New Cabinets Not in the Budget? New Paint is Almost as Good

The dark-stained cabinets that once dominated this kitchen were given a bright new face of durable, easy-to-clean oil-based paint. Right: Copious sandings at every step of the process ensure that the final finish glows. The finished product is shown at top.

1. Remove Doors, Drawers, and Shelves
Back out the hinge screws from the cabinet frame and remove the doors. Working methodically from left to right, top to bottom, label each one with a numbered piece of tape. Also, number the ends of cabinet shelves and the bottoms of drawers. Set aside the shelf-hanging hardware. At your worktable, remove the pulls and hinges and save what's being reused. On the doors, transfer the number from the tape to the exposed wood under one hinge. Cover it with fresh tape.

2. Clean all surfaces
Open the windows for ventilation and put on safety gear. Scrub down all of the face frames, doors, drawer fronts, and shelving with an abrasive pad dipped in liquid deglosser. Hold a rag underneath to catch drips. Before the deglosser evaporates, quickly wipe away the residue with another clean, deglosser-dampened rag.

3. Fill holes
If you're relocating the hardware, fill the old screw holes with a two-part polyester wood or autobody filler. It sets in about 5 minutes, so mix only small batches. (Dee adds a pea-size bit of hardener to a golf-ball-size glob of filler.) The filler shrinks a bit, so overfill the holes slightly. As soon as it sets, remove the excess with a sharp paint scraper. If it hardens completely, sand it smooth.

4. Sand, vac, and tack
Sand all surfaces with the grain using 100-grit paper. To make sure no bits of dust mar the finish, vacuum the cabinets inside and out, then rub them down with a tack cloth to catch any debris that the vacuum misses. Dee says, "Hand sanding is the best technique on oak because you can push the paper into the open grain, which a power sander or sanding block will miss."

1. Apply primer
Starting at the top of the cabinet, brush on the primer (or brushing putty; see below) 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. Give it a day to dry. (If using brushing putty, apply a second coat the next day and wait another day for it to dry.) Sand the flat surfaces with a random-orbit sander and 220-grit paper. Sand any profiled surfaces with a medium-grit sanding sponge. When you're done, everything should be glass-smooth.

2. Caulk seams, fill dents
Squeeze a thin bead of latex caulk into any open seams. Pull the tip as you go, then smooth the caulk with a damp finger. Fill any small dents, scratches, or dings with vinyl spackle, smoothed flat with a putty knife. Once dry, in about 60 minutes, sand again with 220-grit paper, vacuum, and wipe with tack cloth. Spot-prime the spackle, and any spots where the brushed-on primer is "burned through," with a spray can of fast-drying oil-based primer. Wait an hour, then sand the primer lightly with 280-grit paper. Vacuum all surfaces, and wipe with a tack cloth.

3. Paint
Work from top to bottom, applying the paint across the grain, then tipping it off with the grain. For cabinet interiors, apply the paint with a smooth-surface mini roller, which leaves a slight orange-peel texture. Sand all surfaces with 280-grit paper, then vacuum and clean with tack cloth. For the last coat, break out a new brush. When the final coat is dry, replace the shelf hangers.

1. Prep, Prime, and Sand
Follow the same prep sequence as for cabinets — clean with deglosser, fill the holes, sand, vac, and tack — and the same priming sequence: in this case, two coats of brushing putty. Smooth the flat surfaces on the panel and the frame with a random-orbit sander. On bevels or profiles, apply elbow grease and a medium-grit sanding sponge (above). Spackle and sand any dents.

2. Spot-prime
After vacuuming and tacking all the surfaces, spray a fast-dry primer on any spots with spackle or bare wood where the sandpaper "burned through" the primer. Wait an hour before sanding.

3. Apply the finish coats
Remove all dust — first with a vacuum, then with a tack cloth — and apply the finish coat. Tip it off with the grain. When the first coat dries, power-sand the flats; hand-sand the profiles. Vacuum and tack every piece, then brush on the final coat.

4. Put back doors, drawers, and hardware
Wait for the final coat to dry, then put back the shelves. Remove the tape over each door's number, install the hinges and knob, then hang it in the opening it came from. Replace the drawer pulls (or better yet, add new ones) and reinstall each drawer in its original opening.