Have you been thinking of painting your kitchen cabinets, but can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate digest the intend of all the mess, convulsion, and general havoc that goes along with such a big project ? then I have good news program for you !
Now there’s an easier way to paint kitchen cabinets, without destroying the heart of your home in the process.
( THANK YOU to DecoArt and D. Lawless Hardware for providing supplies for this project ! )
The Absolute Best Way to Paint Kitchen Cabinets
You may remember I already wrote a post on the “ justly ” way to paint your kitchen cabinets, otherwise known as the earth ’ mho longest kitchen cabinet painting tutorial. After I published my original post, the question I heard most often was “ Is there an easier way ? ”
well, because I love you guys, I set out to answer that doubt. I had to buy a new house with despicable dark outdated oak kitchen cabinets, barely to satisfy your curiosity. It was a sacrifice, but one I was will to make. Just for you, my lamb readers .
so now, after trying out a fresh merchandise and a wholly different process, I have the raw and better “ best ” direction to redo your kitchen cabinets .
What makes it the best, you ask ? It ’ s faster, easier, and with WAY less mess. My previous serve however works well, but if you ’ re wanting a agile turnaround, this will be the process for you .
Update: After living with my cabinets for several years, I ’ ve found that this new easier way holds up just vitamin a well as the former method acting. thus there ’ south no rationality to feel like you ’ re taking a shortcut. I can decidedly say this is my front-runner manner to paint cabinets now !
DecoArt Satin Enamel Cabinet Paint
In the past, if you wanted to paint cabinets or furniture, you had to strip, sand and by and large kill yourself getting a good coat ready to paint on. immediately, with DecoArt ’ s Satin Enamel paints, you don ’ t need to do any of that. Simply clean the surfaces, prime if needed ( we ’ ll talk about that in a minute ), and paint .
Kitchen Cabinet Painting Hack
That sounds capital, but here ’ s the truly great part… since you ’ re not sanding, you don ’ t need to remove all your items from your cabinets. That, my friends, is the key to making this project easier .
You don ’ t have to change anything about the way your kitchen functions until you ’ re about done with the unharmed process. No more pulling everything out of your kitchen, then hunting through piles on your living board floor for that pan that you need to make dinner .
Everything stays in place, and you can cook dinner every night, after working on the cabinets during the day. ( Oh wait, that doesn ’ triiodothyronine sound thoroughly at all. Let ’ s equitable say you could cook dinner, but don ’ t tell your conserve that, and make him take you out for dinner. )
New Cabinets in 7 Steps!
here ’ s the actual bit-by-bit process .
- Clean cabinet doors
- Prime cabinet door fronts and edges, if needed
- Paint cabinet door fronts
- Remove cabinet doors
- Clean, prime, and paint frames
- Paint edges of cabinet doors
- Reattach doors
That ’ s it ! Sounds easy, right ? Well, that would be a reasonably light blog post, then here ’ s how to do it in entire detail. ( constitute certain to read all the tips at the end ! )
Clean Cabinet Doors
All you need for this gradation is a beneficial degreaser, such as Krud Kutter, and a clean call on the carpet. If you can ’ t find Krud Kutter in your clean aisle, expect at the hardware store. It ’ s a heavy duty, but non-toxic clean that will remove any grease buildup that can get in the room of your paint .
Simply atomizer on and wipe off with a identical slenderly dampen clean rag or paper towel. Tougher spots may need a little elbow grease. Be sure to clean every paintable surface well indeed your rouge will stick .
Prime Cabinet Doors – if needed
not all cabinets will need to be primed before painting, if you ’ re using DecoArt ’ s Satin Enamels. Satin Enamels are formulated to adhere well to wood, and I ’ ve seen this to be true in multiple cabinet and furniture paint projects .
If your wood is honest-to-god, has stains or iniquity knots, or seems dried out ( like here in the NM Desert ), it can be a dependable idea to prime first. Primer helps with adhesion and blot barricade, so it helps your rouge pin better, look better, and go farther .
This Zinsser BIN Advanced Primer is what I recommend for painting over wood, whether it ’ mho cabinets, mold, or doors. It does the best job of stain-blocking out of any primer I ’ ve ever used .
Plus it dries in 45 minutes, so you can get on with your project cursorily !
Full disclosure – when I painted these cabinets, I used DecoArt ’ mho Stainblocker, but it ’ s not available for purchase anymore. I ’ ve use the BIN primer in respective other wood projects and I know it will do the same job .
