Paint Cabinets

Painting cabinets is a great way to revitalize old, dull, dark, or worn-out cabinetry, or to recycle cheap ones that you picked for a song. It's quite simple, and can give your kitchen cabinets a fresh look at a tiny fraction of the cost of new ones. While paying a professional while likely set you back a pretty penny, doing the project yourself can get you a clean look at a fraction of the cost.

Steps

Prepping Your Workstation

  1. Clean the cabinetry thoroughly. This is a very important step and must not be skipped or rushed. Cabinets are most commonly found in kitchens, which means moisture and grease are likely to have coated them. Any greasy or grimy build-up on cabinetry will make it impossible for paint to stick to its surface, so cleaning is essential. Wash cabinets thoroughly.
    • If you have access to a product called TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate), this can help you. Otherwise, use a suitable product or soap, "elbow grease" and water.
    • If there are some very oily/greasy buildups, try using a rag soaked in mineral spirits to remove these hard-to-shift spots.
    • Let your cabinets dry completely before doing anything else. A wet surface won't absorb paint or primer as well as a completely dry surface.
  2. Remove all hardware from cabinets. Hardware means all doors, mounting hardware, drawer pulls, and pull-out drawers. Remove these to protect them, being sure to label them methodically so that you know which hardwood and hardware fits where.
    • For the best results, you'll be painting the doors and drawers separately, not while mounted to the cabinets.
    • Of course, you should also remove all kitchen contents from the inside of the cabinets as well. If you've ever done any painting, you know that paint gets in the strangest places; removing all valuable and common contents from your cabinets before you paint them is always a good idea.
  3. Prepare the area. Preparation is important for two reasons: You don't want any renegade paint splattering over areas it should not; you don't want to have to clean up a huge mess afterwards.
    • Attach masking tape to any areas that meet walls/borders etc. so that paint doesn't accidentally bleed onto these. This is especially important to allow you to get right to the edge of a cabinet — ensure that the masking tape fits tightly against the edge from the surface that you don't want painted.
    • Tape rosin paper over the countertops and tape plastic sheeting over the backsplash in between your countertop and cabinets.
    • Place newspaper or brown paper on the floor around the area you are working in. This will catch all paint spills and you only need to roll it up and throw it out when finished.
      • A canvas drop cloth also works really well, and it common for painting projects.
  4. Fill in any holes with a polyester wood or auto body filler, if necessary. If you want to relocate the hinges or drawers of your hardware, fill in the old screw holes. Mix the filler in small batches, as it dries quickly, and make sure to overfill the holes, as it shrinks when it dries. Sand it smooth once completely dried.
  5. Gather your supplies. Make sure that you have all the tools that will help you do the job.
    • Set up your brushes, rollers, trays, and paint in a central, easily accessible spot that you can reach with ease during the painting session.
    • Wear gloves if preferred; it saves your hands from paint coloring and if you might be allergic to any of the paint contents, the gloves will protect you.

Sanding, Priming, and Patching

  1. Sand with the grain of the cabinets using a 100-grit sandpaper. Use sandpaper, and do it by hand, as a hand sander won't be able to push the paper into the open grain. Hand sanders can also sand off too much grain and leave uneven surfaces.
    • Vacuum up the residue after going over the cabinets with the sandpaper. Any un-vacuumed or uncleaned residue will make its way into the final coat of paint — not a good thing.
    • Go over the vacuumed areas with a tack cloth, ensuring that all the residue has been wiped away. Unfold, and then crumble the tack cloth to grab more dust and residue.
  2. Prime. Priming is a very important step in painting cabinets, because raw wood may discolor or stain the paintwork if it has not been properly sealed. If you're priming on a tight-grained woods like maple or cherry, an oil- or shellac-based primer works fine. If you're priming on an open-grained wood like oak, you may need to use a thicker primer, such as brushing putty.
    • Start at the top of the cabinet and work your way down. Start off brushing against the grain and move back over the same spot, going with the grain.
    • Give the primer at least a day to dry.
    • Use a quality nylon-polyester brush to apply the primer. Understand that you may have to throw away your brush after each coat of primer, depending on the primer.
    • After the primer has dried, sand down any uneven surfaces using a random-orbit sander and 220-grit paper.
  3. Patch any holes with spackle and tape any open seams with caulk. Use vinyl spackle and a putty knife to fill any large holes, dents, dings, or scrapes. Go over open seams between wood with latex caulk, smoothing out the caulk with a dampened finger.
  4. Spot prime any necessary areas and sand over again. If you've spackled any areas, or have had burn through on your primer, spot prime these areas with spray-on primer and let dry. Once the primer has dried, go over it with 280-grit paper, using a light motion. Vacuum and go over areas with tack cloth again.

Painting

  1. Paint. Finally you are ready to apply the paint. Use brushes and/or rollers, depending on how much area you need to cover. Paint the edges of the cabinets first. Be careful to reach right into any finicky corners.
    • Use long, even strokes to prevent a mottled look. Be aware to remove any paint brush hairs or your own hairs that might fall onto the paintwork as you paint — they will cause unsightly ridges, and the paint will chip from these areas when knocked.
  2. Paint cabinet interiors before exteriors. Use a mini-roller to hit the inside of the cabinet, and wait for it to dry. Then go over the initial coat with a brand new brush, replacing the self hangers.
  3. Don't forget to paint the underside of the cabinets. This may mean contorting yourself a little bit, but it's worth it for achieving an overall even look.
  4. Paint the doors separately from the cabinets. It is up to you where you feel most comfortable doing this; it might be on the floor over the drop cloth or perhaps resting on something else, such as a workbench. Paint one side of each door at a time (allow one side to dry before attempting the other).
  5. Allow the frame of the cabinets to dry before returning the finished doors and mounting pieces. Professional contractors may hang the cabinets to dry, so that no contamination or rub-off occurs. It is often a good idea to wait for good daylight (even if this means waiting until the next day) to check that you haven't missed anything or have uneven patches of paintwork.



Tips

  • Use a shellac-based primer. It smells stronger than water-based primer, but does a far superior job of sealing the woodgrain.
  • Label the cabinet doors, pulls, hardware, etc, with masking tape so you will have no problems returning them to their proper place.
  • Experiment with different finishes, such as crackle paint, faux finishes, and stencils.

Warnings

  • Be sure to clean brushes/rollers extremely well after using primer and before using those tools for paint.
  • Keep the room well-ventilated; have windows open and an airflow in the room when painting to avoid being affected negatively by the paint.

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Sources and Citations

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