Wife wants to paint the kitchen cabinets

[Greg Scull]

So my dream of creating brand new cherry kitchen cabinets is likely going to be put on hold for this house. LOML is asking that we just paint our builder oak cabinets white and change out the counter tops.

I have some bowling alley (Maple) I was hoping to re-purpose to make a new kitchen island countertop and was planning to re-tile the rest of my counter tops.

I guess my question isn't necessarily a wood working one or a power tool one but. How would you go about painting these white?

HVLP gun? Oil based primer? what about the oak pores? I am reading some older threads about different processes used on painting oak cabinets now. I figured I would ask the painting tool question:

I do have an air compressor but no spray gun as of current. The compressor I have wasn't able to power a gravity fed gun when I was doing auto body for much more than primer. ( I would never trust it with paint coats ).

What kind of (budget ish) paint sprayer should I be considering for this application?
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Thanks for any and all input.

[Andrew Howe]

We used sherwin Williams high adhesion primer and a high quality paint from tthem
I had the guy sand them and I drilled the backs of them to put in hidden hinges. Our cabinets were 1988 oak cabinets of good quality.
Paint was excellent. You can get some really smooth finishes with the small foam rollers for the frames and the guy sprayed the doors with I think an electric sprayer

Only complaint is the general contractor who reinstalled them slightly cracked a few frames because he was too lazy to drill
Pilot holes for the new screws. His solution. Use tiny screw that I have had to replace over the last 10 months

[Steve Schoene]

First clean the cabinets well using TSP to get all the water soluble dirt. Then scrub down with copious amounts of naptha to get the oil soluble dirt. Without stripping the old finish filling the oak pores will be tough I'd think because the old finish will keep pore filler from bonding in the pores. Remember that while you can, and should, remove the doors and hardware for painting, the face frames really aren't practical to remove, which really limits the ability to spray the new finish on them. That could mean an oil based enamel, applied by hand (fine rollers are useful) followed by some form of rubbing out since the slow drying oil based enamel will collect dust nibs. Alternatively, a good waterborne pigmented finish designed specifically for spraying, such as those from Target or Enduro, could be sprayed on doors, and with a little practice hand applied on the face frames. Consult the manufacturer of the finish for the appropriate primer.

[Chip Lindley]

Ugh! White!!!

Umm...should the new paint job turn out to be "less than immaculate" you might still get the chance to build your cherry kitchen! *wink*

[Scott Hildenbrand]

Truth be told, I don't see much wrong with those cabinets. Granted they are builder cabinets, but the doors are not hanging and there's no busted up areas...

Hell, my uppers have this nice 5 degree tilt to them away from the wall that someone had siliconed shut and painted. Now those.. Those need redone ASAP.. These things? Some paint slapped on (GOOD) will do some good, indeed.

Good luck either way.

[Phil Thien]

I haven't tried this product, but thought I'd toss it out there as possibly something that can be done by someone without a big compressor and high-end gun:

http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/

[Shawn Christ]

Greg, regarding sprayers, I am not an expert and just recently started spraying my projects. But since you mentioned budget(ish), I thought I would chime in. I own two budget sprayers and am happy with both:

Critter siphon gun ($35 at Amazon). Great reviews, uses handy/inexpensive mason jars to store your finish, and easy cleanup. Good results without much practice. Downfalls include small pattern and lots of overspray because it is a conventional sprayer.

Central Pneumatic 66222 HVLP gravity gun ($60 at Harbor Freight). Also great reviews, and you can get it for $40 on sale. This is the "professional" version which has stainless and brass fittings. The specs call for a high-CFM compressor, but my smallish Porter-Cable Job Boss compressor (with 6.0 CFM @ 90 PSI) runs it just fine. Make sure you read the instructions, particularly about regulating to a lower pressure. And practice... Good luck!

