Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Painting kitchen cabinets is a big project, and there are no shortcuts to a glassy-smooth finish. The rewards, however, are huge: a kitchen that feels new at a small fraction of the cost of remodeling.

Our 20-year-old cabinets were worn, especially around the handles and pulls. In addition, my wife and I were tired of the dark stain and the dated, discolored hardware. On the other hand, the cabinets were well-built, with solid-wood doors, drawer fronts and frames. It would have been a shame to tear them out. Replacing them with a similar grade of cabinets would have costs thousands of dollars.

Having done lots of painting, including cabinets in our previous homes, I knew the pitfalls associated with applying enamel. Getting the look of a factory finish is not easy for the average homeowner. You could invest in a compressor and paint sprayer, but unless you take the boxes off the wall, you would still have to resort to brushing the cabinet rails, stiles, sides and valances. I tried this approach years ago with mixed results. The sprayed finish was not nearly as smooth as I’d hoped. As with everything DIY, it’s difficult to master skills without a lot of practice.

Instead of using a sprayer this time around, I chose high-quality brushes, high-density foam rollers, shellac-base pigmented primer and alkyd-base enamel, along with an additive that promotes better leveling. (Unless you don’t mind brush marks, avoid using water-base enamel.) The results look nearly as good as a factory finish.

Getting started
First, empty the cabinets and drawers and clear all countertops and shelves. This is a great opportunity to get rid of duplicate items and stuff you never use. Put everything in moving boxes and store them in a nearby room.

Remove the cabinet doors, drawers and all hardware. You can’t achieve professional results without doing this. Mark the drawers and doors so that you’ll know where they go when it’s time to reinstall them. It’s easy enough to find a place to mark drawers, but for doors it’s tougher. Punching Roman numerals under a hinge leaf with a small screwdriver is a good solution; it won’t matter if you paint over them.

Remove cabinet doors and hardware, including pulls, hinges, catches and stops. Store the hardware in a safe place so pieces don’t get lost

Next, wash the cabinet frames, doors and drawers thoroughly with a solution of water and TSP substitute. Pay particular attention to cabinets near the range: You’ll be amazed at how grease accumulates in the various recesses of cabinet doors. If necessary, use a scraper or putty knife to remove hardened grease deposits, but take care not to gouge the wood.

Hang overlapping sheets of plastic over doorways to keep sanding dust from migrating throughout the house, and lightly sand all surfaces that will be painted. This includes both sides of the doors, the drawer fronts, the rails and the stiles. Flexible sponge sanding pads work great in the recesses of raised panels. A palm sander outfitted with a 220-grit disc is useful for broad, flat areas.

After sanding, fill dents and nicks with wood filler, and sand it when it dries. My favorite product for this step is MH Ready Patch from Rustoleum. Clean doors to remove sanding dust. Compressed air is helpful here, as it will remove dust from the grooves in which the panels fit; otherwise those dust particles will find their way into your finish coat.

Priming and patching your cabinets
If your cabinets are stained, apply at least two coats of a good-quality primer. In my opinion, there’s nothing better than B-I-N, Zinsser’s shellac-base pigmented primer. It dries fast and flat, without brush marks (unlike most oil-base primers). If you’re painting the cabinets a color other than white, ask the paint supplier to tint the primer to the color you’ve selected. (If the cabinets were painted to begin with, you can skip the primer step and proceed with a light sanding to scuff up the finish so the new finish will adhere well.)

After priming, fill dents and scratches with a patching compound. Sand smooth after the compound dries.

Lightly sand between coats of primer with a very fine, 320-grit abrasive paper.

Remove dust, ideally by blowing with compressed air, and then wipe with a tack cloth before proceeding with each coat.

Lightly sand the primer coat, wipe with a tack cloth, and prepare to apply the finish coats. You’ll need a lot of dust-free space for this — a two-car garage is ideal. Several pairs of sawhorses (or old chairs) and a large drop cloth are helpful, too. Lay boards across the sawhorses so you can lay the doors on them while you paint them and while the paint dries. I didn’t have this luxury, so the my sun porch had to suffice. The best time to apply enamel is in the early morning, when the air is relatively dust-free, but you can do it anytime.

Applying the critical finish coat
I used Benjamin Moore’s Impervo alkyd-base enamel mixed with Flood’s Penetrol leveling additive. Follow the manufacturer’s directions when mixing the paint and the additive. You must add enough so that the paint flows on smoothly with minimal visible brush marks. If the paint thickens as you work — and it will in warm weather — add a bit more additive and stir well.

Mix in enough additive so the paint flows smoothly, leaving minimal brush marks. Do not exceed 2.5 pints of additive per gallon.

Paint the backs of the cabinet doors first and then move on to the fronts, so they’ll be less likely to be marred by drips. Apply paint with the grain (in the direction of the longest dimension). For recessed panels, paint the recesses first using a 2-in. brush designed for alkyd enamel, such as one with China bristles or a blend of polyester and nylon. Roll the flat areas with a high-density foam roller. Tip off rolled and brushed surfaces by lightly dragging a wet, but not loaded, brush tip across the entire length of the surface you’re painting. Tipping off eliminates most of the brush strokes and helps with leveling. When you end a stroke, lift the brush off the wet paint gradually. (Think of a plane taking off.) Do the opposite when beginning a tip-off stroke.

Working from a small container, load your brush by plunging its tip (an inch or so) several times into a container filled with about an inch or two of paint. This will fill the brush with more paint than mere dipping would.

Apply paint with the grain. Cover recesses first; then work from the inside out. To speed the job, apply paint to broad, flat areas with a high-density foam roller and follow up with a brush.

Be vigilant to catch drips, especially at recessed corners. Working while the doors are laid flat reduces the risk of drips, but check for them and for paint buildup a few minutes after you’ve finished. Smooth out any imperfections with the tip of the brush.

Unless you have the luxury of an empty two-car garage, finding a place that will allow the painted doors and drawers to dry will be a challenge. We had to make do with the sun porch. Once the paint was dry to the touch, we shuttled them outdoors to the deck.

Once the paint is dry (wait at least 24 hours), reinstall doors and drawers, along with hinges and catches. Then install the new drawer and door pulls or knobs. We chose pulls that are a bit contemporary but still look good with the traditional style of the cabinets and doors. You can find many online sources that offer significant discounts on cabinet hardware, so shop around to find pulls and knobs that will add the perfect finishing touch to your cabinet makeover.

Reinstall doors and pulls. A drill driver speeds the job.

We chose brushed-nickel pulls with a stepped detail that echoes the milling of the doors and drawers for a cohesive look.

Thanks to careful application and the use of a leveling additive, the finish on these enamel-coated cabinets is almost perfectly smooth. The cure time for alkyd-base enamel is several weeks, so don’t be surprised if it takes that long for the paint to flatten out.