kitchen cabinet paint schedule

[Howard Pollack]

I have kitchen cabinets that came from a big-box store that are now old and crappy looking. I'd like to paint over the finish. Can someone please tell me the steps to go through to get a good, clean, hard paint finish? Thanks. -Howard

[Scott E. Maxwell]

Hey Howard!
I am assuming that the cabinets were originally stained and clear coated with a varnish of some sort. In order to have a good paint job, the first step is always to clean the surface to remove surface contaminants. TSP (trisodium phosphate) and a sponge will normally be enough to get it clean. Try not to get surfaces overly wet. Let surface dry completely. If the finish has shiny areas, then the surface should be sanded with fine sandpaper just enough to remove the sheen. Sanding dust will need to be removed. A vacuum and a damp cloth does fine. Allow wood to dry. The next step would be to prime the surface. A stain blocking primer is needed here. An oil based or Shellac based primer does best for keeping the stain and tannin in the wood from bleeding through to the finish coat. After the primer has dried then apply the finish. An oil based paint will give you the most durable finish. If you are planning on painting the cabinets white, take note that an oil based paint will yellow with age and white will become dingy looking as it ages. A waterbased enamel, though usually not as hard of a finish as an oil based paint will not yellow as quickly as an oil based and the difference in the hardness is usually not enough to be an issue. There is no compatability issues with putting a waterbased coating over an oil based primer as long as the primer is dry and no longer tacky.

Hope this helps.

Scott

[George Octon]

Cover everything- newspapers are good for the counters-tape them in place. At some point the floors.

Remove doors - it takes time but it gives a much better job. You can then paint the doors on the horizontal - laid on something, but one side at a time if laid down, both if leaned up.

Clean - TSP is good

Sand - thoroughly, probably 220 ish - you decide the grit-enough to flatten out but not deep scratch. Might have to rig something to minimize dust inside cabinets (can be done). Bigger areas would be easier by machine, especially w/ vacuum sander, others or whole by hand.

Vacuum thoroughly and damp cloth is good too.

You do not have to prime - obviously they have already been primed (the finish on them). It might take 3 finish coats. For me oil base (and semi). For a non-skilled painter, you would probably want to roll as much as you can and leave it instead of hand brushing. If you thin the paint and use a ver short nap roller (probably 3/16"), you should get a pretty good finish by just rolling. Paint will have to be thinned and rolled out thin, not heavy.

[Scott E. Maxwell]

I do agree that varnish does provide a barrier between a stained surface and a paint finish. The problem that can occur is if the varnish is damaged or worn through, then the barrier is no longer there and discoloration of the paint film will result. The primer will also provide better adhesion for the finish coat to the varnish and help the finish to resist chipping. If the waterbased finish is being considered then the primer is necessary for good adhesion.

[George Octon]

Primers are harder to get a smooth finish out of than finish paints, they don't level near as well.

But...if you use say pigmented shellac (BIN by Zinsser I think), you could get your coats built up really quick and get things moving. I think It would be hard to get real smooth though, but... A standard oil base primer would dry just about as slow as the oil base finish paint.