12/13/2023 0 Comments Unfinished wood cabinet pullsEvery pro we talked to uses a paint sprayer on cabinets. It goes on smooth and easy and cures to an exceptionally hard, furniture-grade finish that can stand up to the busiest kitchens.Įxperts at the Good Housekeeping Institute use an abrasion machine to determine how well cabinet paints can stand up to the wear and tear of a busy kitchen. Doyle agrees and usually goes with a European brand called Ilva for its adhesion and durability, but it can run more than $100 per gallon.īased on Good Housekeeping's latest paint tests, our experts recommend Benjamin Moore's Advance, specially formulated with kitchen cabinets in mind. "Standard wall paint will leave you with a soft, tacky finish," Slavik says. Pros recommend enamel paints specially formulated for cabinets and other high-touch surfaces. Applicators (sprayer or brush and roller)Ĭhoosing the right paint is essential to a smooth, durable finish.Having to run back to the home center after the work gets underway is a huge time waster. Step 3: Gather all the materials and supplies Enlisting a helper or two will make the work go faster, and the extra hands will be useful when handling large cabinet doors and other heavy or unwieldy objects. You can do the work yourself for less than $250. "Most kitchens will cost $4,000 to $6,000 for a professional finish," Slavik says. But you'll save a bundle, compared with hiring the job out. OK, brace yourself: To do the job right, you need to budget at least 40 hours for the project. Step 2: Come up with a realistic schedule Fine-grained species, like cherry and maple, have a silky-smooth texture that's more conducive to refinishing. It's also important to note any heavy grain pattern, typical of species like oak and walnut, since the texture will likely show through, even after a couple of fresh coats of paint. "If there's a lot of water damage, or the doors are falling off their hinges, you're better off replacing the units," says Devyn Doyle, owner of VI Painting in Eagan, Minnesota, and a member of the Painting Contractors Association. "If you can't scratch it off, you'll have proper adhesion."Ĭonsider the condition of the cabinets too. “We'll apply a small area of primer, let it dry overnight and then attempt to scratch it off the next day,” says Nick Slavik, a professional painter based in New Prague, Minnesota, and the host of the Ask a Painter Live show on Facebook. If in doubt, run a test on an inconspicuous area, like the inside of a base corner cabinet. Cabinets with intricate details and applied moldings will be harder to paint, and pros don't recommend refinishing cabinets covered in plastic laminate or rigid thermofoil, since paint doesn't adhere well to those glossy surfaces. The best candidates are wood cabinets with plain, simple fronts, often referred to as Shaker style. It will take some time and effort on your part, but armed with our step-by-step guide, your cabinets will look new again for a fraction of the cost of replacement units. For this how-to article, we combined those findings with insights from pros who specialize in cabinet refinishing. The experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute have decades of experience testing all of the products used in this project, from the cabinet paint itself to paint sprayers, paintbrushes for home projects and other application tools. But if you don't go about it properly, you could waste hours upon hours and end up with a kitchen that looks worse, not better. We're not trying to talk you out of this DIY home-improvement project - painting kitchen cabinets really is one of the best ways to breathe new life into a tired kitchen. "This isn't a lazy Sunday project," says Sherry Petersik, who, along with her husband, chronicles a variety of decorating projects on her popular blog Young House Love. But contrary to what you might see on Instagram or Pinterest, the transformation won't happen overnight. A fresh coat of cabinet paint can update the look of your entire kitchen, since cabinets are such a strong focal point.
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