Painting new raw kitchen cabinets

[Dale Murray]

Currently researching finish options for new, yet to be built by me, kitchen cabinetry. (plan to start in 2015)

Due to lack of natural light I would like to have white cabinets. I'm having difficulty finding information on painting brand new kitchen cabinets with a durable satin/gloss finish. I can find all kinds of information on repainting installed cabinets but I want to know how the professional cabinet shops do this with brand new builds.

These will be painted prior to installation.
I am open to using whatever woods will react best with a paint finish.
I do not have a paint system and open to whatever will be best for the job. I do have a compressor and dryer for air supply.
I am even open to taking them to a professional paint booth/hiring a painter if it is impossible for me to get the "professional" results in a garage.
I am not opposed to solvent based paint.

[David Eisenhauer]

Cabinet shops in my neck of the woods typically use poplar or soft maple for paint grade cabinets (if using wood) and shoot the color on, then a few coats of a clear topcoat for protection/moisture resistance over the color. To get that "smooth" professional paint job look, you will need to fill all imperfections (dimples, dents, tiny splits/cracks, etc) with a spackle designed for the purpose. Many finishers spackle the obvious, put a coat of primer on, use a light to find the less obvious imperfections and put more spackle on, sand, then start the color coats. In reality, I found it harder to get a decent paint grade look than a stained/clear coated look when I first started building kitchen cabinets. It will certainly not hurt to get a cost quoted from a shop for the finishing so you can figure out if it is worth the effort for you to do the work or spend some $ to buy some finishing eqpt. I do know that my small shop cannot afford to send out the finishing, profit margins being what they are (or are not).

[Bill Neely]

I just got a quote for paint grade cabinet doors and drawers, both finished and unfinished. The cost of finishing was more than the drawer fronts/doors so it may be worth your while to learn how to paint.

[Dale Murray]

Thanks for the information.

I started looking for information on HVLP system and hoping to find a good book or website about the process. Sadly, most everything is about restoration (matching finishes), finishing (stains, shellacs, varnishes), or repainting existing installed cabinets.

I dont intend to start building until early next year but do not want to wait until then to start leaning.

I would prefer to have a few test pieces, obviously.

[Jim Becker]

The number one rule for this is "do not use 'house paint'" for your cabinets. You want either a 100% acrylic product or other waterborne product designed for the task if you will spray or an oil-based paint if you are going to brush/roll it on. And once you have your spray setup, practice, practice, practice before you commit to your real project pieces.

For HPLV, there are two major types: HPLV Conversion guns which are powered by a standard air compressor that is capable of supplying at least the minimum CFM required by the specific gun's specifications or a turbine-based HPLV system which is self-contained. Personally, I use the former with a relatively inexpensive Wagner gun as I have a 60 gallon compressor in my shop.

[Bill Neely]

I've used both a four stage turbine and conversion guns - I prefer the conversion guns. For acrylic paint or waterborne pigmented lacquer a pressure feed conversion gun and separate paint cup is IMO the most bang for your buck.

Jeff Jewitt's book/DVD 'Spray Finishing Made Easy' has a chapter on spraying paint and a lot of good information about setting up both HVLP and conversion guns.

[Rick Mosher]

Kitchens need a strong finish. There are shops doing brushed out cabinets and they are pretty popular, a quality oil based enamel should hold up quite well and be easy to do. Most commercial shops use a minimum of a pre-catalyzed lacquer (which you can get in colors) but the majority spray conversion varnish. CV is not really a finish to spray without a professional spray booth as it is pretty nasty. We use 2K urethane in our shop and again not recommended without a good spray booth. We use MDF and hard maple for our paint grade projects. Here would be a typical paint grade finish schedule:

Step 1: White wood sanding 180 grit with orbital sander

Step 2: Thinned coat of PA70 Urethane primer (I like a thin coat of primer so it is easy to spot and dents or voids that need to be filled)

Step 3: Spackle, bondo or caulk any holes, dents or voids. After drying scuff sand with 220 sandpaper and then spray a full wet coat of primer at least 4 wet mils.

Step 4: Orbital sand 400 grit until perfectly flat. For gloss work I use a powdered guide coat made by 3M to make sure I am perfectly flat.

Step 5: Spray Pigmented Urethane. For lower sheen finishes that it, I'm done for high gloss there is quite a bit more work after spraying

For bright or dark colors it is a good idea to have the primer tinted close to the final color.

[Dale Murray]

I had zero intentions of using "house paint", brushing with oil paint, or some other DIY type solution. I know durability is an issue in kitchens thus I want to make sure I make the proper preparations and take the proper steps and use the correct materials and tools. I also fully intend to test test test prior to this project.

