Refinishing my 1930's Kitchen Cabinets

 Back in 2017 I painted my kitchen cabinet's.  I had the upper cabinet doors professionally stripped, which was challenging even for the professional.  He told me that there were 6 layers of paint.  When I worked on the bottom cabinet's I couldn't get all the paint off, and I got discouraged.  So I merely painted over what I couldn't get off.  But as the years went on the paint started chipping and the bottom cabinet's were looking worn.  I also struggled with the color of the bottom cabinet's, I wasn't sure if I wanted them the same color as the uppers.  After living with them four years I decided I wanted them all one color.

The uppers I painted China Doll by Sherwin Williams and I still have about a half gallon of it left.

This color isn't too far off from the original color, which I found after stripping all the layers of paint off.  I decided to tackle stripping the lower cabinets for a number of reasons.  First, I have the time.  Due to Covid I lost my job of 19 years.  Second I was able to find a asthma friendly product called Smart Strip.

This product has been a game changer for me.  It has NO SMELL, is bio-degradable and cleans up with water.  It is a soy based product.  If you are used to chemical based strippers you will not get aggressive results with this.  It takes multiple applications.  So my methodology with this was first I would scrape as much paint off as I possibly could.  Then I would apply a generous amount of the stripper, cover it with saran wrap and let it sit for half a day.  I learned not to let the product sit overnight because it got too dried out.  I would then scrape off the product and whatever paint came with it.  If I got almost down to the bare wood I would use steel wool to take off any remaining paint.  Once I got to bare wood I would wash down the area with water.  Once down to bare wood I would prime and the paint.  After 24 hours or until fully dry I would go over the painted area very fine steel wool, then I'd apply a final coat of paint.

Labor intensive? Yes. Professional results? Yes.

I added black depression glass knobs and black bin pulls. During the Great Depression glass was an inexpensive option to metal pulls, and Depression Glass dominated during the 30’s and 40’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if our cabinets had clear glass knobs originally. I also removed all the hinges and spray painted them black. Cohesiveness…important.

I am fairly certain my kitchen once had a large drainboard sink. And there was a wall mount faucet. My goal in the future is to replace our current sink with something more period appropriate. I also intend to get soap stone counters, no doubt in a dark grey or black. I’m also thinking of painting the kitchen but haven’t nailed down a color yet.

I also added this stainless steel work table. It replaces a flimsy kitchen cart I had purchased from a big box store many years ago. This beauty is from a company that sells to restaurants. You can find their products here: https://www.webstaurantstore.com

This transformation didn’t end with the cabinet doors and drawers. I painted the inside of every cabinet and put down new shelf paper. I don’t know what was more labor intensive, doing the insides or stripping and painting the cabinets!

I’ve often heard of people hiding things in walls for others to discover. While I wasn’t opening up any walls I did find this taped to the back of the frame in an upper cabinet…

I don’t know what it was attached to, but it was neat to find.

This project took me exactly one month. I worked many hours, and I wish I had kept track of how many in total. I am really happy with the results. Many people these days rip out old cabinets to make way for new. I’ll never buy into the thinking that new is better. My 1933 kitchen cabinets are just what they should be, original to my home and perfectly imperfect.