Spraying Kitchen Cabinets

[Joe Stansley]

Hello All:

I need some advice on finishing kitchen cabinets and no better place to seek advice than here. I just finished building my cabinets. Not perfect but overall happy with how they came out. Now finishing anxiety has set in. Put a lot of time and effort into them and don't want to screw up the finish.

A long time ago, I told my wife for every project I knock off her list, I get a tool by which to accomplish it. After 20 years, she got a lot of projects out of me and I got a nice shop. Anyway, this one got me a new Fuji HVLP system for which I will use to finish these cabinets. With that said, they are constructed of maple plywood boxes and drawers, hard maple face frames, doors and drawer fronts. She wants them clear interiors and white exterior (semi-gloss). I've plowed through quite a few articles and forums about finishing and thought I'd ask here.

I'm leaning towards lacquer but thought to get some input from those more experienced than I with finishing kitchen cabinets. I'm looking for durability and something that's a little forgiving to apply. Never sprayed lacquer before and not sure if this would be the right choice. Then there's the question of water based or NC, sealer no sealer etc. I've just finished reading through another forum about this and came out more confused. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks again for all those taking the time to put there knowledge and experience out there for the rest of us.


Joe

[John TenEyck]

Paint? You are a glutten for punishment. Be prepared for a lot of sanding, filling, inspection, priming, inspection, etc. etc. Anyway, I'd use BIN Shellac based primer followed by BM's Advance or GF's White Pigmented Poly. Both products can be tinted to any color you want. The GF product has lower viscosity and will be easier to spray with an HVLP rig. Both products are waterborne and I would not consider anything else in my home shop.

For the interiors I would use GF's Enduro Clear Poly, optionally over Sealcoat shellac. Clear Poly is water clear; if you prefer the amber tint of NC lacquer seal with Sealcoat shellac first.

John

[Jim Becker]

Unless you have proper spraying facilities, you really don't want to be spraying solvent-based lacquers, etc, for safety reasons. Plenty of folks do, but that's their individual choice. Today's water borne finishes come in a variety of formulas that make for a nice finish on kitchen cabinetry. General Finishes and Target Coatings, for example, both have a number of products that will work well for this purpose. I'll also mention Benjamin Moore Advance if you're looking for color. It's a water borne alkyd paint that can be tinted to pretty much any color under the sun and it sprays well. I just used it for the upper cabinets for my kitchen refresh and the result was outstanding...both for the doors I sprayed and for the face frames that I brushed since this was cabinetry I built in 2003 and was in use since. (cleaned and primed properly) The original finish was Target Coatings PSL (which became USL which became 6000) and that was sprayed. I can't complain in any way about the durability and pounding it took over the last decade.

"After" photo with the BM Advance on the uppers. (lowers SW Proclassic brushed)

[Jamie Buxton]

My HVLP system puts out a lot of air. It puts out so much that if I attempt to spray into a closed space like a cabinet upper, the air blows all the finish back into my face. I build cabinets without a back, spray the back separately, and staple it on after. Same thing for drawers, except that the bottoms slide in from the back after finishing.

[Justin Jump]

Joe,

See my thread link below, it’s fairly recent. I am currently wrapping up the painting end of my kitchen cabinet remodel. If you can spray, I would recommend that route. I would say though that I would setup in a garage or separate space if you could, do not spray my schedule in your basement or around furnace, hot water tank, etc. the primer is alcohol based.

I sprayed my primer, BIN Shellac using a harbor freight gun, and I sprayed my top coat using a Devlibiss Finishline 4 HVLP with a 2.2mm tip. I built smaller projects using what I will call the "top 3" paints that I have read and researched, mostly here and a few other sites. They were SW Proclassic (the acrylic alkyd), I used a quart of BM Advance for a small table, and I used INSL-X Cabinet Coat (recommended by a professional cabinet painter).

The good thing about these and they are all commonly available from local paint stores, and the 3 choices gives you basically unlimited color choices. The proclassic and cabinet coat are lighter pastel colors, and the BM Advance can go darker of that is your taste.

The SW Proclassic was a bit easier to spray, but I like the finish better from the Cabinet Coat, so I ended up using that.

Let me also say that the tech people from Cabinet Coat state that cabinet coat is self-priming, and I did have good success using a brush to apply it to a vanity, but I opted for spraying for my cabinets for speed and consistency. I have read good results too for applying SW Proclassic with a brush.

Whichever you choose, samples and practice…..

For the carcasses, I used pre-finished maple, if you have to finish or spray those, look around, I have not attempted spraying into a box….

Here was my schedule…….

Everything sanded to 120
Filled any noticeable gaps, cracks, etc before primer, sanded filler
First primer coat (shellac, thinned 10% with DA)
Went through again with putty and any other gaps, cracks, blemished that showed up after primer.
Sanded primer with 220, smoothed everything up
Sprayed a coat of touch up primer where needed
Sanded again with 220 – very lightly
Wiped everything down with tack cloth first time, when spraying individual pieces, I wiped down again
Sprayed 2 coats of Cabinet Coat, thinned 10% with each distilled water and Floetrol.

Since I used the 3M PPS system, and the cups and measuring chart it uses goes to 24 ounces, I used 2.4 ounces of water and 2.4 ounces of floetrol and then filled to the 24 ounces on the cup. This was a bit more thinning than I wanted to do, but it did get the Cabinet Coat flowing nice. Most of the tips and advice and experience I got from here Jeff Jewitt’s book, spray finishing.

I think if you use the tips in that book, and the advice of the others that have been through it, I think you will turn out a good product.

Here are a few pics of my base cabinets installed, countertop template guy comes today actually!!

Glad to offer any advice if I can…..



http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...paint-cabinets


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