Painting Wood Cabinets?

R Q

R Q

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Charlotte
I think I've seen on here where some people have painted over their cabinets. My wife is wanting to paint some in a bathroom that are currently oak. She wants them white. Other than the obvious, what does it take to make them look somewhat professional? I don't really want the wood grain to be easy to see under the white, I want them to be smooth.
 
We did some years ago and they turned out...ok.
I was never pleased with them but the wife was.

There are re-surfacing solutions that are surprisingly cheap, BUT...if this is a bathroom then we are talking about a small number of cabinets. Even in a LARGE bathroom.

Before I put the effort you are talking about in Id strongly consider looking here: Kitchen
Cabinet Lines | Kitchen Cabinets | Surplus Warehouse

They are in Charlotte on Independence

You can put a solid wood bottom cabinet in BRAND new for under $200 including caulk and a new gasket for the sink. You'd be half way there at a minimum in paint, and you'd probably end up replacing hinges and pulls and then there is the time ...
 
Sub'd as well since my wife is wanting to paint our kitchen cabinets. Ours are standard 1982 pine.
 
Wife has already talked to Surplus Warehouse and what she wants is of course more expensive and has to be ordered. I'm thinking I'll be about as thrilled about the finished product as you are. :confused::rolleyes: We have more than the unit under the sink, there's a couple of cabinets too. We have an event at the house next weekend and she is hell bent on doing this before then. I've told her "you are rushing this and if it don't work out..."
So this is one of those things where I have other stuff to do. Hope it works out for her.

I'll post back up when she's done on the results.

BTW, ther's This Old House How To videos on YouTube showing the process.
 
Clean first. Sand everything to remove the gloss, or down to bare wood, fill the wood grain with a filling product if it's deep (like err... wonderful open grain oak), sand the filler smooth, clean again. Power tools will help you from going insane.

Sandable primer if you need some extra help or if the grain is not deep enough to need filler. Prime and paint. Use good paint. Use a spray gun, backroll after using a brush, whatever. Experiment with the paint and the paint technique first, so you can remove and try again until you like the results.

By the time it's done the way you want it, it's going to be a few weeks of spare time between sanding/filling, priming, painting, letting everything dry before reinstalling, etc. I've helped people do this before, and it takes quite a while for it to turn out well. If you rush it, you'll do it twice because you'll notice flaws every time you go into the kitchen (or bathroom in this case).

It's also the time to change hardware, because you can fill holes and drill new ones.

We thought about doing this in our house, but we have a few warped doors that are the closest to the kitchen windows and having them painted anything but dark colors will just highlight the twisty gaps even more. We'll just wait until the future kitchen remodel when the cabinets will follow the white formica counters out the door and to the dump.
 
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MarsFab said:
sub'd because I want to do our kitchen cabinets black and wonder the same thing.....
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Find pictures first. Lots of them. It's all down to cabinet/trim style and paint sheen choice. I was just talking to a decorator friend about that the other day (she is house shopping and was bitching about spec home cabinets and countertop materials), she was saying that unless the cabinets are very modern looking, they will go through the very rapid process of looking very trendy and then looking very dated, and the type of countertops can amplify that.

I'm no kitchen design expert, I just have a lot of opinions. :D
 
Fabrik8 said:
Clean first. Sand everything to remove the gloss, or down to bare wood, fill the wood grain with a filling product if it's deep (like err... wonderful open grain oak), sand the filler smooth, clean again. Power tools will help you from going insane.

Sandable primer if you need some extra help or if the grain is not deep enough to need filler. Prime and paint. Use good paint. Use a spray gun, backroll after using a brush, whatever. Experiment with the paint and the paint technique first, so you can remove and try again until you like the results.

By the time it's done the way you want it, it's going to be a few weeks of spare time between sanding/filling, priming, painting, letting everything dry before reinstalling, etc. I've helped people do this before, and it takes quite a while for it to turn out well. If you rush it, you'll do it twice because you'll notice flaws every time you go into the kitchen (or bathroom in this case).

It's also the time to change hardware, because you can fill holes and drill new ones.

We thought about doing this in our house, but we have a few warped doors that are the closest to the kitchen windows and having them painted anything but dark colors will just highlight the twisty gaps even more. We'll just wait until the future kitchen remodel when the cabinets will follow the white formica counters out the door and to the dump.
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I was pretty sure that this was the method. That's why I told her let's take our time and/or get new ones. She has already started on them and I can assure you there won't be any fill and prime and sanding happening. "Some guy" in the paint isle told her how to do it. lol
 
To make them look halfway professional...

Use a spray gun. That's the only way. Otherwise they just look.. OK.

Oak has large grains. It's going to be hard to hide that with paint and it will definetly look painted as lost that are painted are maple, poplar, etc with softer grains.
 
