So you have decided that your kitchen needs sprucing up. Painting your kitchen cabinets is often the best place to start. The build up of grease, soot, and food particles is a gradual process and you may not realize how much they need cleaning until you give them a long hard look. So let’s look at how to go about it.
Painting wood or metal kitchen cabinets isn’t rocket science, but that doesn’t mean you can just buy paint and a brush and get started. There are a few simple rules to follow, but once you know how to paint kitchen cabinets, it will be a breeze. Let’s look at the process step by step.
Painting kitchen cabinets
1. Can your kitchen cabinets be easily removed from the wall? If so, you may find it easier to remove them and work on them on a newspaper-covered floor.
2. Whether you dismantle them or not, you must clean them. This is not just wiping them with a damp cloth. I mean we really clean them to get rid of the grease, food particles and all the dirt that has accumulated over time.
3. Use a good all-purpose cleaner to remove all accumulated dirt. If necessary do this twice.
4. Once you have finished cleaning the cupboards, let them dry completely.
5. Cleaning the cabinet doors is easier if the doors and hinges are removed from the cabinet body. Placing them on a flat surface ensures that they don’t move while you’re rubbing them. This also makes cleaning the thinner facing pieces of the cabinet body easier to clean.
6. Make sure all countertops, appliances and floors are covered before you start.
7. Once they are clean, you get to the first step in painting the kitchen cabinets – sanding them. Use fine sandpaper to rub over the entire cabinet. Try and make sure you sand the nooks and crannies as well. Don’t forget the areas that face where you removed the doors. Sanding helps remove previous coats of paint or varnish from the surface of the cabinet and allows the layers of paint and primer to be applied to better grip. This reduces the chances of the paint peeling and peeling and also strengthens the paint coating to withstand the bread for utensils that are moved around in the cabinet. This is a very important step, so don’t overlook it. Try sanding the surface until you see bare wood or metal. You can do this by hand or use a high power sanding machine.
8. Once you finish sanding you need to apply a coat of primer to the surfaces. This is another very important step. The primer helps the paint bond with the material of your cabinets and makes for a long lasting finish.
9. Check with your hardware store for the right combination of paint and primer to use. Some products have a strong smell so be prepared to ventilate the kitchen if you are painting there.
10. By now your cabinets probably look awful. Don’t worry – you’ve just laid the foundation for a great paint job. So start drawing.
11. The best way to paint kitchen cabinets is by using a pneumatic sprayer. If you can’t get one, using a high quality 2 1/2″ to 3″ brush will work just fine.
12. By now you can feel that you finish the job quickly by applying a thick coat. Don’t you! It will peel off. Multiple thin coats of paint are best.
13. Allow the first coat of paint to dry completely and using very fine grit sandpaper, lightly sand the fresh surface – not to remove the paint but so that the next coat has a smooth surface. You don’t need to do this for metal kitchen cabinets.
14. Two coats of paint is usually enough but if your cabinets are made of heavy grain wood like oak, 3 coats will give you a better finish.
15. Once everything is dry, reattach the doors and replace the cabinets on the wall, if you have removed them.
And as you paint kitchen cabinets. In case you think you can’t do it yourself, get a professional to do the job.
