Painting Your Kitchen Cabinets: A Simple Overview

While nothing can bring your kitchen to life like installing new cabinetry, simply putting a fresh coat of paint on your cabinets can be a nice second option (and much less expensive). If your cabinets aren't showing any obvious signs of structural wear and they still seem fashionable, there's nothing wrong with sprucing them up with some new paint. By taking your time and tackling the project with caution and care, you can obtain a result you can be proud of for years to come. Here is a simple overview of what you'll need to do.

Remove Doors and Fixtures

You will find that painting your kitchen cabinets will be much easier if you remove all of your doors prior to getting started. While it's not impossible to paint them while still attached, the resulting job is going to be sloppy. It's also going to be much more difficult and frustrating to accomplish what shouldn't be a very challenging task. It may seem like a lot of work to take all of this apart and put it all back together, but if you have someone working with you, the time will fly faster than you could have imagined. Set the hinges, fixtures, and knobs aside in a safe place.

Remove Old Paint

You don't want to try painting directly over old paint. While it can be done, the results are probably not going to look the way you want them to look. You'll get much better results by taking a sander (or even some sandpaper and elbow grease) and taking off that old paint step by step. If there's a "most difficult" portion of the procedure, this is probably it. Not that it takes any particular skill, but it can be tiring and tedious. If, halfway through the sanding process, you start wondering whether or not you should just buy new kitchen cabinets, just remember that the hard part will be over soon.

Prime and Paint

Whether you use primer will depend on a couple of issues. Some forms of paint act as their own primer. Some cabinets are made of material that doesn't particularly require it. Talk to kitchen cabinet specialists in your area and see what they have to say about it. You really can't go wrong by applying primer. As long as you apply it as directed, you'll probably be happy that you took the time to do so. Once finished, you can start painting. Use long, even strokes, going slowly. Let dry, replace your fixtures, and hang your doors back in place. Congratulations!