Are you thinking about painting your cabinets? Cabinet painting is one of the best ways to transform your space, whether it’s a kitchen, bathroom, or other room in your home. Whether you choose to DIY it or hire a professional painter, the key to achieving a flawless finish that lasts for years to come lies in how you prepare cabinets for painting. Read on to learn the step-by-step process for preparing your cabinets for a fresh coat of paint like a pro!
How to Prepare Cabinets for Painting
We won’t sugarcoat it, cabinet painting is more complicated than simply painting an interior wall or doing touch-ups in your home. Therefore, it’s important that you know what to expect during a cabinet painting project so you can make the best decision for your home. We do highly recommend that you hire a professional painter for this type of project if you’re not totally confident in DIY painting your cabinets.
Before Cabinet Painting
One of the most important steps in the cabinet painting process happens before any paint comes out. First, the homeowner must remove everything from their cabinets and drawers before the professional painters’ start date arrives. This includes removing appliances from the kitchen area or anything else that may get in the way (or potentially get paint splattered on it).
Next, clean the cabinets thoroughly using the appropriate cleaning products. This step is key, as it removes dirt, grease, and grime from the cabinets. Having a clean surface is key to ensuring the paint goes on smooth and adheres well.
Preparing Cabinets for Painting
Next comes the prep phase for your cabinets. Cover all floors, cabinets that are not being painted, walls, backsplashes, and countertops with builder’s paper and plastic to protect your home’s surfaces from paint splatters and potential damage during the cabinet painting process.
Remove all doors and drawers from the cabinets, including hardware and hinges. We recommend storing hardware and hinge pieces in a baggie or box so you don’t lose any during the painting process. If you need to change any hardware, this is the time to measure and drill new holes before the fresh coat of paint goes on.
Thoroughly clean all cabinet surfaces to be painted before sanding them down to create a smooth, even texture for paint to adhere to. This will be a catalyst in ensuring you achieve a professional-looking finish.
Fill and Prime
For the next step in the cabinet painting process, fill in any scratches, dents, wood grains, or other imperfections with Bondo Glazing Compound. This sands down nicely and leaves a smooth surface. It is the same compound that auto shops use before painting cars, so it leaves a perfectly smooth surface to prime and paint over. Once you’ve filled in any parts of the surface that needed some attention, sand those filled in areas until smooth.
Prime the entire surface with a high-quality solvent-based primer. Priming is a critical part of any painting job, especially cabinets. This will increase adhesion and the sealing power of stains used on your cabinets so your paint goes on smooth and even. After priming, lightly sand that coat until smooth to prepare an even base for painting.
Finish Coats
Now it’s time for the grand finale, applying the finishing coats that will make your cabinets come to life. Apply 2 coats of cabinet specific paint. Make sure the paint is made for cabinets to ensure proper adhesion, protection of your cabinets, and even application. You can read more about the best paint products for cabinets here.
For a professional looking finish, painters will spray all cabinet doors and drawers in a spray booth either on-site in a temporary space that they will construct in the garage or off-site in a permanent spray booth in the shop. All boxes will be painted in place. This process of spraying is what gives you that even application and professional quality look without brush marks on your doors and drawers.
After applying the first top coat and it has completely dried, lightly sand down the surfaces to rid them of any imperfections and achieve the smoothest possible finish.
Looking for color inspiration for your cabinets? Check out this list of the 8 best colors for kitchen cabinets.
The 8 Best Colors for your Kitchen Cabinets | Kitchen Cabinet Color Inspiration
This is the exact process for cabinet prep and painting we use here at Oak City Coating to prepare cabinets for painting and is what most cabinet painting companies or manufacturers of cabinet paint will recommend as well.
By following these steps for prepping for cabinet painting, whether you’re DIYing or hiring a pro, you’ll ensure that your cabinets are in the best possible shape to accept paint and come out with a high-quality, long-lasting finish that totally transforms the look of your space.
If you’re looking to hire a professional to help you refresh your cabinets with new paint, visit our contact page to book your free estimate today! We would love to help you achieve the beautifully painted look of your dreams.
