How to Paint your Kitchen Cabinets Like a Pro

Painting kitchen cabinets has become quite the kitchen and bathroom improvement trend in recent years as we find ourselves in the midst of a “painted kitchen cabinet era”. And really, why not? Many of us have found ourselves in a home in which the kitchen or bathroom cabinets are in decent enough shape to warrant keeping them around, but they definitely need some sort of refresh.

Can I paint MY cabinets?

As long as your cabinets haven’t incurred severe damage, and the cabinet fronts are still aesthetically within the realm of decent to look at, it’s time to consider painting your cabinets. Most wood kitchen cabinetry is an ideal candidate for a DIY kitchen painting project.

Pro VS. DIY

There are a couple of routes you can take to paint your kitchen cabinets: the pro route, where a professional painter comes in to provide a professional coating to your cabinets, or, you can opt for the DIY process. Today, we are going to talk about the DIY process.

Be Patient! This work is tedious!

To break it down simply, you need to realize that a DIY kitchen cabinet painting project is not very difficult and it doesn’t require expensive equipment to achieve a professional looking finish, BUT, and, this is a really big BUT, it does require patience. Even though this project is very straight forward and dare I say, easy, it does take many grueling hours of tedious prep and painting work, so if spending your Spring Break in a tarped off kitchen with a mini paint roller in hand sounds like your idea of fun, then THIS IS THE PROJECT FOR YOU!

Keys To A Successful DIY Kitchen Painting Project

• Understand what you’re getting into
  Painting cabinets takes patience and a lot of time. The work is straight forward, but this will be a test of your patience!

• Prep, prep, prep
  The key to any successful painting project is the prep work. Kitchen cabinet painting is no different. You will need to make sure you’re prepping your surface like you’ve never prepped a surface before to achieve a pro looking finish. Check out our post, “Prepping Kitchen Cabinets For Paint Using Deglosser”, which will be part of your prep process.

• Use the best quality paint for your project
  We had a great experience with the Benjamin Moore Advance line.

• Use the best quality applicators
  A good brush and a roller is not much more expensive than the cheap one, and the benefit is a pro looking finish.

• Practice your brush strokes.
  Don’t jump right in if you haven’t painted cabinets before. Find an old cabinet door and practice before your project. Check out our post, “How to Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets”, for a basic DIY guide that will lead you in the right direction.

• Updating your cabinet hardware is part of the project
  We kept our existing hardware and spray painted it with Rustoleum’s Universal line of spray paint. Check out our post, “How to Easily Update Your Kitchen Cabinet Hardware for Under $20“, for tips on how to do that easily.