I followed the "finish" of the existing cabinets. I painted the doors on both sides, and basically just painted what was stained. The inside of my cabinets looked more like it was just sealed--not dark stained like the outsides.

The biggest tip I can give you is to take your time. The sanding, the cleaning, the grain filler (if needed). We used an oil based paint from BM, Satin Impervo. It went on so nicely. I'm not sure what color you are thinking, but remember with oil based paint, the whites will yellow. There is also a latex based paint by Cabinet Coat that I heard lots of good things about too. There is a lot of information on the Painting forum. I would suggest you go over there and do a search.

Good luck!

My cabs currently appear to have a self-adhesive type paper with a printed wood grain on the interiors (can't think of the official name right now). Quite unattractive.

Luckily, I own two paint sprayers and plan to try my small, gravity-fed air sprayer on the cabinets. I was just wondering if I should tape/seal off the interiors and then treat them differently (paper them maybe?) or just spray the whole thing.

I'm eager to get started but want to be fully prepared before I do.

Thanks, beekeeperswife!

Yes - We did it once. And having done that, I wouldn't do it again! What a lot of work crawling into cabinets, staining, glazing, sealing, etc. And for what? Just to cover it all up with stuff?

If your interiors are in decent shape (not horrifyingly bad) I'd skip it.

I must tell you too, that we tried the sprayer, I wasn't thrilled with the results because there was some runs etc. Also, there was an "orange peel" look too. I would practice.

I loved the results I got with a great small roller. Also, the ends of the cabinets might not be "real" wood. Mine were some sort of plastic coating stuff (probably similar to what you describe as inside of yours), I primed it with a primer that was meant to be used on plastic furniture--it worked like a charm.

I really wouldn't waste my time on the inside of the cabinet, I think you have more of a chance of ruining it. Of course if the doors were glass and you could see inside it, then that would be a different story.

Tell me about your small roller, bee. Was it foam?

My end panels are not real wood but also are terribly beat up, with multiple screw holes, nail spots, etc. I don't know what the previous owners had attached to them, but they removed whatever it was when they left, ruining the end panels as well as the skins. I plan to 'skin' the ends and sides with something (luan? 1/4" plywood?) before painting and trimming.

sweeby, your advice is sound and I appreciate it! I just dislike the looks of the plasticky faux wood paper so much. It as a very 70's vibe. Guess I could always go over it with new contact paper.

Thanks for your help!

Sandy

I painted the my cabinets in my interim kitchen. Insides, Formica outsides, shelf surfaces, everything with 2 coats of good quality latex paint and a small foam roller. They held up perfectly for the 41/2 years or so until they were demo'ed, and there was no reason to think they would not have continued to perform well beyond that. They took scrubbing etc., which your cabinet insides will probably not need. Just go for it!

I only thought I'd need them for about a year, and had low expectations. I didn't prime, and, in fact forgot to wash them first!

I took the doors off of some, so painting over the heavily patterned plasticky looking fake wood grain was essential. And I dragged heavy bowls and plates daily across the paint on those horizontal surfaces, and it was fine and I had only barely visible surface scratching there.

The shelf surfaces is the most likely place for the paint to fail, so if you want to skip that, or paint it and put down shelf liners or something, that's an option. But the inside of the box? It barely gets touched, and the paint should adhere fine.

As with all painting, don't slather the paint on, or you get problems with drips and "waterfalls". Go for another coat if you need more coverage. Latex dries really fast.

I didn't even remove the doors (except the ones I took off to have open shelves) -- I just painted everything in situ. But these doors were never going to accept perfection.

Good luck!

It was not a foam roller, the foam roller I tested made air bubbles and left behind stuff. The roller I ended up using was some sort of mohair, maybe? I don't know--I got it at the paint store upon their recommendation--had hardly any lint. It was about 5 or 6" long.

I found that veneer stuff online and was going to use it for the ends, but I gave the plastic primer stuff a whirl first, figuring I had nothing to lose but everything to gain. I think I was leaning towards the maple veneer since it had no grain.