Investor · Burns, TN · Member since 2015 · 29 posts · 8 votes
We just closed on a buy and hold SFH which was built in 1966. The inside of the cabinets looks like tsomeone site built the cabinets. Some raw wood, some painted wood. We do plan on repainting the outside of the cabinets but can't decide what to do with the inside. As my google search returns comments that painting the inside of the cabinets is a horrendous job. Any suggestions? I would not want to put my things in those cabinets!
Is this property going to be used as a rental investment? If so I would suggest using the peel and stick material that you can find at homedepot/lowes or any hardware store (Walmart may even have them) for the bottom part of the cabinet. Possibly just painting the inside of the cabinets, if you don't want to paint them, find someone on Craigslist who can paint them for you.
Wash all surfaces inside and out thoroughly. I would start with a white vinegar/water mix (50/50) to wipe them down. The vinegar deodorizes. Vinegar also kills most mold that roots itself into wood... something I learned from our plumber. If strong odor or surface mold is an issue, use the vinegar full strength. Let it dry. Then scrub all surfaces with a cleanser to cut the grease and gunk. Let it dry. If it is really bad, use TSP or a TSP substitute. If there are porous areas, like particle board, then it is worth painting after the cleaning. You want a non-porous surface and/or one that is practically non-porous and is easy to wipe down and clean.
In old cabinets, if they are thoroughly clean but unsightly, we paint or put down shelf liner. We use the kind of shelf liner that is labeled "removable". We do not use or allow our tenants to use contact paper as it pulls away at the wood and can leave a sticky residue. We also use those wood furniture scratch pens to touch up shelving in kitchen cabinets and closet shelves.
Under the kitchen sink, at the bottom of that cabinet, we place a non-porous scrap piece of counter-top laminate and hold it in place at the front with a removable trim piece we make out of wood. As @Dawn Anastasi said, a scrap piece of vinyl flooring also works well.
@Margaret Martindale are the shelves gouged, or just dirty? The peel-and-stick tiles are good for covering gouges without tearing under normal use (shelf contact paper would likely tear).
What category of SFH?
If A, it might be worth it to spend the time to make the cabinets quite nice.
B, a good cleaning on all surfaces and paint on the front edge of the shelf and inside of cabinet door should do it (take the doors off to paint, and consider updating the hardware).
C/D, good scrubbing should do it (and paint the outsides of the cabinets if damaged). You can paint the front edge of the shelf if it bugs you, but in a C/D property that's more about your own design wishes than it is about tenant demand, imo.
Yes the contact type of material, some the designs are a little weird, but hopefully you will be able to find something that is generic. I have used the left over peel and stick tiles as well in a B/C rental but they come up over time, same with the contact material.
@Margaret Martindale we used patterned shelf liners for the back and sides of the cabinets and plain white for the bottoms its looks really nice. Kinda looks like this