How to change your dishwasher color to match cabinets (vinyl wrap tutorial)

Today’s project has been marinating in my head for a very long time. Our dishwasher is pretty new, but it has taken a beating lately, and I kept thinking about how to change an appliance color to match it to your kitchen cabinets. Unlike a stove, which can be a beautiful statement piece in a bold color, a dishwasher really needs to blend in with the cabinetry, in my opinion. The whole appeal of expensive cabinet-front dishwashers is to blend in with the cabinetry. And I wanted that seamless, built-in look without the price tag. That’s when I discovered appliance wrap.

The challenge? Since our old dishwasher couldn’t be customized with a cabinet front, I needed to match our exact sage green kitchen cabinet color so I could turn the dishwasher from white to green. I started googling “Can you change the color of your appliances?” and discovered appliance wrap, which is heat-resistant car wrap vinyl applied directly to the surface. Here’s what makes this tutorial different: most people just buy whatever vinyl color is readily available online. I needed my dishwasher to disappear into the design, which meant I had to figure out how to custom color-match vinyl wrap to my exact paint color. That color-matching process using free online tools is what my tutorial focuses on and it’s the key to making your dishwasher look like it was always meant to be there.

This appliance wrap method works on any appliance. I’m using my dishwasher as the example, but the same process applies to stoves, microwaves, and more.

How to color match vinyl wrap to change appliance color

Yes, I was completely obsessed with finding a match to my cabinet color and a local vinyl car wrap company that would be willing to help me. Let me tell you, both presented a challenge. Those types of car shops aren’t really interested in a small job like this. They are used to custom-wrapping cars, trucks, and motorcycles for a lot of money. My type of project is too small. So I learned pretty early on that I wouldn’t find someone to wrap my dishwasher for me and that I would have to do it myself. (If you are local to me and are wondering where I got my vinyl, it is Scribbles and Drips)

The color-matching challenge

So you might think it is as easy as taking a cabinet door or drawer into the shop so they can match the color. Well, they would do that but it would cost me $200 just to color match. That doesn’t even include the actual vinyl yet.

I was also told by the car wrap shop that they used Pantone PMS colors. So I had to find a way to convert my cabinet color to a Pantone color. For those of you who aren’t familiar with color codes and systems, there are an unbelievably large number of color codes for different purposes and printing. If you use Photoshop, like me (I used to do Graphic Design) then you are familiar with color codes. It isn’t all that easy to communicate between those different codes even though it sounds like it is. You can’t trust your screen colors either and match that way, it never works.

Step 1: Find your paint’s color codes

So I googled around. My color is Lush Sage 5003-2B by Valspar, and guess what? On their website, they give you other codes under the color name:

How to apply appliance wrap

Now that you matched the vinyl to your cabinet color and had it printed somewhere, it’s time to apply it to your appliances, which, in my case, was my dishwasher.

Materials needed

• sheet of car vinyl wrap (there are many colors readily available, the brand I received from the shop is Arlon)
• sharp crafting knife
• 70% alcohol and lint-free wipes
• professional-grade tack clothes
• lint-free gloves (optional because I’ve seen folks on YouTube apply wraps to cars without them)
• felt squeegee tool for vinyl applications, if you are doing something more intricate than a flat-paneled dishwasher, then you will need more different tools to get into the crevices.
• screwdrivers
• a blow dryer or heat gun
• appliance owners manuals

Video tutorial

This is definitely where you should watch my video. It took me about 3 hours to finish the dishwasher. That includes taking the dishwasher door off, cleaning everything, adding the vinyl, and putting the dishwasher back together. Cutting that video down to a watchable video was the hard part. Nobody wants to watch a 3-hour video.

Use the triangle on the image to turn on the video. As always, if you are on a mobile device, please hold it horizontally for easier viewing, and if it doesn’t work here on my blog, then you can head on over to my YouTube channel to watch it.

Step-by-step car vinyl dishwasher application instructions

Before I started, I watched a lot of YouTube videos. CK Wraps has been my favorite channel. He is a very good teacher and makes me want to wrap a car. Not kidding! I even asked my husband if he’d let me try to wrap his motorcycle. LOL! He said “no”! Not sure why because it would be such a fun change and is completely removable while even protecting the original paint job. Wrapping a motorcycle is next-level hard though 😉 Wrapping a flat dishwasher is pretty easy.

This project is very similar to how I covered my Ikea dresser with peel-and-stick wallpaper to turn it into a piece of grasscloth furniture. The only difference is that you need a heat source like a blow dryer or heat gun to activate the adhesive so you can mold and stretch the vinyl. I just used my blow dryer on the highest setting.

The cool part about this vinyl is that it is stretchable and moldable when warmed up. You can keep reheating it and redoing sections. If you pull it off when it is cold and hold the heat source to it, it pretty much snaps back into its original shape.
The heat source also kind of shrink-wraps the vinyl around the shape you are wrapping.

I ended up practicing with one of the sample pieces on a makeup box, which you can also see in my video. That helped to get a feeling for the vinyl before starting.

Step 1: Turn off the power to the dishwasher

Don’t forget to turn off the fuse switch to your appliance to turn the electricity off before removing any appliance parts.

