White Cabinets

When my husband and I first got married in 1991, we moved into a quirky, downstairs apartment. It was the basement of a duplex that hadn't changed much since it had been built - probably in the 1950's. There was something in the kitchen I loved. White cabinets. In the 1990's white cabinets were a rarity, most were made of oak. Any that weren't already oak were doomed to a gruesome fate.

So why did I like my white cabinets? Because I could see every little dirty speck on them. If I saw a speck, I could wipe it up - walah! Clean cabinets! It took a couple seconds every so often to keep them looking crisp and clean.

 I've had quite a few apartments over my renting days and had all kinds of interesting (we'll use the word charitably here) cabinet materials over the years and I can tell you, by the time I realized they were dirty I had a nasty task ahead of me. It would take buckets of soap and loads of elbow grease to get whatever horrors were encrusted off of there. I really prefer the whole, 'quick swipe of the rag and I'm done' - method. Clean as I go, nice and easy.

Fast forward to our first (and only) home purchase. We moved into our current home in 1999. I thought we'd live here about five years (I say this 21 years later) and I thought after about a year in our home we'd be upgrading the kitchen into something thrilling. So we went with builder basic. It didn't matter. We were going to tear it all out anyway (ah, so young and naïve). That meant oak cabinets.

Don't get me wrong, I like oak. There is nothing more beautiful than oak that's 100 years old and has a gorgeous warm patina. Mission style oak also has a beautiful finish. But brand new oak? Light oak with a coat of polyurethane on top? Blah.

The company my husband worked for went under about 4 months after we moved in. He found work 6 months later and I realized we would not be upgrading our kitchen any time soon.

After realizing we also would not be moving any time soon, I did something that horrified everyone I knew. I painted my oak cabinets white (gasp!). Oak was the fashion, but I painted them anyway.

It's been 17 years of white cabinets. Do I regret it? No. Have I ever regretted it? No. When white cabinets finally came in style, everyone suddenly thought I was some kind of style forecaster - ahead of my time - amazingly fashion forward!!!

When white cabinets are dated (trust me, they will be) I will be outdated, and not in a good way (is there a good way? hmmm... another post, another time perhaps). Will my cabinets still be white? Yes. Will my children and children's children be horrified that my cabinets are still white? Yes. Will that make me change them? No. Not only do they look clean, I know they are clean. I think if 17 years and 5 children hasn't changed my mind, then it's pretty safe to say I like white cabinets.