Theyre gross, theyre grimy, and theyre dragging the rest of your kitchen down with them. Theyre your kitchen cabinets, and they alone could keep you from getting a decent price on your home - if you can sell it at all. If youre getting ready to list your home and your REALTOR has told you that kitchen is a buyer repeller, you may have all the reason you need to paint those cabinets. But if you need a few more, read on.
1. Kitchens sell homes
Everyones heard that saying, right? But what it really means is that bad kitchens cost people sales or at least profits. Nobodys shelling out top dollar for your dingy, dark, outdated mess. But that doesnt mean you have to do a full-blown renovation. Painted cabinets can give the feel of an updated kitchen at a fraction of the cost of a total redo.
"Painting cabinets, especially if you do the job yourself, costs far less than outright replacement. Bargain-basement cabinets for a 10x12-ft. kitchen can easily top 5,000," said This Old House. "Refacing cabinets, a process of veneering existing cabinet boxes and replacing doors and drawer fronts, is another option, but a top-notch refacing job starts at 3,500. The materials for painting brushes, primer, paint will cost about 200.
2. It looks dark and dreary
Older kitchens that dont reflect todays open floorplan trend can feel small and cavelike. Dark cabinets exacerbate the issue.
This kitchen, with its outdated layout and mismatched appliances, would distract potential buyers. Blowing out those upper cabinets and updating, well, everything, would be great. But even without making major changes, it could be improved greatly by painting out the cabinets. Going with white will make it look larger and blend in with the appliances and countertops.
3. It looks dated
"Its not updated" is code for "Its going to cost me too much money to renovate that mess myself," which is code for, "Im not buying that house."
Look at how this kitchen went from meh to masterful just by painting the cabinets white and swapping out the hardware. The once sorry space is now a selling point.
4. It looks dirty
Knicks, scratches, and worn surfaces will elicit smirks, not smiles. The takeaway is a house thats not taken care of, not one that buyers are clamoring for.
5. It looks small
Those dark wood cabinets are making your kitchen feel tiny, and tiny kitchens are not a selling point. Dark colors suck up the light, while lighter colors like white reflect light. If you have a small space or one thats closed in or both, lightening up the cabinets will make a world of difference in how the space feels.
A reflective surface for your backsplash will help further, by bouncing light around the room to make it feel more spacious.
6. It looks cheap
And if your kitchen looks cheap, perception is that the rest of the house might be cheap too.
7. It makes everything else look bad
Even a kitchen with nice countertops, appliances, and fixtures can be brought down by cabinets that arent up to par.
If you think a fresh coat of paint cant make a real difference, just take a look at this kitchen.
8. Its a cheap and easy DIY project
Easy doesnt mean it wont bring a certain level of pain, but the pain is in the tediousness of having to patiently go through all the necessary steps to achieve a good result, not in learning new and complicated skills or using dangerous equipment thatfor us clumsy peoplemight mean the loss of a finger.
Those couple hundred bucks you spend can bring thousands of dollars in value when you sell. And if you dont want to do it yourself, its still a >
If its all the sanding that has you concerned, try a product like Cabinet Transformations.
Thats how this kitchen was transformed. The no-sand option uses a deglosser to remove grease and grime and take the shine off the wood to prepare them for painting.
9. It may just cause a divorce
The thing about kitchens is that everyone wants them updated, but few people actually want to do the updating. A complete renovation: a takes too long; b costs too much; c is an enormous hassle; d and can cause such a rift between people that it may end their >
Do your fellow man and woman a favor, and paint your cabinets.
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