Painting unfinished RTA cabinets?
Sedonia Sipes
9 years ago
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catbuilder
9 years agoSedonia Sipes
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Has anyone used ready to assemble (RTA) Kitchen cabinets
Comments (20)You have gotten confused on the details of the cabinets you were looking at online as rta the face frames are 3/4 thick and the plywood boxes are 1/2 thick. I own and operate a kitchen and bath store in orlando. I specialize in the affordable products as well as having high end products to offer. I often wonder about those that post on here as to why RTA is not considered more. I can ship out directly to anywhere in the US 75 different RTA cabines that are assembled by the company that stocks them before they are put on the truck! You do not even have to put them together. I also have several domestic brands that are in the same price range. Many do not even use cam locks any more they are to be glued and stapled like most domestic brands are that are not in the Wode Mode business model as cabinet makers. I have one brand that ships out assembled with a lifetime warranty. They even do inset door styles that everyone seems to want on here. I have another brand that imports 60" wide by 66" wood hoods with raised panel arch vallance over the cook top and pull out spice racks in the towers. They are not as nice as stanici but they are not the cost either. Both have their place in society. I offer out of my store 20' of cabinetry in any configuration with 30" 36" or 42" wall cabinets with crown and light rail 10 level 1 granite stones to chose from removal of exsisting kitchen, installation of new kitchen and appliances painting of the kitchen area and any knobs you want from my supplier which has 25,000 different ones for $7,000-$10,500 I have inset door styles, flat slab bamboo, raised panels, applied moldings, painted cabinets, glazes, shakers, no name I have at least 1 of everything some will be looking for. When I am done with their kitchen only someone in the industry will be able to tell if the cabinets are imports most of the time. The trade offf is you are dealing with in stock product. No 2 companies stock the exact same cabinet list. It is just the nature of the beast. You can be a smart shopper and find the best price that gives you what you like or you can go for brand name recognition for bragging rights when compnay is over and conviently forget to tell your friends you look wealthy but have no retirement funds cause you buy everything on name brand to feel more important. RTA will not suit everyone but the truth is it fits most Beaver Cleaver neighborhoods very well. Which is where most of americans live that can afford to remodel thier kitchen...See MoreRTA Inset Cabinets?
Comments (6)Hi, I redid my kitchen as a DIY in '06-07. I am a very experienced carpenter with lots of woodworking equipment, and I do build some cabinets. I did not have the kind of shop space to do en entire set of cabinets, nor the time. I first developed the design, and found that Conestoga would customize the door styles to get something like a door I loved from Omega Dynasty line. I ordered an upper and lower door sample (different styles) and was so impressed by the precision and great condition they arrived in. I received my unfinished cabinet package (99 boxes on 9 pallets)in a little over two weeks. The shipping from PA to WV was free, it even came on a Conestoga semi trailer (they do their own delivery for large orders, ship UPS for small ones). The boxes go together easily. The finishing was obviously a lot more trouble than the assembly. I used old-fashioned mortise butt hinges for my inset doors, which have no adjustability and require total precision of fit. There are non-mortise hinges that allow some adjustment, but I wanted a particular look. I wouldn't foresee that painting them would be a particular problem for you, if you ask in the paint forum you can get some good advice; apparently there is a new type of paint called "Cabinet Coat" that lays down smooth as glass and in impervious to stains and wear. I have seen pictures of new woodwork painted with it and it's very impressive. To paint doors it's better to do them off the cabinets, and you need a vast amount of room to lay them all out. I stained, and did some steps (like a 7-step finish) off, and final finishing on the cabinets. I finished the moldings etc., off, and touched up after nailing them up. The cabinet doors come ready-to-stain, the faceframes need a good scraping/sanding to remove the 100-grit cross-grain sanding marks. You will be getting cabinets nearly as good as Dynasty, Plain & Fancy, or Crown Point, (not as good as Kennebec) for a literal fraction of the cost. One final caveat, nothing is returnable unless damaged, you will get what you ordered, so go through the list with a fine-tooth comb and make sure everything works together. The upper cabinets: My Glass-door inset wall cabinets: My full-overlay base cabinets: Inset hinge detail: It's quite an undertaking, but great sweat equity, or how to end up with nicer cabinets that you would want to buy, if you are in my income bracket. Casey...See MoreLooking for unfinished RTA cabinets
Comments (2)We used Scherrs and I really liked their process and products. I seem to recall other people also really liking Conestoga, if memory serves me right....See MoreRTA Cabinets: I am disappointed
Comments (48)I am with you RTA is an option. I have a older friend who is a cabinet maker, trained by his father, he makes incredible cabinets! They are amazing, but I can't afford them and would not ask him that big of favor. But, when they first came out with waterbased cabinet top coat, he used it on my parent's cabinets. UGH, it only lasted 2 years before we had to sand them and recoat. Fortunately he had used amazing materials and they are gorgeous still 25 years later. BUT my parents also chose slab doors (not at all popular back them, but high style now) and no stain, just beautiful wood. There is no joints to seperate and once we added the extra coats of top coat, they will outlast us all. The deal is that processes and products change, due to epa, supply, carb, health concerns, etc. I myself sanded and painted (slab) oak cabinet doors with oil based paint and got a mirror finish that probably out lasted the kitchen, but I doubt I could find that kind of paint now! I think it is a balance between the look you want and cost and durability and safety. I think I could take old lead oil paint, cover an expensive slab door and it would last forever, be dangerous to do and to have, and I would hate the look! I also hesitate to spend money on "forever" anything because I might just hate that look in 15 years and have spent so much I can't afford new. I look at it as buying a car, I want to get something nice, but reasonable, if I buy a luxury car, I won't be able to afford gas or even fix it, because I spent so much on it, so I ended walking as my luxury car sits in the driveway. It is not going to do me much good to spend so much on cabinets that I can't afford food. (No Ikea...everything I have bought from them broke long before it should and it too is made in China.) If I can't look into rta from China, then I must live with ugly, peeling painted cabinets with boxes that are made of particle board and fiber board (not even MDF). Why, yes, they were custom made in the USA, by local craftsman!...See Moredenizenx
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