The Tools And Techniques You Need To Use To Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets White
White has always been a popular color for kitchen cabinets — it brightens up your kitchen and makes it look larger and more inviting. Repainting your kitchen cabinets white instead of installing all-new cabinetry is an inexpensive way to give your kitchen a revitalized and spacious appearance.
The downside is that cabinet painting is a long and laborious job, and it's even more important to do the job perfectly if you are painting them white. White is the color that most easily shows stains, so you need to prepare and prime the surfaces and use a high-quality paint so that your cabinetry can be easily wiped off. Kitchen cabinets need a durable kitchen cabinet paint job, since they are constantly being touched by fingers and scraped with metal pots and pans. Here's how to make sure yours stand up to the test of time.
Choose a High-Quality Acrylic Latex Paint for White Cabinets
The correct paint for the job is an acrylic latex paint. While oil-based paints and alkyd paints are great choices for other colors, these two enamels tend to turn yellow over time. When this happens to white cabinetry, they'll take on a dingy, off-white color. For a strong finish, use three coats of paint.
Gloss, semi-gloss are satin are all acceptable for your kitchen cabinetry. Glossier finishes are less porous, which resists stains and makes your kitchen cabinets easier to clean. However, a gloss finish can be overly reflective if your kitchen is very well lit. Semi-gloss provides a good medium between the two. Don't use flat or matte finishes for white kitchen cabinetry, because they're very easy to permanently stain.
Apply an Oil-Based Primer
Use two coats of an oil-based primer for your kitchen cabinets. Using a primer helps the paint bond to the surface of the cabinet. It's important not to skip this step for white cabinetry, as painting bare wood will eventually reveal the wood grain underneath when the paint finishes curing.
Don't use latex-based primers for painting kitchen cabinets. These are more suited for painting porous surfaces such as drywall or some exterior trim. Kitchen cabinetry is too smooth for a latex-based primer to properly adhere to it.
Sand Before Every Primer or Paint Coat With High-Grit Sandpaper
Sanding is the most tedious process of painting kitchen cabinets but also one of the most important. You need to sand with high-grit sandpaper before priming, after every coat of primer and after every coat of paint except the final coat. Use tack cloth after each sanding to remove any sawdust from the cabinet — it's very sticky and will pick up bits of dust very easily. Renting an orbital sander will make the job go faster.
The reason for sanding is that it helps every layer of primer and paint adhere to the surface by making the surface even and slightly coarser. Sanding throughout the entire process ensures your white kitchen cabinets have a bright, even color and are easy to clean. It also helps the paint resist cracking and chipping.
By selecting the correct products and making sure to sand before every coat, you'll ensure that your kitchen cabinets have a shining white paint job that lasts. If you are unsure that you have the time or the skill to paint your kitchen cabinets correctly, contact a professional. Kitchen cabinets need to have a durable paint job in order to stand up to rigors of the kitchen, and a poor paint job is likely to only last for a few months before it begins to rub away or crack.
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