Paint Cabinet Door Fronts
I can hear you now, asking “ Meredith, didn ’ thyroxine you forget a mistreat ? Who would paint their doors while they ’ re still hanging ? ” Well, I would. And you should besides. It saves TONS of outer space, not to mention prison term spent moving doors around onto work surfaces .
now, if you were using traditional latex or petroleum rouge, I would not recommend painting vertically, due to the risk of drips. But this Satin Enamel paint holds it shape better while it ’ south wet, which means it goes on smooth, and has the perfect dry meter .
Drying time sounds like a wyrd thing to rave about, but it in truth makes all the remainder in this type of stick out .
You need a paint that dries slowly enough that it has time to even itself out and get rid of brush strokes ( we call this self-leveling ), but not so lento that it runs and drips and can ’ thymine be touched for days .
badly, I can ’ t say enough about how significant this one property is to making this project therefore easy. Of course, you need to be careful to apply the rouge evenly, and look out for all those corners where paint can build up and lead to drips .
The other great thing about this paint is you can re-coat a soon as it ’ mho dry, indeed conceivably you could do all your coats ( 2 to 3 ) in one day, if you were indeed motivated. I was not .
It took me a few days, but at least I didn ’ t have to worry about my kitchen being torn up in the meanwhile .
One end tap about painting doors… If your doors have inlays, like mine did, paint those beginning with a brush before painting the large flat areas with a mohair roller or big brush .
This will allow you to be careful in all the nooks and crannies, and still achieve a dear clean paint subcontract without having to stop in the middle and do the contingent ferment .
Removing Cabinet Doors
The absolute inaugural thing you must do before removing your cabinet doors is LABEL them. Trust me, this is the one tip you should not skip over .
I know you think you ’ ll remember where everything goes, but you will not. You will, however, thank me subsequently if you label your doors clearly. I use the raffle ticket method shown below .
nowadays you ’ re ready to remove the doors. For this part, you may want to find a assistant. That is, unless you ’ re unnaturally adept at holding a solid wood slab in one pass and operating a power drill in the other, all while balancing on one knee on the countertop, with the other foot straddling a sink wax of dirty dishes .
As it turns out, I was not particularly gifted at this skill. unfortunately for my knee and my dishes. Hence, no photograph of this contribution of the serve .
Simply unscrew the hinges and stack the doors along the wall or in your garage. If you ’ re re-using your hinges, label them to go with the doors and save them for subsequently .
I didn ’ thymine want to re-use my erstwhile blue brass section hinges. I besides didn ’ thymine want to call attention to them, so I went hunting for something that would disappear into the white background of the cabinets. Did you know you can buy white hinges ?
That ’ s just what I needed, and I found them online at D. Lawless Hardware. If you haven ’ thymine checked out D. Lawless however, you should. They have a great survival, at capital prices, and are good the nicest folks to work with. You ’ ll see more of their hardware in a hour .
Clean, Prime, and Paint Frames
once your doors are out of the way, you ’ ll repeat the same scavenge, prime, and painting summons as above, good on the frames this time. It sounds like a large occupation, but it in truth international relations and security network ’ thymine .
The frames don ’ t take up much space, so they won ’ t take you long to finish. Just make indisputable you tape off any edges inaugural, to make your life easier .
Paint Edges of Cabinet Doors
While you ’ rhenium working on your frames and waiting through drying times, you can paint around the edges of your cabinet doors .
You want to make indisputable the paint is beneficial and dry on both the ensnare and the doors so they don ’ thymine stick to each other once you attach the doors again, so leave enough of time for this step .
This is besides the time that you ’ ll want to pull out your drawers and paint their edges excessively .
At this point, you remember why you can ’ t have clear shelving in your kitchen.
Reattach Doors
once everything is finished and it ’ randomness all well and dry, then you can rehang your doors and replace the drawers. ( Sounds easy but involves more contortionist moves in mid-air, so enlist a partner if you can ! )
last, add some fabulous hardware knob and pulls, and you ’ ve got a sword raw kitchen .
You ’ re done ! That wasn ’ t so bad, now was it ? You didn ’ t have to remove a single cup of tea from your cabinets, and everything got to stay in its place so you could use your kitchen as you worked fiddling by little on it .
You didn ’ t even have to spend a whole Saturday houseclean sawdust out of your cabinets before replacing your mixing bowl .
The family wasn ’ metric ton brainsick at their mom-induced chaos. even your husband was impress that all this magically happened in between meals. OK, well possibly that ’ s stretching it a little, but you get the idea .
