Painting Wood Cabinets

Paint the first coat on the cabinet frames.

Painting wood cabinets. If your cabinets are laminate skip the sanding and apply a bonding primer to help your paint stick. Wood cabinets are ideal for painting but any surface that can be scuffed with sandpaper can be painted. Choose a high quality paint. Follow a simple if time consuming six step process to paint your wood cabinets with fabulously smooth results.

Maple is a strong competitor though. Associated fabrication over the years poplar was the preferred choice of wood for painted cabinets. Paint photography by elaina sullivan. Special cabinet paints are available that provide a smooth finish but any high quality paint should work.

Mask off the interiors with painters tape for a clean finish and sand only the front surfaces and visible edges of the cabinet face. We re talking hours days even weeks to complete a set of kitchen cabinets. Use a wood sanding block to prevent rounding over the wood edges image 2. Paint adheres best over a scuffed surface making true wood cabinets a great candidate for painting sand the surface to prep it for paint and the result is a better bond and smoother finish.

Use a paint brush and a roller to get your first coat of paint on the cabinet frames. Benjamin moore advance is strongly recommended by our pros work in long vertical strokes. Painting cabinets is not an easy task. If you can paint your kitchen cabinets in a matter of days then 1 you re a super hero or 2 you obviously don t have small children.

The secrets to this transformation are proper technique and the right tools and materials and keep in mind that once the cabinet surfaces are covered the only thing that shows is the paint job. Laminate cabinets require a special bonding primer. Lightly sand the doors on all sides and faces image 1. Next i painted the cabinet doors and drawer fronts and let everything dry thoroughly.

Although the project source cabinets from lowe s are constructed quite well the grain of the low grade wood kept popping from the moisture of the primer and paint. The reason for this is that poplar tends to fuzz up during sanding. Plastic laminate cabinets might not accept a topcoat of paint those that can be refinished often require special paints and techniques and results can vary. This is especially important if your wood cabinets are already stained or have a glossy finish you will need to get through this finish layer first either with sandpaper or a liquid.

If your cabinets are already painted after sanding you may need to use a paint thinner to strip the existing paint before painting the primer. After the first coat i sanded with a fine grit sponge again. Poplar poplar wood image. Wood wood laminate and metal cabinets usually can be repainted without difficulty.

If your repainting project is just a facelift for the cabinets you don t need to sand and paint the inside of the cabinets. Wipe or vacuum surfaces to clean off the sanding dust. The laminate must be in good condition for best results.