How to Frost Glass (Cabinets)

When I was researching buying glass inserts for our kitchen cabinets, I came across some blogs which featured people frosting the glass in their kitchen cabinets themselves. It seemed this would be the way to go!  It would be much cheaper than buying glass that is already frosted, and I could change out the pattern someday, if I wanted. I felt I needed frosted glass to disguise any cabinet clutter.

So I went to Lowe's with the measurements for the glass pieces I needed. I needed 9 pieces for the upper cabinets. Lowe's will cut the glass for you to size (it's not tempered or safety glass, though). Since I bought upper cabinet doors already prepared for glass (with no middle), I would just have to set the glass into my cabinet frame and then caulk it in place with clear caulk. I think I paid about $60 for all 9 pieces of glass for my cabinets, which I consider pretty cheap.

I then read about this Rustoleum Frosted Glass spray paint which would make the glass look frosted, but it can be removed at a later date if you want to change out the frosted glass pattern. This seemed like a miracle product! So I decided I wanted to do 3" squared down the front of my door. I traced them onto contact paper, then I cut out the contact paper. I stuck the contact paper on the glass where I wanted it. Then I sprayed the glass with the frosted glass spray paint (outside). This was messy and smells horrible!! In fact, I decided to wear an oxygen mask because I was certain I was going to get cancer from all these fumes! Seriously, people. Read the Material Safety Data Sheet on this product on the internet. Yikes! It might be a miracle product, but I felt I was going to become seriously ill from using it! I did so many coats, yet it looked uneven, there were drips, and it didn't cover to my liking. I needed more.


Then I saw someone else on the internet who frosted his door using artist's matte medium (bought at a craft store). I decided to try it. I bought the brand Liquitex. I reattached the 3" squares I made from contact paper onto my glass pieces and rolled on the matte medium with a thin, smooth foam roller. No ghastly smell, no cancer-causing ingredients, and it was easy and quick. In fact, I did this while the doors were actually hanging on my cabinets. (So you don't have to remove all the cabinet doors, yay, easy!!)  You just have to be careful not to be messy while rolling it on. I just rolled over where I had previously sprayed the frosted glass spray paint. It evened out the finish and made it look great. It even filled in the drip marks where the spray paint had dripped on the glass. Here's how my glass looked when I was done:

Super easy and fun!!