How To Paint Kitchen Cabinets Professionally In Under An Hour

How To Paint Kitchen Cabinets Professionally In Under An Hour

You don’t need to be an expert to paint your kitchen cabinets; in fact, if you read our unique information to the conclusion, it’s as easy as ABC. “How To Paint Kitchen Cabinets Professionally In Under An Hour” is not just a clickbaiting title, but it depicts in entirety the subject of the matter.

It’s no wonder that kitchen renovation is one of the most expensive remodeling jobs, given the expense of new appliances, worktops, and cabinetry. While few homeowners can improve the appearance of a dated refrigerator or worn granite, altering a kitchen by refreshing the cabinets that take up the majority of the visual area is completely possible. But the task entails more than just purchasing a gallon of your favorite hue.

How Much Does Painting Kitchen Cabinets Cost?

Kitchen renovation is one of the most expensive tasks you can do, with cabinet replacement accounting for approximately 40% of the total cost.

Cabinets for a 10-by-12-foot kitchen might cost upwards of $5,000, and your replacement cabinets may be of worse quality than the ones you’re replacing. A couple fresh coats of paint, on the other hand, may completely change your old cabinets for a fraction of the cost. In reality, painting should cost you no more than $200, plus a weekend or two of your time.

Should I Refinish My Kitchen Cabinets?

Examine your cabinets before going to the paint store to determine whether they can be resurrected in the first place. Even the best paint job won’t save inexpensive cabinets that have become brittle over time. Particleboard cabinet bottoms or shelves droop or crack, and hanging rails fall away. Thin veneers peel or delaminate. If these are the problems you’re having, it’s probably time to replace your kitchen cabinets.

Assuming that everything is in good functioning order, let’s look at some of the questions you’ll have to answer before you begin repainting your kitchen cabinets.

What Kind of Cabinet Paint Do I Need?

Latex or oil?

Latex paints have progressively improved, prompting some professionals to abandon oil-based paints completely. Latex paints are more user-friendly than oil-based paints since they dry rapidly and clean up with water. Many professionals, however, still prefer oil-based topcoats because they build a tougher, more lasting paint layer and level off to a smoother final surface. Latex paints also take longer to fully dry (up to three weeks) than oil-based paints. Meanwhile, they’re vulnerable to harm.

In the end, a decent finish may be achieved using either oil or latex. If you must use a latex paint, make sure it’s a 100% acrylic formulation, which has better durability and adherence than vinyl acrylic paints.

Spray Paint or Brush?

The smoothest choice is a sprayed-on finish, but there is a learning curve to getting it right. You’ll probably have to hire spray equipment, which adds to the expense, and you’ll have to mask off all of the sections in the kitchen that may be sprayed accidently, such as worktops, cabinet interiors, and appliances, which is a time-consuming operation.

As a result, we propose that you instead use high-quality brushes. Invest in a solid 3- to 4-inch-wide square brush with straight ends for quick work on big, flat panels, as well as an angled brush in the 212- or 3-inch-wide range for getting paint into the corners of doors with molding and coating door frames in one pass. Latex paint should be applied using a synthetic bristle brush that will not absorb water, whereas oil-based paint should be applied with a natural-bristle brush.

Is it better to just paint over cabinets or to strip them?

When the current finish is a clear coat, stripping the finish down to bare wood before painting is the best option. This prevents the old finish and the fresh paint from adhering to each other.

However, while stripping is ideal for purists, it isn’t always feasible or required. To prepare the surface for new paint, a thorough washing followed by light sanding should suffice.

Regular or faux?

If you want to spice up the look of your kitchen, a fake finish may make it look shabby chic, rustic, provincial, or futuristic. Crackling glaze, which is available at paint stores, may give your cabinets an aged appearance with minimal effort. Simply brush the glaze over a dry base coat in one direction (thick for wide cracks, thin for small cracks) and allow it to dry. Brush a smooth topcoat of the base color perpendicular to the glaze to finish. As the paint dries, cracks will appear, which will take around an hour.

