How to Paint Distressed White Cabinets

Add character to a white cabinet with a distressed finish.

Creating the look of distressed white cabinets in your home could take years of wear and tear, or you could cheat a little and speed up the process with a specialty paint. Crackle medium or crackle paint is a thick clear paint used as a base coat that causes cracks to appear in fresh paint. You can use this effect to make your white cabinets look distressed almost instantly after painting.

Things You'll Need

• White latex paint
• Off-white latex paint
• Screwdriver
• 220-grit sandpaper
• White alcohol-based primer
• Paint rollers
• Crackle medium
• Large paintbrush
• Clear water-based polyurethane

Instructions

1. Purchase two different shades of white latex paint for your cabinets. These shades need to look noticeably different, so choose a bright white color and a off-white, such as ivory or cream.

2. Remove the hardware, such as drawer pulls or knobs, from your cabinets with a screwdriver. You do not need to remove the hinges from the cabinets.

3. Sand the entire exterior of each cabinet -- including the doors -- with 220-grit sandpaper to remove any flaking paint and roughen the surface of the cabinet.

4. Apply a white alcohol-based primer to the exterior of the cabinets with a paint roller or a paintbrush. This will help the paint bond to the cabinets and prevent chipping.

5. Paint the cabinets with the off-white latex paint. This is the color that will show through the distressed spots on your cabinets.

6. Apply a thick layer of crackle medium to one cabinet with a large paintbrush. Wait until the crackle medium looks shiny, which indicates that it is dry and ready to be painted.

7. Paint over the crackle medium using the bright white latex paint and a large paintbrush. Paint in one direction only to ensure the best results.

8. Wait for the paint to dry and begin to crackle and look distressed.

9. Repeat Steps 6 through 8 until all of the cabinets are finished.

10. Apply a coat of clear water-based polyurethane to the dry painted cabinets with a paint roller. This will seal and protect the paint.

11. Return the hardware to the cabinets when the polyurethane is dry.

References

• "Paint Saves the Day"; Lucianna Samu; 2009