Ask This Old House

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Kevin and painting expert Rich O'Neil showed a homeowner the proper way to paint her kitchen cabinets. After a trip to the home center to pick up a few supplies, Rich starts on the cabinet doors by showing how to degrease and sand them so that the new paint will adhere well. Next, he removes the sanding dust with a tack cloth and applies an acrylic bonding primer with a brush, being careful to use long brush strokes for a smooth appearance. To paint the backs of the doors, Rich hangs them from hooks screwed into 2x4's set in-between two ladders. This allows one side to dry while the other side is painted. For the remainder of the job, Rich and Kevin instruct the homeowner to apply two coats of latex paint and two coats of water-based polyurethane for added durability.

Where to find it?

Rich suggested the following materials to prepare and paint the cabinets:

Krud Kutter Degreaser
800-466-7126
Krud Kutter

Glidden Gripper Bonding Primer
800-454-3336
Glidden

Behr Premium Plus Interior Satin Enamel No.7050
800-854-0133, Ext. 2
BEHR

Minwax Water Based Polyurethane
800-523-9299
MINWAX

All of the painting supplies used for this project were purchased at:

The Home Depot
The Home Depot

Improving Kitchen Cabinet Storage

Tom helps a pair of homeowners make their existing kitchen cabinets more functional by installing accessories that will improve the available storage. For the cabinets underneath the kitchen sink, Tom installed wire baskets that run on slides, making them easy to pull out. In another base cabinet, Tom installed a sliding unit that allows recycling and trash bins to be hidden inside the cabinet. Finally, in order to make a "blind corner" in a base cabinet more usable, Tom installed a half moon-shaped "lazy susan." This unit swivels and swings out, making it easier to access pots and pans. Later, up in the loft, Tom showed some other accesories that can be installed inside cabinets to make them more organized and functional.

Where to find it?

All of the cabinet accessories were supplied by:

Knape & Vogt Manufacturing Company
2700 Oak Industrial Drive NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49505
800 253-1561
Knape & Vogt