A rustic design that doesn’t require any extra paint is the distressed effect. Layered hues and black paint spattered across the surface create this look. Distress the finish using a chain and light sanding in the areas where the cabinets get the greatest usage after the paint has dried to reveal the colors underlying.

Paint magic may also be used to produce the antiqued, gently aged effect. Simply dab the extra paint from the tip of a paintbrush onto a cloth until almost dry, then softly scrape the surface of the detail trim, corners, and seams.

A high-gloss finish, on the other hand, will convert your kitchen into a sleek, contemporary room. Over your last layer, apply a high-gloss clear acrylic varnish to make your cabinets gleam. This approach will give your kitchen a glossy shine while also adding depth to the color.

Cabinet Painting Procedures

1. Prepare the room

The first few stages focus on preparing the room and cabinets for painting, which is essential for a great paint job.

• Empty the cabinets, wipe down the countertops, and remove any freestanding appliances first.
• Tables and other furniture should be moved to another room.
• Tape rosin paper over the counters and floors, and plastic sheeting over the backsplash, windows, fixed appliances, and internal entrances to protect the rest of the home from dust and odors.
• Mask off the area surrounding the cabinets on the wall.
• Set up a painting station for doors, drawers, and shelves.

Make Your Own Paint Station

This improvised jig allows access to all sides of a cabinet door, reducing drying time. Here’s how you do it:

• Between two ladders, span a pair of 2x4s at eye level.
• Screw eye hooks into one end of a 2×4 where the doors will be painted, and hooks into both 2x4s where the painted doors will be hung.
• Add hooks to the top edges of higher cabinet doors and the bottoms of lower doors and drawers, where the holes left behind will be hidden.

2. Remove the doors, drawers, and shelves from the cabinet.

• To avoid mixing up the doors, make a note of each drawer front and door using a marker. Behind the hinge is the finest spot for this mark.
• Remove the cabinet doors by unscrewing the hinge screws from the frame.
• Label each one with a numbered piece of tape as you go from left to right, top to bottom. Number the bottoms of drawers and the edges of cabinet shelves.
• Remove the shelf-hanging hardware and place it aside.
• Remove the hinges and pulls from your worktable and keep what you can.
• Tape the number to the exposed wood under one hinge on the doors.
• Using new tape, cover it.

3. Make sure all surfaces are clean.

• Wipe the cabinet down with a rag after spraying it with a degreaser solution. This gets rid of any oils or grease that can go in the way of a flawless finish. If regular cleansers aren’t cutting it, try trisodium phosphate (TSP), which is available at hardware and paint stores. Simply follow the container’s safety instructions.
• After you’ve cleaned all of the cabinet parts, give them a good rinse and allow them to dry.

4. Prepare the boxes

• Put on your safety gear and open the windows for ventilation. Scrub all of the surfaces with an abrasive pad soaked in a liquid deglosser.
  To collect drips, place a cloth below. Wipe away the residue with another clean, deglosser-dampened rag before the deglosser evaporates.
• Fill the old screw holes with a two-part polyester wood or autobody filler if you’re moving the hardware.
• Because it hardens in approximately 5 minutes, work in tiny quantities. Because the filler shrinks, slightly overfill the holes.
  Remove the excess with a sharp paint scraper as soon as it has set. Sand it smooth if it hardens fully.
• Scuff the surfaces of the cabinet, drawers, and doors with a foam sanding block. Don’t sand to the bare wood; this is just a mild sanding to give the primer something to stick to. Before continuing, wipe away the sanding dust with a tack cloth.
• Vacuum the cabinets inside and out to remove any dust, and then wipe them down with a tack cloth for further protection.

5. Fill the cabinet boxes with primer.

Now comes the primer. Use a stain-blocking primer if the cabinets are highly stained, since it cures rapidly and fixes knots and other surface imperfections that may bleed through the topcoats. Stain-blockers aren’t essential in most cases, and an oil-based or 100 percent acrylic latex primer will suffice.