I may have access to a professional spray booth and may even decide to have that booths owner paint for me. He does high end custom car painting, I have yet to see if he has experience with wood.

I had intended to use poplar for the face frames however your use of maple has me questioning this idea. Is there a particular reason for maple versus some other readily available material?

I will look into Jeff Jewitt's book.

Any other book or site recommendations?

[Rick Mosher]

The reason we don't use poplar is it is too soft and not very stable. Maple takes paint beautifully and is really hard. Could be a problem cutting if you don't have quality saw blades.

[Dale Murray]

Thanks for that bit of information - maple it is.

[Von Bickley]

For painted cabinets, I would use birch plywood with maple face frames.

For painting, I would hire a pro........

[Bill Neely]

Spray painting cabinets isn't beyond the scope of a woodworking hobbyist and you don't need a professional paint booth. For paint SW Proclassic is very durable and there are a number of waterborne pigmented coatings that are just a hard. Having an outside shop paint your cabinets is not going to be cheap. Pick a gun, get some primer, a paint/pigmented coating and practice.

[Dale Murray]

Interestingly I found and contacted a company nearby that does training, equipment sales, etc. Initially, going by their website, I thought it was a bit arts/crafts but maybe had some useful information. What I learned today when they called me is they do not have group classes but instead do one on one training for a given skill. So for cabinet painting they would bring in somebody who does it full time, they have a paint booth, supplies, etc, for training.

Also, if I just wanted to rent the paint booth for my project I can do that too and would have access to people on site if I run into trouble.

http://www.fauxbykathy.com/index.php <-- I was very impressed with what she was telling me over the phone today.

My goal is not to be cheap. Instead, it is to end up having cabinets far better than I could ever afford to purchase.

[Justin Jump]

Dale,

I am in your same situation right now. Initially, we were going to go with cherry cabinets stained, and then the wife saw painted cabinets at a home show, and changed the direction almost on the spot.

Like you, I will be doing this in my home shop, and I have been practicing on anything I can. My research has led me to this:

Definitely not using poplar, I already built a mock up using soft maple. With a better high quality blade, I should be able to get the cuts I need on my table saw, but expect some chip out on the planer and jointer, I have been having some even with new blades and light passes.

Pre-finished plywood for the boxes. I found a supply locally, and though expensive, the cost of finishing the boxes, as many will state, adds up pretty quickly. A poster advised that it’s nice to see painted white cabinets, to open the door to a natural finish. I will be using pre-finished ¾” maple sheets.

I am still on the fence about drawers though. I found a separate source for true baltic birch, but I want the finish to match. I may go with the original source where the ¾” is from, and get their ½” for the drawer boxes. I can always change it if I want.

Blum soft close hardware, drawers and doors.

OK – now the paint. Benjamin Moore sales a product called Cabinet Coat. I have been messing around with it, but not completely sold on it yet. My painter friend swears by it though. He doesn’t have a shop with a booth, but has offered to help, but he “brushes” everything on. I am researching some other products also, but I have only experimented with cabinet coat. The good thing – using prefinished for boxes and drawers, that leaves on the frames and doors, and drawer fronts to finish.

My mock up here – not painted yet.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...uild&highlight=

[Mark Blatter]

I had zero intentions of using "house paint", brushing with oil paint, or some other DIY type solution. I know durability is an issue in kitchens thus I want to make sure I make the proper preparations and take the proper steps and use the correct materials and tools. I also fully intend to test test test prior to this project.

I may have access to a professional spray booth and may even decide to have that booths owner paint for me. He does high end custom car painting, I have yet to see if he has experience with wood.

I had intended to use poplar for the face frames however your use of maple has me questioning this idea. Is there a particular reason for maple versus some other readily available material?

I will look into Jeff Jewitt's book.

Any other book or site recommendations?

Couple of thoughts.

First I just finished a set of cabinets and used poplar for the face frames and soft maple for the doors and drawers. Big mistake. I used the poplar because I had several hundred board feet of it so wanted to use some of it up. I always knew it was soft, but all I have to do is look at it with an irritated look and it dents, but that isn't the worst part. When I installed them I realized that even though I was being careful, I sanded in low spots and there are places where the frames don't match up as they should. If you want long lasting cabs that look great, use premium grade hard maple. I would not even use a soft maple, though it is better than poplar.

Second, we used to use tinted lacquer for paint. It covers well, and one done, you can shoot a couple of coats of clear lacquer as top coats.

Third, as other mentioned, you must fill every seam, every dent, crack and possible knot. Even the seams that look tight, will show up through the paint. My old shop used to charge a 50% surcharge for white paint. It was the most expensive finish job we could do. The 50% was on top of all other charges such as the added cost for the maple.