Dark brown cabinets, an old cream tile floor and no backsplash worth the name. In five working days Repair ASAP stripped the cabinets to bare wood and painted them navy, tiled a white subway backsplash and laid a large-format porcelain floor.
The kitchen is a long galley with a window at the far end. The cabinets were dark brown, the old floor was cream ceramic tile, and the counters were about to be replaced by a countertop company.
Rather than rip everything out, the owners kept the cabinet boxes and asked for a new finish, a new backsplash and a new floor. A visit to measure came first, so the order of the trades could be planned.
Drag the handles to compare — the galley with the cabinet doors off and the old brown finish still on, and then the backsplash wall before and after the subway tile.
Drag the slider: the same galley. On the left, day one — the doors are coming off, the old brown finish is still on, and the new countertop is already in. On the right, the finished kitchen at the end of the last day. The two were taken a few feet apart.
Drag the slider: the same wall behind the range. Left — the bare wall with the laser line shot across it, ready for tile. Right — the white subway backsplash finished, up to the upper cabinets. The photos were taken from slightly different spots.
The original kitchen — good wood boxes in a dark finish.
Everything started with protection: the floor was covered with film and the doors came off, so nothing was masked around a door that would be stripped on a bench anyway.
Days one and two were all about the old finish. It was stripped back to bare wood — the only way to get a painted finish that lasts on a kitchen cabinet, which sees steam, grease and constant handling. Painting started at the end of day two with primer and the navy color, and the last coats went on during day three.
Day four was the backsplash, and it took one full day. The wall behind the new countertop was cleaned and prepared, a laser line was projected across the kitchen, and the white subway tile was set from the first row up, checking each course against the line so it stays level around the corner, past the window and up to the underside of the upper cabinets. Day five was the floor: large-format porcelain tile over the old floor area, followed by the baseboard.
The cabinet doors off and stripped to wood, then primed and painted.
A deep navy is the least forgiving color you can put on a cabinet: every sanding scratch, drip and thin spot shows. That is why the old finish was taken all the way off and the doors were painted off the cabinets, not on them. The result is a smooth, even, hard finish that should hold up in a working kitchen.
White subway tile is a classic backsplash because it reflects light and does not compete with the cabinets. What makes it look sharp is the setting: every row is checked against a laser line, so the courses stay level across a long wall, around the window and into the corners, and the cuts at the cabinets and the countertop are clean. A large-format porcelain floor does the same job on the ground — fewer grout lines, a lighter, wider-looking room, and a surface that handles water and traffic.
From the laser line to the finished wall — the backsplash was set in a single day, around the range, the window and the corners.
The same layout and the same cabinets, with a new finish, backsplash and floor. Photographed at the end of the last day, with the appliance alcove still open.
This project connects to cabinet painting, baseboard installation and flooring for kitchens across Brooklyn and New York City.
Old stained or glossy finishes peel under paint. On this kitchen the finish was removed back to bare wood first, which is the way to get a durable painted finish — especially in a dark color like navy that shows every flaw.
This one took five working days: two days stripping, painting finished on day three, one day for the backsplash and one day for the floor. The days were spread over several weeks to fit around the countertop installer.
On this kitchen, one working day: the wall was prepared, a laser line was set, and the subway tile was laid row by row from the countertop up to the upper cabinets, around the window and the corners. Tile is set after the countertop is in, so the countertop schedule decides when the backsplash can happen.
Not on this project. The countertop was installed by a separate company and the schedule was coordinated around it, so cabinet painting, backsplash and floor could be done cleanly afterwards.
Yes. Dark colors need a properly prepared surface and several even coats, so they are painted off the cabinet doors where possible and finished in a clean, dust-free setup.
Send a few photos of your kitchen and Repair ASAP can quote cabinet painting, backsplash tile and floor tile — together or one at a time.