Painting kitchen doors/cabinets

[Matt Day]

As part of a kitchen renovation, not a full redo, we’re painting our ‘90’s kitchen cabinets white. Might sound like heresy, but though our cabs are fine they look boring and drab. I’ll replace all the hinges and slides as well with soft close.

I’ve gotten prices from contractors to paint the cabinets and they want $5k - $6k!! Sure I know there’s a lot of prep sanding and a lot of doors/drawers to spray and taping and all that, but wow that’s a lot. Especially something I can do. I have a little 10x10 pop up spray booth I use in my garage and a Qualspray HVLP gun with PPS, and some cheaper guns like a Critter. Anyway, I should be able to do this job and save some money. But, what should I spray? And I’d plan to brush/roll the face frames and how would I match that?

Thanks for any advice.

[John TenEyck]

Go to the Finishing forum. There's a current thread on this very subject.

John

[Mel Fulks]

Only once hired painters for an interior ...in laws paid for it. The painter boss was always on the job, not out giving estimates, just painting our house.
Nothing was sprayed ,but it all looked sprayed. But I don't mind some brush marks. Long time ago one criterion for good
paint job was "ropyness " AKA brush marks ,it was a sign of quality, it showed it was not thinned down. Any guest who
criticises white, should get a black steak! And I would never paint a room something currently "popular". Yes white had a
good run , but that was some years back. It's OK to use it again.

[Bill Dufour]

Since you are replacing hinges anyway remove before painting, reduces masking. cleaning all the grease off is a big part of the prep work. TSP I what I would use. My mother said that the sunny yellow color is good since it does not show the grease makes it easier to clean.
Bil lD

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I painted the cabinets in our kitchen when we built the house. I pulled off all the door and drawer fronts and masked off the slab in the kitchen. The only thing in there were the cabinet carcasses. Even in that state it was a lot of work. Your estimate sounds right.

[Jim Dwight]

My go to finish for something like a kitchen cabinet that will see significant wear is white tinted Resisthane. I spray it with a Fuji 3 stage mini-mite. It dries quickly and I can normally do three coats in a day even with sanding in between. But you will have to suspend the drawers and drawer fronts so you can spray all the sides to facilitate that. I aldo use the compatible primer which is needed to cover up any different color areas (the resisthane remains at least a little transparent even with the tinting). You might be able to roll this finish but it dries so quickly I have not attempted it.

[Mitchell Ristine]

I sprayed my cabinets with a graco 390. I used Sherwin williams pro classic Alkyd Interior Enamel. I brushed the face frames (cannot tell I did). I removed all the hardware, built a spray booth in the garage.

LOTS of prep work. Sanding, grain filling, sanding, paint, knockdown, paint, paint, paint. Sand with 1200 grit wet dry paper. They looked great.

It is doable, but a ton of work. Better than spending 5k.

[julian abram]

As Mitchell mentioned, I have used Sherwin Williams pro classic Alkyd Interior Enamel on cabinets as well. Mostly spraying it but have rolled some areas with a 6" foam roller and could not tell it was not sprayed. It lays done nice where sprayed, brushed of rolled.

[Bradley Gray]

Matt, If you are used to spraying varnish, look at tinted poly.

I used Hydrocote (Hood Finishing Supply) white water base poly for some plywood store displays. I'm used to doing clear poly and the white sprayed and sanded like varnish.

[Lloyd McKinlay]

You never know what cleaners or products have been used on cabinets. Clean with TSP and use a pigmented shellac as a primer (it won't fisheye). I always used a waterborne pigmented lacquer as a topcoat. Much harder surface than most paints. I generally use topcoats from ML Campbell.

[Jim Becker]

Matt, my recommendation is to use a finish that you can both spray and hand-apply...doors and drawer fronts sprayed in your booth and cabinets in-situ hand-applied. (brush/roller/pad) Spraying installed cabinets is not for the faint at heart. You want a finish that's appropriate for the job, too, because kitchens are a harsh environment. I've used SW ProClassic in my own kitchen to refurbish historically. I'd really give consideration to the new Emerald Urethane trim paint product that's been mentioned here frequently lately and my understanding is that it sprays really well and dries much faster than BM's Advance which I have also used in the past.

The most important thing you will do for this project, however, is....clean, clean, clean, scrub, clean...before you even think of applying your primer and paint. Grease/oils/dirt from cooking and from peoples hands pretty much cover a kitchen's cabinets, even away from the range. You shouldn't have to do a lot of sanding, other than to remove any damaged finish as a good high-adhesion primer will cover even glossy finish well....IF it is properly cleaned. Did I happen to mention cleaning?