Ready to give your cabinets a major facelift? Painting your cabinets helps transform your kitchen and breathes new life into faded cabinets.
As with most projects, it’s not quite as simple as just grabbing some paint and a brush. If you want the finished cabinets to look amazing, there are some important things to consider.
A little preparation before you start painting ensures your cabinets look as great or even better than you imagined.
1. How Long The Project Takes
Even with quick drying paint, you’re still looking at least a full weekend when it comes to painting your cabinets. For most, set aside three days to a week to complete the project. This gives you time to prepare the cabinets, paint them, let them dry, and reassemble everything.
In the meantime, make arrangements for where you’ll store everything that’s in your cabinets and how or if you’ll use the kitchen during the process. This might be a great week for just eating out.
2. Take Everything Apart
The next thing to do is take everything apart. You might want to hurry things along and just paint over the hinges or try to tape over them. However, it’s much easier to just take the doors off of the cabinets. Remove all hardware. Painting over hinges just leads to flaking and stuck hinges.
To make life easier, label everything so you know where it goes. You can work on painting your cabinets one section at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed. This is also a great time to declutter your kitchen.
3.Clean Cabinets Thoroughly
A common reason paint doesn’t stick well to cabinets is they’re not clean when you start. This can lead to discolored spots, fading, chipping and other annoying issues. It’s always best to start with a clean slate to remove any grease, dirt and lint that might be on your cabinets. Take time to thoroughly clean your cabinets.
If there’s a layer of paint already there, you’ll need to strip the paint. Make sure you remove all the paint before repainting. Otherwise, the old paint can flake, taking your new paint with it.
4. Smooth Out Rough Spots
While you might not even be able to see it, your cabinets likely have some rough spots. It could be a small scratch on the bottom of a door or a rough area at the edge of the door where you open and close it. Paint needs a smooth surface to apply and dry evenly.
Sand your cabinets lightly to remove rough spots. For scratches and chips, use wood filler to smooth them out. This prevents darker areas on your cabinets when you paint.
5. Priming The Wood For Paint
When painting your cabinets, you’ll need to start by priming the wood first. Custom cabinets typically use real wood, especially for the doors. Pre-fabricated cabinets might use particle board or something similar. Pick a primer that’s made for your type of cabinet.
Primer creates a better surface for the paint, making it last much longer. You can save time and money by choosing a paint that has primer built-in. Pay attention to any special instructions when applying primer or using a primer/paint mix.
6. Choose A Quality Paint
The single most important thing to consider when painting your cabinets is choosing a quality paint. Don’t just grab the cheapest bucket you can find. Talk with a paint expert at your local hardware or paint supply store. See what they recommend and what customers like best. You can also research brands online first to see what brands and types hold up the longest.
Choosing a cheap, low-quality paint means you’ll need repaint sooner rather than later. You’re also more likely to end up with streaks. Cheaper paints might also have a stronger odor, making it more difficult to paint your cabinets.
7. Avoiding Brush Strokes
Typically, you’d just grab a brush, dip in the paint and start painting. But, if you don’t use the right type of brush, you could end up with noticeable brush strokes. This just ruins all your hard work. Instead, opt for an angular brush and foam roller. Fusion Mineral Paint and Pro Paint Corner both have great guides to avoid brush strokes.
Want custom cabinets that are already painted and ready to install? Contact Edgewood Cabinetry today to get your cabinet project started.
Image: Roselyn Tirado