Resources
note : these are consort links, which means if you make a purchase, I ’ ll make a little commission at no extra charge to you .
Krud Kutter
gentle Paint Brush
Zinsser BIN Advanced Primer
DecoArt Satin Enamel Paint
Masking magnetic tape
Cabinet Painting Tips
This process absolutely works best with DecoArt Satin Enamel paint. ( You can find it on their web site, Amazon, or just about any craft/hobby storehouse. I like Hobby Lobby because they always have a 40 % off coupon. )
The paint ’ sulfur consistency and dry meter allows you to work on the doors in place, and there is no sandpaper required. I do not recommend this method if you want to use regular latex paint or oil-based paint. See my earlier mail if you want to do that .
Color
Don ’ thymine chafe if you can ’ thymine find the color you want in the Satin Enamel paint. You can mix whatever color you like from the available colors in their course .
For my cabinets I used Bright White, interracial with Natural Sable. ( The formula was 10 jars white, and 4 tablespoons sable. )
I wanted a soft ardent white that wasn ’ t excessively saturated. Adding a little brown gave me precisely what I was going for .
Be surely to mix enough key for your WHOLE project. You do not want to be trying to match colors when you run out of paint halfway through !
Brush Strokes
If you use a mohair roller, you shouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate get any paint bubbles or roller texture. But if you do, just drag a soft dry brush over the roll area a soon as you ’ re done with a section .
move in the direction of the wood grain as you go, and any brush strokes will be about invisible .
Hinges
If you ’ re buying newly hinges, make sure you measure your erstwhile ones accurately and check that the new hinges are precisely the lapp size and human body .
small differences can add up to make a big trouble in the conclusion. If your theater is older, you credibly have the non-adjustable hinges that go right on top of the frames .
fortunately it ’ mho pretty easy to replace these in a assortment of colors. For my kitchen I didn ’ t want the hinges to be visible, but I besides didn ’ thymine want to retool everything to add concealed hinges .
The solution was white hinges. They ’ re not wholly hide, but they besides don ’ thyroxine call attention to themselves .
What About Laminate Cabinets?
And last, does this cultivate on laminate cabinets ? Yes, with one small modification. If that ’ s you, be certain to check out my newly updated post on how to paint laminate cabinets .
now it ’ s your turn… what ’ sulfur stopping you ? And as always, let me know if you have any questions. I love to help ! Well, I ’ m not actually going to come over and help you paint, but I ’ thousand glad to about help ! In the interim, here are the “ After ” photograph for inhalation. Feel free to pin and partake !
Update: I ’ ve had so many fantastic questions about this process and the Decoart and D. Lawless products, that I ’ ve written a follow-up post. Before you get started, be sure to check out the frequently Asked Questions and How They ’ re Holding Up stake for all the details .
And last, as if this wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate adequate information to digest, I ’ ve written a comprehensive cabinet painting ebook that answers most of the questions you ’ ll find below and in the other FAQs post .
The biggest question is how to get the DecoArt products, which is becoming more of a trouble recently. I answer that and what products I ’ thousand recommending alternatively in the koran. If you ’ re having trouble sourcing the correctly kind of paint for your cabinets, give it a read !
The Best Way to Paint Kitchen Cabinets
active time :
12 hours
total clock :
12 hours
trouble :
Medium – anyone can do it with a little time and effort
Estimated price :
$200
Painting kitchen cabinets can be overwhelm, but here ‘s how to make it easier. You do n’t have to empty out your solid kitchen because no sandpaper is required !
Materials
- DecoArt Satin Enamels Paint
- Zinsser BIN Advanced Primer
Tools
- 4″ Mohair Roller
- Soft paintbrush
- Blue Painters Tape
- Krud Kutter
Instructions
- Clean cabinet doors with Krud Kutter or hot soapy water.
- If needed, prime cabinet door fronts with Zinsser BIN Advanced Primer, using roller and paintbrush. Don’t worry about the edges of the doors yet.
- Paint cabinet door fronts with Satin Enamel, using roller and paintbrush.
- Label cabinet doors and remove them from the frames of the cabinets.
- Repeat steps 1-3 for the cabinet frames.
- Paint the edges and insides of the cabinet doors.
- Reattach doors.
Notes
It may seem counter-intuitive to leave the doors on the cabinets when painting them, but it gives you a arrant work space, and this rouge will not drip or run so you do n’t need them to be horizontal while painting. They can dry in station, all while leaving your kitchen feasible during the project .
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Krud Kutter -
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DecoArt Satin Enamels
