. We use this foam craft brush, it works great for small grooves. You don’t need to worry about staying in the lines because you are going to paint over it with a different color.

Step 3: Paint the cabinetry and doors with semi-gloss cabinetry paint. Cabinetry Paint already has a top coat of Polycrylic in it. Therefore, you are saving time, since you don’t have to apply a topcoat after your paint color. Cabinetry paint is about $20 more since it already has the Polycrylic Top Coat mixed it. So it’s basically the same price, if you bought a regular paint and the Polycrylic separate, BUT you are SAVING time when you use the Cabinetry Paint. We used a grey paint. You can use a foam paint roller or a paint sprayer. We bought the Home Right Finish, Max Paint Sprayer. If you use a paint sprayer, you will need to dilute your paint with water. Thinner paints may only need a ¼ cup and thicker paints may need ½ cup.

Our Paint Sprayer saved us several hours of work and a streak free surface. In short, our Time Frame (depending on the size of your project), this project could take about 4-6 hours (with a partner) including prep work, painting, and re-install.

Painting your kitchen cabinets, is a Great way to create a huge impact and focal point for little money. Painting an accent color will make your cabinets unique and memorable. They will definitely stand out from other kitchens that just have One color of paint. Follow our Tutorial for Painting two toned kitchen cabinets.