A fairly easy way to renovate your kitchen without doing major renovations is to paint kitchen cabinets. The new coat of paint can make worn kitchen cabinets look like new again. However thorough preparation is the key to painting them successfully. In this article, we will teach you to step by step how to paint your kitchen cabinets. Follow our instructions and after finishing no one will believe you that you did not spend a fortune to remodel your kitchen but that it is simply a new coat of paint. Let’s do it! How to paint kitchen cabinets?

Paint Kitchen Cabinets Easily and Quickly

Step 1: Rate the Job

Kitchen cabinets made of wood, laminated wood, or metal usually be repainted without difficulty. Plastic laminate cabinets are resistant to paint or if paintable they require special paints and techniques, and results may vary. If your kitchen cabinets have laminated plastic surfaces, first consult with an experienced paint dealer and test a sample of the paint you want to use in an inconspicuous area to make sure it will adhere to the material.

Flat front doors and drawers can be easily repainted, but carved details or other textured surfaces will require more time to prepare and paint. If the wood is warped, worn, or damaged, or is falling apart at the joints it is best to choose to buy new unfinished doors and drawers and paint them along with existing kitchen cabinets that are in better condition.

Methods of painting kitchen cabinets include spraying, rolling, or painting with a natural or synthetic bristle brush or foam brush. They all have their advantages and disadvantages; choose the one that is most suitable for the surfaces to be painted and your own style of work. The method of painting can also depend on the type of paint or finish you choose.

Step 2: Remove Cabinet and Drawer Handles

Begin by removing kitchen cabinet doors and drawers, and remove all handles, latches, and other hardware from these parts. Put all these things and the screws in plastic bags inside the cabinets, where they will be easy to locate when you are ready to reassemble everything Number each door and its corresponding location as you disassemble them. Do not mix them otherwise the hinges may not match when you reinstall. If you only want to paint the drawer fronts, you won’t have to completely disassemble them. If you need to remove the rails, mark them and their locations as well.

Third 3: clean the surfaces

Kitchens are work areas, so grease, steam, and food splatters are everywhere. Before you start sanding or painting, clean all surfaces with a solution made from one part disodium phosphate to four parts water. Rinse, but don’t soak the cabinets. Let them dry completely before proceeding further.

Step 4: sand

Lightly sand the doors on all sides and faces. Use a wood sanding block to avoid rounding on the edges of the wood. If your repainting project is just a kitchen cabinet facelift, you don’t need to sand and paint the inside of the cabinets. Protect the interiors with tape and sand only the front surfaces and visible edges of the cabinet fronts.

When sanding, it is not necessary to remove all the old paint if it is solid and well adhered; simply scrape the surface to give the new paint a firm, clean base for better adhesion. Pay particular attention to the particularly worn areas of the antique finish, which are often the most used. If the old paint is peeling in places this indicates that it did not adhere well to the surface of the wood. This is usually due to moisture or greasy residue getting under the paint layer, which can be expected in kitchens. Sand these areas down to bare wood and apply an anti-stain sealer before recoating. Wherever you sand down to bare wood, try to smooth the edges where the old paint meets the wood so that the new paint lies flat and the edges of the paint are not visible.

Completely vacuum sanding dust from all surfaces. If you have a pneumatic air compressor, use high-pressure air to blow dust out of cracks or carved details. Wipe the areas to be painted with a cloth to remove any remaining sanding residue.

Step 5: Apply the sealer primer

Apply an even coat of primer to all surfaces to ensure a well-adhered coat of paint. Sealer primers also reduce the need to sand and degrease old finishes before repainting.

Another advantage of the primer is that it provides a good base for water-based semi-gloss paint. High-gloss paint used to be the preferred finish for kitchen cabinets because it was stain and water-resistant and cleaned easily, but today’s water-based paints are easier to work with and provide an equally durable finish.

Step 6: Paint

Start by painting the inside edges and door frame openings, then move on to the outside parts and finally paint the fronts. This will allow you to work more quickly in the less critical areas and see and correct any drops or stains in the most visible areas in time.

Next, paint the fronts of the doors and drawers. If these parts have uneven surfaces, carefully cover the cracks and corners with paint, but do not allow them to accumulate at these points.

Always apply paint in thin layers, but covering all areas. Thin layers leave fewer visible brushstrokes and dry faster. Don’t make a thick coat and don’t brush too hard – more brush strokes will create air bubbles in the paint, which will become blemishes when it dries.

Let the paint dry for at least four hours between coats. When everything is dry, move all surfaces slightly to prepare them for the second coat. Usually, two coats of quality paint kitchen cabinets are needed, but you may want to add a third coat because kitchen cabinets are exposed to kitchen heat and daily use and wood surfaces need all the protection they can get.