• Fill the paint tray with primer and load the roller and brush. Prime the cabinet, doors, and drawer fronts with the brush around the edges and tight locations, and the roller on the broad, flat surfaces.
• Starting at the top of the cabinet, brush on the primer across the grain, then “tip-off”—pass the brush lightly over the wet finish in the direction of the grain. Always tip-off in a single stroke from one end to the other.
• Make sure to follow the underlying structure of the cabinet or door with the brush. Where a rail butts into a stile, for instance, paint the rail first, overlapping slightly onto the stile, then paint the stile before the overlap dries.
• While you’re allowing the primer to dry, wash your brush and roller sleeve, and pour the excess primer back into the can before washing the paint tray.

6. Sand, caulk, and fill

• Sand the flat surfaces with 220-grit paper once the primer has dried.
• With a medium-grit sanding sponge, sand any contoured surfaces. The wood should feel glassy smooth when finished.
• Fill any open seams with a thin bead of latex caulk. (The hole in the tip of a caulk tube should be no larger than the point of a sharp pencil.)
• Pull the tip as you go, then use a wet finger to smooth the caulk. Fill in any little dents, scratches, or dings with vinyl spackle with a putty knife.
• Sand with 220-grit paper, vacuum, and clean with a tack cloth once the spackle has dried (approximately 60 minutes).
• Spot-prime the spackle and any locations where the sandpaper has “burned through” the primer with a spray can of fast-drying oil-based primer.
• Wait an hour before lightly sanding the primer with 280-grit paper.
• All surfaces should be vacuumed and wiped with a tack cloth.

7. Decorate the cabinet boxes with paint.

You’re all set to start painting! If you’re using a similar hue to the current color, two coats should enough. You may even be able to get away with one. Painting a light color over a dark finish is more difficult and may take three coats. For each coat, get a fresh brush.

• Fill the paint tray with trim and cabinet enamel paint and paint the brush and roller. Cut in around the edges with the brush, pushing the paint into the corners and avoiding roller marks. When feasible, use the roller to apply enamel paint to the broad flat area.
• Apply the paint to the cabinet interior using a smooth-surface small roller, which leaves a somewhat rough, orange-peel finish.
• While you wait for the first layer to dry, cover the brush and roller with plastic bags to keep them from hardening.
• Between applications, gently sand the surfaces, being sure to wipe away any debris.
• Give the cabinet a second coat. This coat should result in a flawless, uniform finish with no thin or light spots where wood can show through.

8. Prepare the doors, drawers, and shelves by sanding, priming, and painting them.

Prepping, priming, and painting doors, drawers, and shelves follows the same steps as painting cabinets, with the exception that all work is done on a table to avoid drips, runs, and sags.

• Start painting the area surrounding the panel when painting paneled doors.
• After that, complete with the main field of the panel and the stiles and rails around the edges.
• Wipe off any paint that gets on adjacent dry surfaces as you proceed to avoid lap marks.

Tip: Twist two screw hooks into holes drilled in an inconspicuous door edge to speed up the drying period for doors (the lower edge for bottom cabinets, the upper edge for top cabinets). Paint the door’s outside face and let it dry flat for an hour before tilting it up onto its hooks and inserting a drywall screw into an existing hardware hole. Paint the rear side of the slanted door while holding it up by the screw.

• Pick up the door by the screw and one hook once you’ve finished painting and put both hooks on a solid clothes hanger.
• Until the door dries, suspend it from a shower curtain rod or a clothes rod.

9. Reassemble everything.

• Reattach the door and drawer fronts when the second coat is dry. Enjoy the knowledge that you gave your kitchen cabinets a new look without spending a lot of money or effort.
• Remove the tape covering each door’s number, replace the hinges and knobs, and reinstall the doors in their original opening.
• Reinstall each drawer by replacing the drawer pulls (or adding new ones).