[Mark Hultzapple]

Greg, I have painted several cabinets using the techniques discussed in previous posts and have had success initially for a nice finish. The cabinets I finished were for a rental property so I didn't want to put a lot of expense in new cabinets so opted to paint. The problem I have is the durability of the painted finish with daily handling of door edges, areas around the pulls etc. Paint, especially white, shows dirt and grime and some of the areas especially around the pulls shows wear. I'm not an expert painter by any means and perhaps the Lowes Valspar paint (latex with shelac primer) had something to do with durability. So for the amount of work involved be sure to get the toughest, scrubbable paint available which is probably going to be oil based. One last thing, be sure and read the labels of the paint to ensure compatability with TSP and rinsing agent. If you don't rinse TSP well enough the paint could react with the TSP residue. One more bit of advice, do some testing of your procedure on one or two doors before tackling all the doors. It might save you some work if you run into a problem. Good luck!

[Don Alexander]

How would you go about painting these white?

what has worked well for me several times is use a mild cleaner and wash them down thoroughly when dry prime them with KILZ (will stick to almost anything ) ; i use a top quality brush because spraying is a pain IMO , but spraying works too ; 1 advantage of using KILZ is that you do not have to worry about the existing finish because KILZ will stick to it very well ; apply as many coats of paint as required to achieve the desired look usually 2 coats is enough to produce a very nice finish

i like the low odor version of KILZ

and use a quality OIL based paint it holds up to the handling that cabinets get better than latex at least semi-gloss for cleaning purposes
flat will look dingy in a hurry

[Larry Edgerton]

At this time I would rate the Sherwin Williams adhesion promoting primer as the best easily sorced primer. Far, far and away better than Kilz. Word of advise when using it, give it a few days before recoat. It seems it isn't sticking with a fingernail test the first day, but in about four days you can't scratch it off. I use it under paint on Azek [plastic] with no problems.

[Casey Gooding]

Thorough cleaning is the first step. With finished cabinets, you could fill most of the pores with a few coats of shellac. I know lots of people will disagree with me, but I like Behr Ultra in Semi-Gloss. This paint has built in primer and is plenty tough. I've never had any problems with the doors or drawers sticking to the face frame like you can run into with latex paint. A good foam roller will give a nice smooth finish.

[Phil Thien]

At this time I would rate the Sherwin Williams adhesion promoting primer as the best easily sorced primer.

Have you ever tried XIM?

I swear XIM is primer mixed with some sort of glue.

[Phil Phelps]

Stop! Go to a real paint store for real professional answers. Stay away from the home centers and rethink what you are doing. Whatever color you choose to use on the cabinets, the oak grain will telegraph through the paint. I doubt you will want to fill all the pores in the doors and carcass. You don't need to spray them, either. There are many ways to finish those cabinets that can be very appealing. Straight white paint over oak isn't one of them. The last sentence is simply my opinion. Cash in on the rest. Good luck.

[Tim Sproul]

As Phil said, the oak grain will be very apparent through the white paint unless you go through a grain filling process. Grain filling for this situation is probably not worth it. Talk to your wife. Most times that peoPle want painted cabinets, they envision smooth painted surfaces, not oak grain painted surfaces.

Take a scrap of oak and a scrap of maple or even mdf. Paint both white and show them to her. Which is she expecting the cabinets to look like? Use decent sized scrap - a panel would be best.

[Greg Scull]

As Phil said, the oak grain will be very apparent through the white paint unless you go through a grain filling process. Grain filling for this situation is probably not worth it. Talk to your wife. Most times that peoPle want painted cabinets, they envision smooth painted surfaces, not oak grain painted surfaces.

She knows it requires grain filling and wants smooth surface. I know that she has no idea how much work all that sanding will be. I have been contemplating leaving the boxes and just filling the grain on the face frames and covering the ends with bead board and Newell posts to hide the joint and buying paint ready replacement doors to save all the prep time on the doors but have no idea yet what that will cost.

Lots of good feedback. Thanks a bunch.

Shawn: thanks for the tip on the HF spray gun. I thought I was done with my HF purchases for now and wasn't aware of it as a "HF Gem" Even if I don't end up spraying the doors I might just find some uses for it.

This is what she has in mind ( minus the glazing) and they started as builder oak cabinets.