Painted ours. Lower cabinets one color upper cabinets another. The uppers look good, the lowers suck because of the type of paint. Wish I knew what types I used because the lowers chip and I have to touch them up constantly. Especially around the knobs because of finger nail scratching them. Choose your paint wisely.
 
mbalbritton said:
Painted ours. Lower cabinets one color upper cabinets another. The uppers look good, the lowers suck because of the type of paint. Wish I knew what types I used because the lowers chip and I have to touch them up constantly. Especially around the knobs because of finger nail scratching them. Choose your paint wisely.
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The Best Paint for Cabinetry Jobs

ProClassic® Interior Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd Enamel

Bondo actually makes a 2-part polyester wood filler, supposed to be good for oak wood grain. I've never used it, but it sounds pretty cool. Don't know how different it is from other polyester products, maybe easier sanding.

The wood filler may be the first Bondo product worth using.... Probably nothing special though. I'd probably grab some quality lightweight USC or Evercoat-brand filler from an auto body supply instead. Oh, try USC Icing or Blaze Glaze, that's probably the deal for wood grain. I love that stuff for metal.
 
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Priming-kitchen-cabinets.jpg


Good trick that involves putting screws in the hidden edges (upper edge for top cabinets, lower edge for lower cabinets) so they can be hung to dry in a small space.
 
Spray ftw. Oil base too, I hate latex and they will stick unless you let dry like a week. Even after a week, if the doors have no bumpers they will stick after staying shut most of the time. Solid stain may be an option. You'll still have some wood grain but may turn out better for some somewhat hidden character. I'm retired from being a 6 figure log home trim carpenter about 10 years ago so I am biased in my opinion on that, caulk and paint hides all sorts of stuff.. stain and poly hide nothing. Paint MDF not wood, IMO. Difference between a good carpenter and a bad one, good one knows how to fix/cover his mistakes such that it's not noticeable.... And without filler ;-)

As far as hanging doors to spray, you can use mounting holes to hang it, but they also sell euro style hangers if you need to do it real quick. Not sure on price of those hangers though. Screw and mechanics wire works well enough and is dirt cheap. Of course, hang doors outside the spray area to get nice smooth glossy finishes.
If I remember correctly you would not want to put oil base over acrylic fishes though. Latex over oil is OK but not latex over oil(bubbly peels). Ventilating & controlling humidity and temp in drying area helps considerably as well.
 
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Ron said:
if this is a bathroom then we are talking about a small number of cabinets. Even in a LARGE bathroom.

Before I put the effort you are talking about in Id strongly consider ...(that) You can put a solid wood bottom cabinet in BRAND new for under $200 including caulk and a new gasket for the sink. You'd be half way there at a minimum in paint, and you'd probably end up replacing hinges and pulls and then there is the time ...
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Edited for brevity, but the new cabinet need paint or come in the color you desire? Where the sink gasket go? All the ones I've seen were sealed to the counter without a gasket. Also, does not include removing and replacing the cab body.. I refinished a couple cabinet bodies at a place I used to live but it was to bring them from rough sawn to smooth and I went darker on the stain, and made more modern doors, really shaped the looks up but the LL had no desire to update the kitchen, but she loved the bathrooms. smh, would've turned out like putting 4k+ of cabinet bodies and doors in for under 1k. Rustic 70s to a simple single Luan panel door with quarter rounded tongue groove jointed frame and euro hinges.
 
Fabrik8 said:
The Best Paint for Cabinetry Jobs

ProClassic® Interior Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd Enamel

Bondo actually makes a 2-part polyester wood filler, supposed to be good for oak wood grain. I've never used it, but it sounds pretty cool. Don't know how different it is from other polyester products, maybe easier sanding.

The wood filler may be the first Bondo product worth using.... Probably nothing special though. I'd probably grab some quality lightweight USC or Evercoat-brand filler from an auto body supply instead. Oh, try USC Icing or Blaze Glaze, that's probably the deal for wood grain. I love that stuff for metal.
Click to expand...


It's my understanding that Bondo was originally designed as a wood filler. I know several carpenters that use it as opposed to standard wood filler. Standard old Bondo, not the fancy new products.
 
catfishblues said:
It's my understanding that Bondo was originally designed as a wood filler. I know several carpenters that use it as opposed to standard wood filler. Standard old Bondo, not the fancy new products.
Click to expand...

I heard about that for a long time, I've never tried it for that because I don't really do any woodworking. It's interesting though that I only ever hear of people using original Bondo for that, which although cheap and easy to find, is probably the worst polyester filler on the market. Even the similar low-end budget products with really old chemistry from other brands still seem to work much better.

Step up to even a mid-range product from USC or Evercoat, especially a lightweight product, and it's like using a completely different type of product altogether. It's one of those rare "holy shit, this is what it's supposed to be like" moments of blissful product enlightenment.

I like to chase those moments, they make me happy. :p
 
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Our kitchen cabinets are painted. I used oil based paint and they still look good after 15 years.

Sand, prime and paint. If you use a good paint, oil may not be needed. Sherwin Williams Emerald is a great paint with self leveling technology. We use it along with other Sherwin Williams paints exclusively in business.

Do NOT use exterior paint, it needs sunlight to keep from yellowing.
 
We did mine last year sanded most of it and used some paint thinner then kiltzed everything and painted it has held up well exept for a few ware areas i has to touch up

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