Tips for Painting Kitchen Cabinets
Updated: Jan. 27, 2023
The best choices for cabinet paints
Paint options for painting kitchen cabinets
Painting kitchen cabinets brightens a shabby kitchen. Choose an oil-based paint or a water-borne acrylic enamel. Both create tough, durable surfaces.
Prime Before Painting
If you want to give new life to old wooden kitchen cabinets, painting is a great choice. You have several good paint options. Before painting, a careful sanding and good primer set the stage for a smooth, durable top coat for painting kitchen cabinets.
For the best adhesion and a harder, more durable finish, an oil-based (alkyd) paint is tough to beat. But you must be willing to put up with the strong odor and solvent cleanup, along with a longer drying and curing time than you’d get if you used an ordinary water-based paint. Plus, the color may yellow over time.
The best paint for cabinets solution to avoid the hassle of oil-based paint is a new-technology waterborne acrylic enamel paint. This type of paint delivers:
- Good flow
- Leveling
- Hardening characteristics of oil-based paint without the odor and long drying time.
- These new paints dry fast and clean up with soap and water.
The main challenge with waterborne acrylic enamel paint is a smooth finish, but pros say that if the waterborne acrylic enamel is applied heavily enough and worked in small sections, it will flatten out nicely. When painting kitchen cabinets, avoid a dry brush and going over sections already starting to dry.
Don’t forget other keys to success when painting kitchen cabinets:
- Surface preparation (degreasing, cleaning and sanding)
- Priming (use a top-quality primer)
- Brushing (use the best-quality brush for the type of paint)
- Drying (follow label directions).
If you’re looking to revamp your cabinets with paint, check out the best paint for kitchen cabinets.
