Painting Kitchen Cabinets – Getting a Professional Finish

Nothing freshens up a room like a crisp, new coat of paint, and this is most true in the kitchen. Painting your kitchen cabinets is a big job, but it is not a difficult job when it is done correctly. If you properly prepare the surface of the cabinets before you start painting, not only will the whole process be simpler, but you will also have a beautiful, new kitchen space when you have completed the project. The great thing about painting kitchen cabinets is that you can update an old look, or your can choose to go in an entirely different direction with your design.
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rCabinet Preparation
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rTo begin painting your cabinets, you must first prepare the area to be painted. The kitchen area is famous for accumulating grease and grime from cooking. Take down all of the cabinet doors, and remove all of the hardware. Then begin sanding with fine grit sandpaper. It is important to sand the area to be painted, because that is what guarantees that the paint will stick to the new surface. Sanding can be labor intensive, but it is the one step where you cannot take any shortcuts or you run the risk of having your paint not properly sticking when your are done with your project.
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rPrime the Surface
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rOnce the cabinets are prepared for painting, make sure that you paint them with a layer of primer. If you are using the properly formulated primer it will adhere properly to your cabinet surfaces, and it will not chip or flake. This step is really important if you are painting the cabinets for the first time, or if you are painting over particularly glossy paint. Make sure that your paint and primer go together. After removing the cabinet doors, set yourself up outside to paint all of the doors together. You can lay them flat and paint them at the same time, so make sure that you find a spot that is not in the wind. You can rest the cabinet doors on small blocks of wood to keep edges from sticking to the under-surface after priming.
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rAdd Paint
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rOnce all of the cabinet doors are primed, let them completely dry before painting. Once the primer is absolutely dry, get a 2 ½ to 3-inch paintbrush and apply a thin layer of paint onto the cabinets. Remember that it is better to apply several thin coats of paint to the cabinet doors than it is to apply a single thick coat. Again, make sure that the paint completely dries in between each coat. Make sure that the doors are bone dry before flipping them over to paint the other side, because if they are even the tiniest bit damp, they will probably stick to the wood blocks. Generally you can plan on applying two coats of paint to the doors, but if you are going from dark to light, you may want to allow for an extra coat.
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rWhen the paint is on the cabinets and the cabinet doors are completely dry, then you can reassemble the cabinets, take a step back and marvel at your new kitchen.