Step 2: Remove the door panel and toe kick of your dishwasher (or other appliance)

First, I checked my owner’s manual and another YouTube video to make sure I got instructions on how to take my appliance/dishwasher apart. I removed the dishwasher door and toe kick. It was pretty easy, actually. This part is obviously different for everyone else, according to whatever appliance you have. Make sure to check out your manuals, if you don’t have one, check out the manufacturer’s website, where you usually can find manuals to download.

Step 3. Deep clean all surfaces

Clean the removed panels thoroughly, like painstakingly cleaning them by using rubbing alcohol on lint-free wipes. After the surface dries and you are confident that you removed all grease and dirt, follow with the tack cloths to remove any small dirt and dust specs because they will show up under the vinyl even if they are tiny.

The actual vinyl application is best watched and documented in the video to see how I smoothed out the vinyl with the felt squeegee and my clean hands.

Step 4: Measure and cut your vinyl (with buffer)

I cut a small piece for the toe kick and then had the larger piece for the dishwasher door. I left a lot of overhang to make sure I had enough.

Step 5: Position and start the first edge

I started on one side of the dishwasher panel that wasn’t as visible as the left and right sides. Peel the backing off and position the vinyl on the side where you are starting.

Step 6: Apply heat and smooth with a squeegee

I used the felt squeegee to remove all wrinkles and bubbles while pulling the backing off from behind.

For some parts, I used my clean hands (wearing fine gloves is even better) to smooth everything, which you can see above on the edges of the front panel.

Heat is required to activate the adhesive and to make the vinyl stretchable and moldable. You can pull it off again and again. When you add heat to it again, it pretty much snaps back into its original shape. Be careful not to overstretch the vinyl, though.

Step 7: Work around curves and edges

Wrap the vinyl around the edges, almost like wrapping a present.

The toe kick was a bit trickier because there are uneven parts, but it was definitely doable. Plus it’s not all that visible either.

Step 8: Trim excess vinyl

Once all vinyl is applied and smoothed, use a sharp utility knife to trim the excess vinyl along edges on the back.

Step 9: Final heat pass

Make sure you go over the entire front panel with heat again to make sure the adhesive is activated. Press down any edges that might have lifted and pay special attention to corners and edges

Step 10: Reassemble everything

Attach everything back onto the appliance. I ended up breaking one of the handle screws that were attached with LockTite, so I used cabinet knobs to replace the handle for now. I am contemplating making a custom handlebar for the dishwasher and stove yet.

To make the toe kick screws blend in with the colored vinyl, I used a bit of metal primer to prime the screws and then some of my cabinet paint to cover the screws and make them blend in with the color.

Troubleshooting common appliance wrap issues

Here are the most common appliance wrap problems and how to fix them.

• Wrinkles or/and bubbles in the applied vinyl: Redo the area again by carefully lifting and peeling the vinyl back. Reheat it again with the blow dryer and then try to reapply the vinyl while pushing out all the bubbles with your squeegee and gloved hands.
• Vinyl won’t stick in corners: This could happen if you didn’t use enough heat or if the corner isn’t clean. Peel the corner back, clean it again with more alcohol, wait for it to dry, and then re-stretch it over the corner with enough heat.
• Overheated/melted vinyl: Unfortunately this is an issue that can’t be fixed and why I used a blow dryer versus a heat gun because the blow dryer doesn’t get as hot.

Don’t rush! The beauty of vinyl is that it’s forgiving. Take breaks, reheat sections, and work carefully.

Finished look of the colored dishwasher

Here is a photo before and it’s definitely not bad either. The fact is that the family had scratched it all up since that photo and it had seen better days.

The finished result shows how effectively vinyl wrap can change an appliance’s color to match any design.

And here is a crapy cellphone before photo where you can slightly see some of the scratches:

For those of you wondering if I am planning on still getting a different handle instead of the knobs… Yes, yes I am but the search for what has been taking longer than I thought.

I also recently added a DIY kitchen utensil rack above the stove. It adds another unique touch to our kitchen that was once builder-grade.

And, I am now obviously side-eyeing that stove too. My mom already said, “you can’t leave that like this!” The question is what parts get covered and which ones don’t because there is also so much glass in the center. If I do cover the stove too then I also need matching handles for the dishwasher and stove and then… ugh the fridge might look strange too. Yup, that’s called a domino effect and is usually what happens.

You might also like reading about how I cut down the half-wall kitchen counter to create a kitchen island.

I recently wrote a tutorial about how to make a sink skirt without sewing. It changed the look of the kitchen again. I know this look isn’t for everyone but I like the change for now.

If green kitchen cabinets aren’t your cup of tea then check out my best friend’s gray and white kitchen blog post where I’m also showing her kitchen island pendant lighting ideas.

FAQs about changing appliance colors with vinyl wrap

So what do you think? Do you love it as much as I do?

Like I said I really want to do something to my stove yet too to make it look custom. I always loved the look of Cafe Appliances but not the price. I also wanted to have the bottom drawer for extra storage which we can always use in our small home. Cafe stoves don’t have that drawer and have pretty legs instead.

Tschüß,