10 Things Nobody Tells You About Painting Kitchen Cabinets

All set to make a change in your kitchen, without having the expenditure and problem of sourcing and installing all-new every little thing? A new coat of paint on kitchen area cupboards, when done very well, can fully modify the seem of your kitchen—on a minimal spending budget. (If you have to have evidence, just see 6 Kitchen Cabinets Reworked with Paint.)

All set to get commenced? Listed here are 10 factors to know:

1. Wood is best.

When it will come to painting cupboards, any type of wooden will do. “Unfinished, painted, and stained wooden all perform well, as does MDF, compressed/faux wood,” states painter Albert Ridge in How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets: 5 Strategies from a Grasp Painter. But painting is pretty forgiving: “In truth, any material that you can scuff up with sandpaper so that paint adheres is feasible. That’s why laminates aren’t a excellent choice—you can paint them, but it won’t be very long-lasting. Be aware that stained wood and shiny finishes have to to start with be de-glossed I use a liquid sander, Wil-Bond, that’s applied with a rag.”

2. You’ll have to have to label each and every cupboard panel.

When having cabinet doors off of their hinges and drawers out of their slots, you are going to need to have to come up with a technique to don’t forget where by everything goes. Draw a little diagram and label each and every piece appropriately so you can quickly place them back in the right spots at the time they’re dry.

And, you are going to have to have tape: thoroughly protect hinges, hardware, and edges with painter’s tape, and countertops with rosin paper or brown builder’s paper. As with any paint task, the a lot more complete the prep, the greater the result.

3. Now is the time to deep-clean.

No, you simply cannot keep food in your cupboards when you paint the exteriors. But under no circumstances fear: now is also a excellent time to manage what you have. Remove every thing, lay it out (Marie Kondo design and style), and weed out unused merchandise. You’ll also require to acquire the time to clean up your cupboards thoroughly, inside and out, with a grease-chopping cleanser, to take away any residue or spills that have transpired over the yrs. Shop foodstuffs in a different place, if feasible, for the duration of the portray procedure, then return them, recently organized, as soon as your cupboards are completed and totally dry.

4. You can come again from black.

Of program you can very easily paint your white- or gentle-colored cabinets in a darker, trendy shade. But if you have grown worn out of dim gray (or the deep blue that was on trend a couple of many years ago see: Craze Notify: The Cult of the Blue Kitchen area), never concern: you can, with some hard work, return your cupboards to a lighter shade. The essential is in the primer: “Consider tinting the primer to match the ultimate color,” indicates painter Albert Ridge in How to Paint Kitchen Cupboards: 5 Ideas from a Learn Painter. “If your colour transition is severe, you may as a substitute insert a coat of underbody, these types of as Contemporary Start, a thicker, considerably less clear primer that hides much more (and can also be tinted). You can have the tinting done in the paint retail outlet I request 75 p.c of the remaining color, so it is lighter but shut.”

(Meredith painted her rest room black, then back again to white again her recommendations implement to the kitchen as effectively. Study on in Back from Black: Repainting the Bath from Dim to Light-weight.)

5. Use the really hard stuff.

For cupboards, forget about matte and eggshell finishes, and decide for semigloss, gloss, or satin instead—hardy finishes that are quick to clean up. “You want a surface that is long lasting and wipeable, so you will not be painting once again for at the very least a couple of years,” states Ridge.

6. The magic range? 2 to 2.5.

Fall the roller: to get the best complete on painted cupboards, use a two- to two-and-a-50 percent-inch great bristle brush alternatively, which can get in the compact corners and details. Or, if you will have to use a roller, locate a mini a person that will in shape handily on lesser surfaces, then go over with a brush to get rid of roller marks and get into any little spaces.

For far more foolproof portray suggestions, see Remodeling 101: 12 Crucial Tips for the Ideal Paint Occupation.

7. For a clear, brilliant look, you cannot go mistaken with white.

Advises Berkeley, California-centered inside designer Gustave Carlson (a member of our Remodelista Architect and Designer Directory): “I like my cabinets to blend with the room colour.” White (his choice is Benjamin Moore’s Linen White) “creates a peaceful backdrop for the room’s activities” (and provides light-weight in as effectively). Opting for a fresh new coat of white paint? See additional architects’ picks in 10 Straightforward Items: Architects’ White Paint Picks for Kitchen area Cabinets.

8. Have glass-fronted or open up cabinets? Be sure to paint the interiors, far too.

The magnificence of glass-fronted cabinets and open shelving is that it permits you to exhibit what is inside of. But never fail to remember that this puts the interiors of your cabinet packing containers on display, also. These will need to have a very careful coat of paint—or, opt for a different shade on the interiors, for intrigue. (For more on the execs and drawbacks of glass, and other sorts of cupboards, see Remodeling 101: A Information to the Only 6 Kitchen Cupboard Designs You Need to Know.)

9. Weary of blue? Attempt yellow.

Blue cupboards and inexperienced cabinets have had their moments (see Architects’ 12 Favored Blue Paints for Kitchen area Cupboards). What’s established to consider off in 2019, according to the Pinterest 100: Top rated Trends for 2019? Yellow. Give it a check out if you’re feeling daring.

10. Emotion impatient? There is spray paint for that.

If painting by hand seems tiresome, it is probable to spray-paint your cupboards. Follow all of the exact same prep techniques with treatment, then consider your cabinet fronts and drawers exterior (or meticulously go over all the things else in the space) right before spraying. Resource a experienced-excellent sprayer and keep in mind this mantra: numerous slender coats, not a single thick one.

Much more guidelines and tricks to know just before you transform: