How to Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets

How to Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets

Project Overview: We started off with Oak Cabinets from year 2000. They were in really beautiful condition (some might cringe at the fact we painted them because of it) but, I have always been a white kitchen kind-of-gal. Our cabinets didn’t have a super high gloss over them, nor were they really “honey” toned. This can make a difference when you get to the sanding part (I will address later on). Overall, we are SO happy with how they turned out and the products we used. I will be curious to see how well the paint holds up over time. We have painted a kitchen before, but used the Rust-Oleum Kitchen Cabinet kit, which worked fine, but it wasn’t the most professional looking outcome. This time around, we both truly feel like we have brand new cabinets. We could not be happier! I hope this blog post is helpful for all of you who are about to venture into painting your cabinets! 

Supplies List:

-screwdriver and drill

-degreasers (vinegar & baking soda for cleaner, and TSP cleaner for hinges)

-clean cloths

-toothbrush (only if you’re going to be painting your hinges **scroll to step 6)

-drapery for floors (plastic lining)

-painters tape 

-220 grit sand paper (sheets and blocks, we ended up using like 4-6 sheet packs and 4 blocks)

-1 ½” Angled Purdy Clear Cut brush —I swear by these brushes! They literally are magical.

-Mini Purdy Roller System **this was the most used tool along with the brush**

-stir sticks 

-paint trays

-primer 

-paint 

-White Dove Purdy ½’ nap paint rollers (one for primer/one for paint)

-spray paint (if reusing your same hinges but want a different sheen)

-work space

-vacuum –there will be lots of dust from sanding

-paper towels/cleaner spray 

-patience —lots of it! 

**All items will be linked below for your own convenience** 

Step 1: 

Set up your work station.Have one area where you will be sanding, one area where you will be painting the doors and draws, and prep the main kitchen area with drape clothes and tape.

Next, Remove Doors & Hardware. I created a drawing or sketch of our kitchen (pictured below) and labeled each door and drawer with a number on painter’s tape. That way we could keep track of what goes where. I also used plastic cups to put the hinges in, and numbered the cups to the corresponding door. Using cups came in handy later on too, when we needed to degrease/soak the hinges before spray painting them. 

Step 2:

Sand & Prime. Once you have all the hardware removed, we started sanding down all the frame work. 

**to save time on not having to wash all your essential kitchen dishes and such, don’t forget to remove items from the cabinetry, sand gets in every little area** We left some, but removed our essential items. 

Like I mentioned before, we didn’t have a high gloss to sand off, so we used grit 220 sand paper and worked it in until there was no shine left on the wood. If you have a higher gloss or “honey” toned, you would want to use maybe 150 grit and might have to spend a little more time sanding. 

After sanding, we vacuumed the dust up. Next, you will want to clean off the cabinetry with a damp cloth and degreaser. I used a vinegar/baking soda water mixture. 

Mixture: ½ cup baking soda to 1 cup vinegar with the rest water. I filled up a gallon bucket. Always keep the ratio one-part baking soda to two parts vinegar. 

This will ensure you get off any grease and/or oils that normally build up on kitchen cabinetry over time. 

Once everything is sanded, cleaned, and dry, you start applying your primer. We used Sherwin Williams Extreme Bond Primer & I would highly recommend it! After you get this primer on, the paint goes on like butter! (pictured & linked below). 

***FOR ALL PRIMING AND PAINTING, I USED A BRUSH AND ROLLER. Why? I feel like I have way more control doing it by hand than by spraying. That’s just my personal preference. I feel like I can control any drips a lot easier than if I sprayed it, and can apply thinner coats since I have control over how much I’m putting on my brush/roller. I should also note, we had ZERO brush marks on our kitchen cabinetry.  I swear by the Purdy brand for both brush and roller. They work so smooth! The mini roller kit is what I used, along with a brush, for pretty much the entire process. ***

Allow primer to dry according to what’s recommended on the can. 

Once we had our interior part of the kitchen primed, we started the process of step 1 & 2 on the doors and drawers in a separate work space. 

This is how they look with the primer on. 

STEP 3-

Sand Again. Let the primer dry at least 24 hours, and then sand very lightly over the primer. I used grit 220, but a block this time. This will smooth out any bumps and make it so the paint adheres to the primer perfectly. Wipe down with a damp cloth to get any residue off from the light sanding. 

Step 4-

Apply First Coat of Paint. Use the 1 ½” angled brush and apply your first coat of paint. I used the brush around corners, edges, and the inside part of interior framing and then immediately followed over with the mini roller brush. The brush and mini roller I would switch off continuously throughout the painting process to ensure a smooth, but full coverage. 

**Again, we did the interior framing and then once we had all that painted with the first coat of paint, we repeated steps 2 & 3 with the doors and drawers**

Allow paint to dry at least 24 hours before applying second coat. 

Step 5-

Apply Second Coat. Using the same process as step 4, apply your second (and final) coat of paint. Wait 24-48 hours before reinstalling any hardware. 

While our second coat was drying on our framing, we applied the first coat on the doors/draws. 

This is how it looks with two coats of paint.

If you are getting new hinges, or just sticking with how your current hinges are now, you are now done! Congrats! If you are going to be painting your hinges then read onto step 6. 

Step 6- The Hinges 

*** We ended up buying new white hinges. We weren’t happy with how they ended up turning out. The spray paint chipped and/or rubbed off after couple times of opening and closing** I know some people have had great luck with reusing old hinges and following the steps below, but we did not**

During steps 4 and 5 is when my husband and I started the process on refreshing all of our hinges. Here is what we did:

• Soak the hinges (this is where I said putting them in cups became helpful, because we were able to poor the degreasing mixture directly into the individual cups for soaking). We used Sunnyside Phosphate Free TSP Substitute cleaner. We just followed the directions on the back for soaking. **pictured below**
• Then we rinsed out each cup and scrubbed the hinges with a toothbrush to get off any extra grime. 
• Then we put them back into the cup (rinse out the cup first) and let them all dry over night
• Next day, we gently rubbed the hinges down with Grade #0000 steel wool to ensure the spray paint would adhere the best possible, along with sanding them with a fine grit sand paper.
• Then you spray paint. We used Rust-Oleum Satin All Surface Paint + Prime (color black) for the first coat. We did one light coat per side and followed dry time according to bottle. My husband then went over them with a second coat, but using Rust-Oleum Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze so that when you open and close the hinges it doesn’t chip. We allowed that to dry for 48 hours. **pictured below**

Congrats! You just completed your kitchen! I would love to see any “before and after” of anyone’s kitchens. I will link all items below on specifically what brands and products we used. I hope this blog post was helpful, and please reach out to me if you have questions.

Much love, 

Kiersten 

Products Used:

Sherwin Williams Extreme Bond Primer.

Sherwin Williams Pro Classic in color Pure White #7005

All other materials and products used are linked here: http://liketk.it/2ONfT