Tips for Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I think that has to be one of the most original post title’s I’ve ever written. {insert sarcasm here}. Oh well, it’s straight and to the point.

 

Yesterday I showed you a quick kitchen re-vamp.

 

I’m not going to lie I was totally scared of changing this:

 

Into this:

 

I thought it would be super messy, take too long and overall not come out the way I wanted it to, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Here are some of my tips that made the job go smoothly.

 

1. Make sure you clean the cabinets. In a kitchen there is a lot of grease and just over dirt that you everyday cleaner is not going to get off. The kitchen hadn’t been remodeled in at least 15 years. We used this.

 

2. Take the doors off! I know some people paint the kitchen cabinets and leave everything as is, but I think it’s best to remove them. You’ll get all the nooks, etc if they are off.

 

You’ll have a couple of days of this, but it’s worth it!

 

3. That being said I do think it’s a good idea to paint the inside of the cabinet doors once they are hung. It would have been a complete mess if I had to keep flipping them over. The extra drying time alone would have added an additonal week to my project.

 

4. Organization is KEY! Make a key for yourself in order to remember what doors go where and what color they get painted!

 

This was super easy to do and it helped me keep track of everything! Because I wasn’t painting the inside of the doors until they were hung I was able to make marks on the inside and number all of my doors. It was also helpful since we were doing two different colors.

 

5. Re-purpose what you have.In order to save costs we kept the hinges. To get the look we wanted we simply spray-painted them. The same could be done with existing hardware.I didn’t want to rock the boat so I numbered all of the hinges to match their cabinet door and saved them in envelopes.

It was an added step, but it didn’t take long and helped me keep all the hinges and screws in one place. 

 

6. Make sure you sand!

I know it seems like a pain, but I think it’s best to do it. A lot of times people have a hard time painting over cabinets because the original color shows through, etc. With the electric sander it’s a super quick job plus if you are working as a team the person behind you can wipe them up quickly so it’s not a huge mess.

 

In between coats I merely hand sanded with a high grit paper (220 grit). This didn’t take long and it was good to check over the cabinets and get rid of any drip marks.

 

7. Pay attention to the details!

 

For some reason there was spacing where the top cabinets met the wall. * It’s driven me crazy for years!

Even with the cabinets painted it still stuck out like a sore thumb. Jon came over to help with the hardware and told me it could be fixed in minutes.

 

Here is what we did:

 

I went out and bought ALEX PLUS PAINTABLE CAULK

 

Then we simply applied it by squeezing some out and wiping off the excess:

 

That’s it! It took seconds. I was originally going to fix it with wood filler, but that would have taken longer and required sanding, which I didn’t want to do.

We waiting 2 hours for it to dry and then did a quick paint touch-up!

 

8. If you are messy painter like me then you must buy Motsenbocker's Lift Off:

I get paint everywhere! From the top of head to the tips of toes. Not sure how I do it. Must be some sort of talent. Not only do I get it on myself, but I also tend to get it in places were it shouldn’t be like the countertops, floors, etc.

 

It worked wonders and even took paint off my fancy designer jeans! No, I normally don’t paint in nice clothes, but it was on the day we were installing the knobs and someone did a little touch up paint and you know how the story goes.

 

9. Little trick for knob placement!

 

If you are planning on changing the location of the knobs like I did this is a must have:

We got this plastic template at IKEA. {You could also use this}

Since none of the existing holes worked for us we simply made a new one. This made it so easy to install the hardware. No measuring each cabinet door!

 

10. Like Nike says, “ Just do it!”

I not only wanted to do this project to help out Mom, but also to help you all and tell it like it is.

 

Was I tired and complained most of the time while I did it? YES!

 

-But it took less than a week to do.

 

-Since paint has to dry It didn’t take up my whole day.

 

-With my kitchen key and number cabinets and hinges all went smoothly during installation. No missing screws or cabinets not fitting.

 

-Not all of the days were spent painting. I had a break one the first day with just cleaning and sanding and the last day was just an installation.

 

The results were totally worth it. Yes, if I had huge budget I would have gutted that kitchen, but we didn’t have the $$$ for that. So for around $300 bucks we had a new kitchen!

 

Hope these tips work and if you get around to painting your cabinets I would love to see pictures! * Paula that means you! Your hubby must say yes.