She Painted the Oak Cabinets White Then Washed Aqua Over the Door Fronts
Brown oak cabinets covered almost every working side of this beach condo kitchen, from the wall cabinets around the range to the long row beneath the peninsula. Cream counters and white appliances stayed, so changing the wood became the main part of the update.
Sylvia Cook of Sylvia Cook Photography wanted the cabinets light and white, but after applying two coats, she decided the finish needed color. She mixed her own chalk paint for the white base, then made an aqua glaze that could be wiped across the painted doors.
Instead of glazing every painted surface, she kept the cabinet frames white and used aqua on the door and drawer fronts. Light distressing exposed bits of brown along the edges before wax completed the finish.
Brown Oak Covered the Original Kitchen
Raised-panel oak doors surrounded the range, sink, dishwasher, and peninsula. The cabinets had a medium brown finish with visible grain, while cream laminate counters stretched across most of the room.
The appliances still worked, so she chose to keep them rather than replace them as part of the update.
Cabinet Doors Stayed on During Painting
The doors remained attached while the cabinets were painted. Progress photos show the oak disappearing beneath the first white coat before a second coat covered more of the grain.
Keeping the doors in place meant the project could move from one cabinet section to the next without removing and reinstalling each door.
She Mixed Her Own Chalk Paint
Instead of buying premixed chalk paint, she made it from satin latex paint, calcium carbonate, Plaster of Paris, and water.
Her mixture used two tablespoons of calcium carbonate and two tablespoons of Plaster of Paris mixed with two tablespoons of water. She stirred that into two cups of latex paint until the mixture was smooth.
White Became the Base for the Aqua Glaze
Two coats of white covered the brown cabinets before the aqua was introduced. The frames remained white while color was added to the fronts.
This kept white as the dominant cabinet color rather than turning the kitchen into a full aqua scheme.
Clear Glaze Was Tinted With Aqua Paint
For the next layer, she used clear Artistic Finishes Latex Glazing Liquid and tinted it with aqua latex paint plus a small amount of black.
The glaze went onto the painted surface and was wiped back almost at once, leaving less color across flat areas and more around the cabinet details.
Aqua Stayed on the Door and Drawer Fronts
She chose not to glaze the cabinet framework because she thought aqua across every surface would become too strong.
Keeping the frames white created a break between each glazed front and limited the color to the parts of the cabinetry with raised profiles.
Original Counters and Appliances Stayed
The large cream peninsula, sink, range, refrigerator, microwave, and other existing appliances remained after the cabinet update.
With those surfaces unchanged, the shift from brown oak to white and aqua became the main visual change across the kitchen.
Aqua Collected Inside the Raised Details
A close view shows what the wide kitchen photos hide. Aqua sits inside the recessed lines around the raised door panels and appears as a thin wash over parts of the white paint.
Small traces of the original brown finish also appear along distressed edges, creating three visible layers: brown wood, white paint, and aqua glaze.
Hardware Picked Up the Aqua Color
The cabinets did not have knobs before the makeover, so plain wooden knobs were added and spray-painted aqua. Existing bronze drawer pulls were also sprayed to match.
That stronger aqua on the hardware connects with the softer color caught inside the painted door profiles.
Distressing Exposed Parts of the Oak Finish
White paint and aqua glaze do not form a solid coating across every edge. Thin brown lines appear around parts of the raised panels where the finish was distressed.
The remaining wood tone separates the layers and keeps the cabinet fronts from reading as flat white doors.
White, Aqua, and Brown Meet at the Edges
Close to the doors, aqua is strongest inside grooves while brown appears at selected edges beneath the white.
Those details are much less visible from across the room, where the cabinets read as white with a pale blue cast that connects with the beach-inspired colors around the condo.
Before and After Shows How Much the Wood Defined the Kitchen
Side by side, the biggest difference is how much visual weight the oak carried across the small kitchen. Brown doors once formed a solid band around the walls, while the pale counters and appliances stood apart from the cabinetry.
After the makeover, the cabinets blend with those existing light surfaces, while the aqua accents connect with the wall color, kettle, towels, and accessories used throughout the open room.
Would you stop after the white paint, or add the aqua glaze to the door fronts?
Image credits: Sylvia Cook Photography.