Painting Maple Kitchen Cabinets: Before & After

Not everyone wants to paint their wood cabinets. In fact, thanks to their style, stain, and grain, many wood cabinets are so gorgeous that they’re worth more (visually and financially) left stained.

However, some wood cabinets have a challenging style, bossy grain, or an obnoxious stain color, which prevents them from looking updated. Others are just straight-up worn out. All of this has me flashing back to one of my favorite sayings (I have about 847 of them)…

Just because it’s wood doesn’t mean it’s good   ~moi

Don’t get me wrong, I advise my clients not to paint their glorious wood cabinetry all the time. However, when paint is needed, it’s important to remember that these cabinets will still be wood; they’ll just look better.

This home’s bones were half-decent, but no screamin’ glory…

A few of its half-decent bones (sounds like my love life in my late teen years) included…

• the doors were solid wood (but that’s it)
• hidden hinges
• crown molding (on the top of the cabinets) and valance (the part that hides the under-cabinet lighting)
• a good general layout with a working triangle

Now, let’s talk about the challenges…

• The cabinet frames and side gables were NOT solid wood and had faded to a soft pinkish color
• The doors around the sink area needed some serious KLC
• the backsplash had ye ole racing stripe – great for NASCAR, not for a kitchen
• The over-the-range microwave was clunky and unattractive

This kitchen needed an update, but had to be on a bougie budget. Good thing that’s my wheelhouse.

But first, we had to hit the right color. Benjamin Moore’s White Dove is, hands down, my favorite shade of white. However, when painting kitchen cabinets, it’s not about choosing the white YOU love; it’s about choosing the white that your kitchen needs. White Dove wasn’t warm enough for the new finishes. But what wonderous white was?

Drum roll, please (or just tap your fingers lightly on your wine glass…)

Ultimately, we chose a more traditional, warm white paint color  – Benjamin Moore Cloud White. This white was popular in the early 2000s because of its increased warmth (and suited many finishes popular in that first decade). Cloud White’s creamier warmth made it the perfect color for these cabinets, as it worked best with the new backsplash tile.

Get your PEEL & STICK SAMPLE OF CLOUD WHITE

The walls needed a fresh coat of paint (or three). We wanted a color with a bit more personality—no white-on-white. Benjamin Moore Steel Wool was the final choice, a wickedly pretty mid-tone charcoal gray with violet-blue hues.

And yes, the pendant lights are fugly, but budgets have their limits.

Get your PEEL & STICK SAMPLE OF STEEL WOOL

MAPLE KITCHEN UPDATE: THE GUTS N’ THE GLORY

The previous island was 3×5; while it worked, there was space to extend it by an extra 18″. This meant it would need some extra support (unlike my chest, which needs minimal, at best, #TMI); here are the details…

• The island countertop was extended by 18″ on the end to have three stools instead of two. This made the island space look much larger and more proportional to the room without remotely infringing on any pathways.
• A local Craftsman made an island base/support out of reclaimed wood—MAD love.
• To save money, we chose a quartz countertop for the island and an affordable laminate countertop for the rest of the space. While not all patterns coordinate (in fact, there are very few that do), I’m happy with the combo.

The Best Kitchen Island Paint Colors

Do you want to see what the island looked like before? Trust me, you don’t, but I’ll show you anyway…

It’s like a facial peel, revealing baby-soft skin underneath. 

This happens when you don’t properly prep your cabinets by sanding and priming them. It’s like putting latex over oil-based paint – THE PAINT WON’T STICK and will peel off!

With some prep work and the right type of paint, this is what the cabinets should’ve looked like…

How to Update Your 1990’s Kitchen

HOW TO PREP CABINETS FOR PAINT

• Take the hardware off. If you’re putting a different size handle or knob on, fill the old holes with wood filler and drill new ones NOW (not after you paint).
• Clean with TSP (then wipe all the TSP residue off).
• Sand the cabinets to remove the surface sheen (you don’t need to sand down to consistent bare wood). 120 grit can be a bit aggressive for some smooth cabinets, especially laminate ones, as you don’t want to break through that top surface; I would start with 220 and see how it goes.)
• Wipe with a tack cloth to remove dust or residue from the sandpaper.
• Choose a quality, high-adhesion primer (my painter and I love Benjamin Moore Stix).
• Invest in quality rollers and brushes – don’t mess with cheap stuff – it’ll show.
• Not all cabinet paints are created equal. Do your research and choose a high-quality paint that others trust and has a history of being FAB (Benjamin Moore INSLX and Sherwin Williams Emerald are amazeballs in my books.

Just remember, at the end of the day, they’re painted cabinets – paint isn’t bulletproof, and it will chip over time (even a factory finish). That said, I have wood cabinets in our ensuite bathroom, and they look like shart (8 years old), and I need to paint over them – NOTHING IS FOOL PROOF!

THE LAMINATE COUNTERTOP

Choosing laminate perimeter countertops instead of quartz saved THOUSANDS of dollars on ye ole budget, which left room for other fun things—like wine.

The Formica Soapstone Sequoia countertop mimics the look of a lighter, warmer soapstone and is wicked pretty. I love the textured but not shiny finish.

THE UPDATED KITCHEN BACKSPLASH

The backsplash is gorgeous. Because the cabinets weren’t entirely level, the tiler had to hand-cut each perimeter tile—and I’m sure he did it with a smile (and probably an inside voice that was full of four-letter words).

This backsplash is not just trendy, but it has a wink of timelessness (you know how I feel about trends). I would love nothing more than to give you the name of the tile and where to buy it. Sadly, it was from Home Depot, and they no longer carry it.

Instead, you might like one of these white subway tiles.

Painted Wood Cabinets: Will They Last?

READ MORE

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing White Paint Colors

How to Update Wood Cabinets WITHOUT a Drop of Paint! 

ShouldYou Paint Your Wood Cabinets or Keep Them Stained?

Get the best paint color & home update advice with Kylie M’s Online Paint Color Consulting Services!

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2016, UPDATED FOR GRAMMAR N’ STUFF IN 2026