How to Paint Wood Cabinets

1. Gather the Right Tools

   Get a good-quality 2-inch-wide tapered brush, as well as a square trim brush. For oil-based paint, be sure to use a natural bristle brush, or a synthetic bristle brush specifically designed for use with oil. Latex paints require a brush with synthetic bristles—water in the paint expands natural bristles and you won’t get a good result. If your cabinet doors are flat without raised panels, you can speed the work by using a fine-nap roller.

   It pays to invest in a paint pail. Painting out of the can is inconvenient, the drips create a mess, and will splatter when you hammer the lid on between painting sessions. Look for a painter’s bucket with a side handle, an inside lip for wiping the paint off the brush, and a small magnet on the inside that will hold the brush upright when you are not using it.

   

2. Remove the Hardware

   Unscrew all hinges from both the doors and cabinets and unscrew any pulls or knobs from the doors and drawers. Most cabinets today come with cup hinges, sometimes called European hinges. For each hinge, remove the single screw attaching it to the cabinet frame and the two screws attaching it to the door.

   Note that some cup hinges have two additional screws that allow the door position to be adjusted after it is installed. Don’t disturb these adjustment screws.

   

3. Detach the Drawer Faces

   If you have drawer faces that are screwed in place through the inside of the drawer boxes, remove the faces. Put each type of hardware in its own Ziploc bag or another container along with its screws so nothing gets lost.

   

4. Clean the Cabinet Surfaces

   Kitchen cabinets get greasy, so the paint may not adhere well unless you clean them thoroughly with a grease cutter, such as trisodium phosphate, which is sold in hardware stores, home centers, and paint stores. Some states have banned phosphate. In those states, a product called TSP-PF (phosphate-free) is sold instead.

   Mix the cleaner with warm water as directed on the package, wipe all surfaces with a sponge, and then rinse with warm clean water.

   Tip

   Even if you're not painting the insides of the cabinets, this is a good time to thoroughly clean the inside surfaces of the cabinets.

   

5. Sand the Surfaces

   The purpose of this sanding is to scuff up and dull the surfaces so that the primer will adhere well. This is especially important if you are painting cabinets with a clear wood finish. Use #120 grit sandpaper with a sanding block for the flat areas. Use a small piece of folded sandpaper for rounded or contoured surfaces.

   Vacuum the surfaces then wipe with a tack cloth to remove any remaining dust. (A tack cloth is a sticky cloth you can buy at hardware stores, paint stores, and home centers.)

   

6. Prime the Doors and Drawer Fronts

   Cover a work surface with drop cloths or newspapers, then set the doors and drawer faces on scraps of wood to raise them slightly. This allows you to paint edges without worrying about them sticking to the cloth when the paint dries.

   Whether you are priming or painting, the procedure is the same. The only difference is that you want to work the primer into the wood a bit. When painting, you'll focus on longer, more even brush strokes.

   If you are priming or painting flat doors, start from one side and paint with long overlapping strokes from top to bottom. When priming or painting raised panel doors or anything else laid flat, it’s best to paint the highest parts first, so you can brush out any drips into lower spots. For the front of raised panels, you’ll start with the frame, then paint the center field, and finally the narrow contoured area between the center field and frame.

   When the primer dries, flip the doors and drawer fronts and prime the other sides.

   

7. Prime the Cabinets

   Use painter’s tape to mask off any adjoining surfaces and areas inside the cabinet that you don’t want to paint. Then “cut in” where the cabinet meets a wall, ceiling, or floor. This is where your tapered brush really comes in handy.

   Dip the brush into the paint, place it down on the cabinet near the wall or another meeting surface, then bring the long end of the taper up against and then down along the wall or ceiling. (Think of the brush as an airplane coming in for a landing and the line you are painting as the runway.) Hold the brush between thumb and forefinger, as you would hold a pencil or pen.

   After cutting in, prime the entire side with vertical strokes, using a square trim brush. Then prime the face frame of the cabinet.

   

   Tip

   Experienced painters sometimes find that painter's tape is more trouble than it's worth. With practice, you can learn to cut in the paint along walls with perfectly straight edges. This technique requires the use of an angled sash brush to ensure good lines.

8. Paint the Cabinets

   Apply a coat of paint to all the primed surfaces, finishing up with top-to-bottom strokes along the grain. When the paint dries, usually in about four hours, lightly sand the first coat of paint, wipe clean with a tack cloth, then apply a second, final coat of paint.

   

   Tip

   For maximum protection, you can protect the paint by coating the cabinets with a final coat of clear polyurethane finish after the second coat of paint has fully dried. This is an optional step, but it's worth considering with kitchen cabinets that get regular use.

9. Reattach Drawer Fronts and Doors

   When the paint is fully dry, reattach the drawer fronts to the drawer boxes, then remount the doors and reinstall drawer pulls and door handles.

Oil-Based Paint vs. Latex Paint

Before painting your cabinets, you first need to decide whether to use oil-based or water-based latex paint and primer. If your cabinets were previously painted with water-based latex paint, stick with that; you can use latex paint over oil paint, but oil paint won’t adhere well over latex. This also makes latex a safer choice if you don’t know which type the old paint is. Either type of paint will work over a clear wood finish.

Beyond that, there are pros and cons to consider: Latex paints have improved, but many professional painters believe that oil-based paints still produce a smoother and more durable surface. Durability is important for kitchen cabinets that get lots of use. On the downside, oil-based paints produce fumes you may not want inside your home, and they require that you clean your painting tools with mineral spirits. Today’s latex paints are virtually odorless and clean-up is done with soap and water, which is a lot easier.

Once you’ve chosen oil or latex, you need to choose a degree of gloss. For cabinets, it’s best to go with semi-gloss, or if you want them really shiny, a high-gloss paint. The cabinets will be easier to clean than if you paint them with a flat or eggshell paint.

What Is Alkyd Paint?

At one time, the term "alkyd paint" was a synonym for "oil-based paint." Traditional alkyd paints used petroleum oil-based solvents as the suspending agent for the coloring pigments. It was the evaporation of the solvent that caused the paint to dry and harden—and which also made the drying paint so smelly. When latex paints were introduced, instead of oil-based solvents, they used water as the suspending agent, thereby reducing the odor and the flammable fumes.

However, there are now so-called water-based alkyd paints that are marketed as paints that combine the virtues of oil-based alkyds with the easy cleanup of latex. These newer paints are sometimes sold as "alkyd enamel" or "acrylic enamel." These newer water-based alkyds still do contain some VOCs, but at much lower levels than traditional alkyds. Best of all, these paints are easily cleaned up with soap and water.

As with pure latex paints, water-based alkyds can be used with equally good results over both oil-based and latex paints.

Painting by Brush vs. Spray Painting

If you would rather not use a brush you can learn how to spray paint your kitchen cabinets. This is best done with an HVLP (high volume, low pressure) paint sprayer. These sprayers can be purchased for less than $100, but unless you plan to do a lot of painting, many people prefer to rent this tool.

Spray painting cabinets can give a very smooth finish without the brush marks that are left behind with even the most careful brush-painting job. But spray painting requires some practice to master, and it can be frustrating for beginners. And it requires that you wear a special respirator and carefully drape and mask off the room to prevent overspray.