Kitchen Cabinet Chalk Paint Makeover: Part II

I thought it was about time to share another update on our kitchen cabinet makeover. (If you missed Part I with "before" pictures, be sure to check it out here!) I've finished painting all of the upper cabinets with Annie Sloan Pure White chalk paint, followed by some hand-distressing and finally a coat of Annie Sloan clear soft wax. Whew!  It makes me tired just thinking about it.  

I removed all of the doors and painted them separately from the cabinets.  It took a full four coats of paint for a completely uniform appearance that covered up the old stain color (which I like to call "Orange Oak.")  Confession: I skimped and only did three coats on the inside of the doors... you rarely see them anyway!

Without further ado, here are some more progress photos of our newly-white cabinets: 

After four coats (!) of chalk paint

After some light distressing on the edges and corners

Back up on the wall! As you can tell by the strip of old paint color on the wall, we decided to move the cabinets on either side of the microwave up about 8 inches. This is all part of our grand plan to add an open shelf below these cabinets. 

After adding cabinet hardware! Not only do the knobs add a finishing touch, but they'll hopefully help our cabinets stay clean by keeping any grimy fingers off the wood. We looked in several home improvement stores but ended up finding these for a reasonable price on Amazon (about $2.90 each). 

Here's the other side of our kitchen. As you can see, this wall doesn't go all the way to the ceiling, so we kept these cabinets at the same height. (Please ignore our messy counter and refrigerator.)

More close-up action of the knobs. I didn't want anything too large and overwhelming for our small kitchen. But these still feel nice and sturdy when you grab onto them. 

(As of this blog post writing, these exact knobs are shown as unavailable on Amazon.  But they do have this same style in Satin Nickel finish:  Cosmas® 701SN Satin Nickel Contemporary Cabinet Hardware Knob - 1-7/16" Length - 10 Pack)

I probably should put another coat of wax on them... but you know how that goes. The next phase will be painting the lower cabinets a dark gray (we're thinking Annie Sloan Graphite). I'm hoping to get those done within the next month... Stay tuned!

Paint used so far: Two 32 fl. oz. cans (approx. $70)

Wax used so far: Less than half of a 16.9 fl. oz. can

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