Painting Kitchen Cabinets

By: Scott Gibson (Page 6 of 7)

Photo: Geoffrey Gross

Colors for cabinets and walls that complement each other are more pleasing to the eye than dramatic color differences.

Photo: Geoffrey Gross

These site-built cabinets from the 1960s still had years of service ahead of them, but their look was outdated.

Transformed by paint and new hardware, the cabinets now the focal point of a brighter, more welcoming kitchen.

Cleaning cabinets; surface prep before painting

To paint the cabinets, painter Vytas Misenis, of Woodbury, Connecticut, starts with a wash to remove dirt and grease and ensure a good bond between the old surface and new paint.

Sanding prepares the surface for a primer coat by removing any remaining surface grime and giving the old wood "tooth."

Misenis will move these doors to the garage for prepping and painting, minimizing mess inside the house.

Fill nail holes and other defects, and then sand them smooth. You might need to put on a second application of filler after the primer has dried.

An orbital sander makes more dust but speeds up the job, and in the garage the extra mess doesn't matter.

Photo: Geoffrey Gross

After you have removed the sanding dust, apply the primer.

A smooth topcoat is the reward for careful prep work. Misenis uses a high-quality natural-bristle brush and finishes with long strokes for a finished surface that doesn't show brush marks.

Browse Images

Browse Kitchens Galleries:

View All

How-To Video

Browse More

How to Install Kitchen Cabinets

In this how-to video, Tom Silva shows how to set cabinets like a pro

Watch The Video

On Newsstands Now

In the Magazine

Easy Upgrades That Say Welcome Home

What You'll Learn:

Replacing Doors & Drawers

Doors and drawers are often the first parts of an aging kitchen to go. If veneer is chipped and joints are opening up, it might be easier to replace these components than to repair and paint them.

Drawer boxes, doors and other components all can be ordered by mail and used to update old cabinets. Available in many wood species and designs, doors are sold by the square foot and are relatively inexpensive. For example, an 18-in.-wide by 24-in.-tall paint-grade door in poplar—an inexpensive species that holds paint well—-costs $39 at Scherr's Cabinet and Doors in East Minot, North Dakota, one of many companies in the cabinet component business (you'll find a list at www.kcma.org, the site of the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association). Doors can be ordered predrilled for European-style cup hinges.

Solid-wood and Baltic-birch plywood dovetailed drawers come unassembled, assembled or assembled and finished. If you order new drawers, you might consider adding new drawer slides as well. They range from about $6 a pair for basic epoxy-coated steel to about $20 for full-extension slides that run smoothly and quietly on ball bearings. They are widely available from woodworking catalogs, building-supply yards and home centers.