This kitchen renovation was a first for me.. The FIRST time I DIDN'T paint the cabinets! I really thought I was going to have to "settle" with unpainted cabinets because we just didn't have the time this summer to put in all the prep work, but wow!! I am SO glad that I left them natural. It brings a whole cozy vibe to this RV that could only have been achieved by keeping these cabinets their natural color.
We did however paint the cabinets around the entertainment area and I think that really made a difference. This was a quick way to upgrade the space, and make it feel much more open!
You may be thinking "Well if you painted those cabinets, why couldn't you just paint the island and kitchen cabinets while you were at it?" Good question! Here is why. First, we would have had to empty our entire kitchen. There is a ton if stuff in there. Two, we would have had to also paint the man doors. Keeping the natural kitchen allowed us to keep the man doors natural too and it's a great tie in. Three, that would have been sanding x3 and that would have taken at least a whole nother day. Four, so much taping off would have been needed since we kept the countertops. And five, I just wanted to see if I could make the space work with keeping the original cabinet color!
BEFORE AFTER
We started, as always, with demolition. We removed the slide trim, the microwave and cabinet, the faucet, and the flooring. We took out the couches to make painting easier, but those eventually went back in!
Jake sanded the entertainment center cabinet that we were painting with a mouse sander with 80 grit sand paper. If you are new to sanding, start with 120 grit. These RV cabinet boxes are laminate, so you can damage them easily if you sand too much. The doors are almost always real wood! Then we cleaned the entire room with a shop vac, wiped everything down with a vinegar and water mixture, vacuumed, and cleaned again!
We sprayed this entire room, ceiling included, with our Grace Tru Coat 360 variable speed which is my new favorite sprayer!! Because we sprayed, we had to cover everything that we weren't painting. We threw a drop cloth over the entire island, covered the doors, and just taped off the entire kitchen slide to make it easy.
We primed the entire room (ceiling, walls, and entertainment center included) with STIX primer. Then Jake painted two coats of the wall and cabinet color, which was Steam by Benjamin Moore in Scuff X Satin finish. I like to keep the walls and cabinets the same if I am doing white. It make the trailer look larger!
Finally, it was time for the fun part, putting the space back together!!
We started with flooring, which was surprisingly easy because the floor space in this room is pretty small. If you need help with flooring your RV, I have all the details in my RV Renovation Course or you can buy just the Flooring Bundle for help with just the flooring!
Then we changed the kitchen hardware, the faucet, and the pendant lights. These upgrades give the space such a residential feel!
We put the original couch back because its super comfortable and we just didn't want to buy a new one yet, but I actually don't mind it at all in here!
Last we upgraded the kitchen slide by adding a shiplap panel ceiling and tiling the walls. We used musselbound, real tile (linked below), and grout to achieve this look. We built in an open shelf for our coffee maker and toaster over/air fryer, which saves us so much counter space too!
So what do you think?! Maybe you will keep your RV cabinets natural now as well?!
See below to the links to EVERYTHING I used in this Kitchen renovation!
** Some of the links below are affiliate links**
Paint Color:
Wall Color: Benjamin Moore's Steam in Scuff X Satin
Sources:
Pendants (We take the glass globes down during transit because these specific lights have an adjustable pivot point at the top. Look for lights that don't adjust if you don't want to take the glass globes down during travel.)
Island Stools (Mine are from TJMaxx and were $80 each. Here is a similar one (more $$) if you can't find them or don't have a TJ Maxx)