Repainting Kitchen Cabinets: DIY Repainting kitchen cabinets is

By admin on January 6th, 2008

Repainting Kitchen Cabinets: DIY

Repainting kitchen cabinets is really a pretty straight forward process. All it takes it the proper tools and materials and a little bit of patience and effort. Repainting kitchen cabinets can be a very satisfying family project too. Get everyone involved and make a weekend project of it!

There are few things in life as satisfying as finding a great deal on some beautiful old kitchen cabinets that just need a little TLC. So go ahead and buy those hideous pink kitchen cabinets with the great woodworking details and precise lines. With a little bit of elbow grease your kitchen cabinets will be good as new.

First things first: If the cabinets that need to be repainted have been finished, they will need to be stripped if you want the lines of the woodwork to show up nicely. You can find stripping solution at any hardware or home improvement store. Follow the instructions and be prepared for this process to be the most time consuming portion of the whole project.

If your cabinets are finished or painted, but seem to have only one or two thin coats that have mostly rubbed off, you can get by fine with sanding down the paint edges and roughing up the flat areas using a gritty sandpaper.

If you must use a stripping solution, be sure to take precautions and protect skin and eyes, as this stuff can be rather caustic. The annoying and time consuming part about stripping wood cabinets is that once you leave the goop on to begin dissolving and drawing out the finish, you must scrape the resulting gunk off of all the planes and crevices. This can be very detail oriented work if you want it done well the first time.

Once the wood kitchen cabinets have been prepared with sandpaper and or stripped of the old finish, it’s time to apply a fresh coat of paint. Take your time and carefully apply a thin coat of paint and allow to dry overnight or longer before applying the second coat. I suggest you opt for a sateen or semi-gloss so that they will be relatively easy to clean from time to time.

One thing you may wish to consider, particularly since you’ve taken the time to strip the cabinets, is to use a wash instead of regular paint. A wash is simply watered down paint that soaks into the wood grain. The nice thing about a paint wash is that it will sink into the wood grain and bring out many pretty patterns found within the grain.

You can make a beautifully natural yet stunning effect with a bright shade of paint, using the paint wash method. Even the brightest colors cannot detract from the cabinets’ natural beauty when using a diluted wash mixture. For an aged look, take a second darker paint wash and go over the piece again, focusing on the larger depressions.

When you’ve finished apply your new paint or paint wash to the cabinets, you may wish to add further protection by adding a coat or two of sealant or varnish. You can purchase weatherproof spray or clear wood finish at any hardware store.

Tags: kitchen backsplashes, cabinetry, interior design, kitchen furniture, remodeling