PREPARATION: The key to a quality job

First, in order to do a real quality job with your cabinets it really is best to remove all the doors and drawers. This will allow you access to areas that would be difficult to reach with the doors and drawers left in place. Once the doors and drawers have been removed from  the cabinet frame or boxes as they are sometime called, removed the hardware- hinges and  handles. Now is the time to think about replacing them and giving your cabinets a completely new look, however, if your hinges and handles still look great than you're okay.

Try to find or create a good work area to lay out your cabinet doors and drawers. You will need an area to work comfortably in and with as much ventilation as possible. Remember, since you are painting your cabinets and not staining them you don't have to remove the existing finish unless it has failed or in a state of failing. But for the record we will assumed the worst and go from there.

Use a good cleaning solution to remove grease, grime and other oils from the cabinet surfaces. Trisodium phosphate and a host of other degreasers can be purchased at your local hardware store or home improvement center. Thoroughly clean the cabinets inside and out and allow them to dry before proceeding. Once the cabinets are clean and dry begin sanding. This can prove to be a daunting task if you have never done it before, but believe me it is  essential to good wood preparation.

Start out by using a coarse grit of sandpaper that will cut and remove failed coatings, then progress to a medium grit and finally to a fine grit. When you reach this point your cabinet surfaces should be very, very smooth to the touch and smooth looking as well. The doors, drawers and cabinet boxes should all feel smooth at this stage.

Blow or vacuum away all dust before proceeding to the next step. Use a tack cloth or a damp towel to ensure total dust removal.

PRIMING    

Before you start painting there is one more step that you should do to ensure a quality job that will stand up to all that kitchen cabinets must stand up to: humidity, temperature changes, constant abuse and grease and oily hands! I personally prefer to use an oil base primer to prime kitchen cabinets and I prefer one that will seal and prevent anything from leeching through to create problems for my new finish.

You might prefer to use a latex primer that is more easier to work with and cleans up with soap and water as opposed to a solvent base primer that requires mineral spirits or paint thinner. But whatever your choice be sure and use a quality primer that is manufactured by an industry leader and not some cheap product that only cost a fraction of what a good product cost.

PAINTING

This really is my favorite part and I get excited about it every time I get an opportunity to paint kitchen cabinets. Now that your cabinets have been properly prepared and ready to receive paint, let's begin the fun stuff. Again, I prefer to use a quality oil base paint on the cabinets that I do and the reasons are: oil paint simply looks beautiful in my opinion.  It levels out perfectly and gives a rich and elegant look. It is my personal choice, however, sometimes using oil is not an option and it is mandatory that I use a water base paint.

When that is the case I always use a quality acrylic latex enamel that is manufactured by a leading paint company. You can still get a good finished look with latex paint on your cabinets, in fact, some people as well as contractors insist on it. But it is just not my personal choice for reasons I described above.

About the Author

Donald Thomas is owner and CEO of American Painting and Pressure Cleaning, Inc. He is a home improvement contractor that started out in 1984. Our website http://www.americanpaintingandpressurecleaninginc.com

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