It’s been just over two years since we gave our kitchen a full-on makeover including replacing our worktops, building some super-slim floating shelves, painting the fridge and painting our laminate kitchen cabinets.
We absolutely love how our kitchen makeover turned out but I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I see projects on the internet where I know that they aren’t going to hold up over time. That’s why I think it’s really important to share how projects look after some real-life use.
Do the things we share really work? What is the finish like after some use? Do painted kitchen cabinets last? And, most importantly, was the project worth all of the hard work?
So, today we’re sharing exactly how our kitchen looks now and how it’s holding up after two years of almost daily use! But let’s start right back at the beginning…
It’s not common for you to buy houses or apartments in Germany that include the kitchen (kitchens mostly aren’t even included in rental properties!) so we were really lucky to have one in the apartment when we moved in. After all, we spent a lot of money on buying our new home and really didn’t have any extra cash to splash on a new kitchen.
As much as we were happy to have a kitchen at all, it’s wasn’t exactly the kitchen of our dreams which is why we decided to give it a budget-friendly kitchen update!
Ultimately, it turned out that our update wasn’t quite as budget-friendly as I’d planned (you can see the cost breakdown here) but that was down to a few unforeseen circumstances like having to buy a new hob after our extractor fan fell off the wall in the middle of the night and smashed our old hob into oblivion.
Painting the laminate kitchen cabinets, on the other hand, was really budget-friendly and, if you’re anything like me, I’m sure you’re wondering – do painted kitchen cabinets last? Well, after two years, this is what our kitchen looks like today!
Yup, it looks almost exactly the same!
We’ve made a few changes over time like adding our new DIY floating spice rack but even close up there is almost no difference at all! Well, almost….
We have one big dent in our worktop due to a pigeon flying through one of the kitchen windows and smashing it (yes, there’s a bit of a smashing glass theme going on here). Big pieces of glass flew everywhere and a couple of large pieces ended up wedged into the countertop of our antique fridge under the window.
We also had a very recent Christmas incident where half a pomegranate leaked onto the wooden worktop and staining it. I’ve not properly tried to remove the stain yet but I assume I’ll have to do a bit of sanding to be able to completely get rid of it.
Both are annoying little incidents but would have possibly happened independent of the update.
Other than that, there’s one chip above on the shelf of our home coffee station which is totally my own fault as I bashed a frying pan against it while I was in a hurry. I still have some of the cabinet paint left so it should only take a couple of seconds to touch up.
What would we change?
There’s just one thing we’d change – the handles. I still like the look of them but they are difficult to keep clean as the horizontal bar collects dust and dirt and the odd crumb gets stuck between the handle and cupboard door.
It’s nothing too dramatic, it’s just that I’m lazy when it comes to cleaning and anything that isn’t easy to maintain doesn’t usually make it into our home!
If I hadn’t needed quite so many handles I would have chosen these ones by Swarf hardware. They are the same as the ones we have on our bathroom vanity and they are not only totally gorgeous they are really high-quality, too!
Based on our experience, we would totally recommend giving your kitchen cabinets a coat of paint. Our painted laminate kitchen cabinets look exactly as they did on the first day and the paint finish has held up beautifully.
You can read our full DIY guide on how to paint laminate kitchen cabinets here and there’s no doubt in my mind that the painted cabinets have stood the time because of the combination of prep work (basically, a bit of sanding) and using the right primer.
I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work but so, so, so worth it!
I’ve seen so many people sharing tutorials on how to paint kitchen cabinets without sanding them first and I honestly think it’s the worst advice ever.
Painting your kitchen cabinets is not a quick job and you’re not going to want them to look worn and chipped after just a short period of time. If you’re going to go through all of the effort of painting your cabinets you’ll want a finish that lasts!
Have you ever tried anything you’ve seen on the internet that hasn’t turned out as you expected? Do you have painted kitchen cabinets? And, if you do, how are they holding up? What would your dream kitchen look like?
Hi, your kitchen still looks amazing! I’m completely new to DIY and we’re moving house so I’m considering painting our kitchen cabinets. I wondered though, how do you do the end of the cabinets/ the bits that cant be removed? I think our new kitchen cupboards are laminate.
Thanks, Donna – it really held up amazingly well! Because we took off the doors it made it really easy to reach all areas of the cabinets that we couldn’t remove. We just followed the exact same painting process on the sides and anything else that was fixed.
Hope that makes sense!
Cx
Hi,
I’ve noticed that the wall tile (splash back) looks different. Did you use wall tile sticker or did you replace them with real tiles? I’ve been shopping around for wall tile stickers and there are so many different ones online. We have a very old kitchen in our new home and I’m looking for ways to give them a fresh look on budget.
Our tiles were a complete mess, Michelle. Nothing was level or flat and bits were missing which is why we decided to hide them under some vinyl foil. It had only meant to be a temporary solution and therefore had to be super budget friendly but it held up much better than we’d expected and it was really easy to keep clean, too. You can see how we did it in this post where we also share how we built the floating shelves.
Cx
Hi,
Interesting article and looks great. Do you have any recommendations for the primer. I am based in UK.
thanks
Yes, the primer is probably the most important part of the project (along with sanding)! We shared a pretty in-depth article about how we painted the cabinets including a list of all supplies and the primers we recommend (both of which are available in the UK). You can find the full article on how to paint laminate kitchen cabinets here.
Hope that helps but let us know if you have any other questions!
Cx
Thank you for the detailed follow-up, the kitchen still looks great, and very user friendly. Interesting about the cleaning aspect when choosing hardware. We had that happen years ago, and now, when I have to buy something for the house, I think of how much work it is to clean, and if I can get parts for repairs.
What a scare for the bird and you, I’m amazed it survived. Was it hard getting the glass replaced for such huge windows?
Thank you so much, Eina! Your way of thinking when buying anything for your home is how we should all be thinking! I guess it’s a lesson we all learn sooner or later.
Actually, the bird didn’t survive – it bounced so far back outside that we couldn’t find it at first. Luckily, only one of the smaller windows was damaged and it was really easy to replace!
Cx
This is fantastic! What colour did you guys use for the bottom cabinets?
Thank you so much! You can see a list of all supplies we used in the kitchen in our kitchen reveal post that you can read here. The colour we used for the bottom cabinets is Railings by Farrow & Ball.
Cx
PS. You might want to check out a recent post we shared about what our cabinets look like now (2 years after painting them).
Thank you so much for following up 2 years later. Not enough bloggers do that with home repairs and it is essential for me to trust the process and work they are promoting. I’m about to start in on our laminate cabinets and yes, very daunting! Your post was a definite reassurance of what I have already researched and simply gives me a little more confidence to start in!
Thank you so much for the feedback, Riles! We always share our honest opinions about the projects we do and sometimes that includes messy project fails where things don’t turn out as we expect, too! It sounds like you’re super well prepared for the job ahead! There’s no denying that painting your cabinets is a big job but it’s also really rewarding (especially if you do it right and the paint doesn’t start flaking off a month later!).
We’re always happy to help if we can, so let us know if you have any questions!
Happy painting!
Cx
Wow! This still looks lovely.
A pigeon?!? You have some random bad luck… :)
Haha, yes – at least it didn’t end up in our apartment and bounced back into the garden! 😂 Luckily replacing the glass was quick and easy to do! I’m so happy that the kitchen is holding up well – can you imagine going through all of that work only to find it doesn’t last?
Cx