Putting something over peeling paint will not help because the lack of bond is between the wood and the first layer of paint. This will continue to fail even if paint / primer is put over it. He needs to sand or strip back to the bare wood. Then, a good primer that is compatible with the paint - possibly Zinsser 123. That is the primer I used before painting with a latex enamel acrylic paint for my trim and laundry room cabinets. It has held up well. Priming is such a simple step - hard to believe he forgot to do it. That is something I think every one that works with wood knows. How frustrating for you!

He needs to strip the cabinets and refinish them the right way.

Stripping, sanding, priming, and repainting are what he will have to do. It'll be tedious for him. He might even be better off just replacing all your cabinets.

He actually admitted he didn't prime them first? Seems like a total rookie mistake. I'm sorry for your hassle.

They should have been primed first, but we are living in a world now where all paint manufacturers continue to insist that you don't need a primer or that the primer is in the paint. Is it really a surprise that people don't know what to do?

A cabinet contractor should know better. This isn't like a weekend warrior walking into Lowes or Home Depot and buying "paint and primer in one"....

The dedicated Cabinet Paints, which most of the major manufacturers have, do not generally need a primer when going over an existing sound and painted surface. However, they are not primers for over bare wood. He should have primed.

Did not prime unfinished wood! Amateur! Just because someone can build cabinets, doesn't mean they are Pro painters.

I would get a refund on paint job, then hire a Pro Refinisher. The cabinets need to be stripped down, sanded, PRIMED, then painted again.

We all make mistakes. Hopefully he learned his lesson, but not with your $.

Bummer this happen.

Hope it works out in your favor.

Even if the paint hadn't starting peeling so soon, without primer you would have eventually had bleed-through of the wood grain and resins, resulting in yellowing of the paint. Better that you found out now, than much later. What a disappointment--I hope you can find a resolution.

Agree Mamagoose.

Fortunate to find out so quickly, so it can be addressed by the non-primer.

At least the cabinet maker was honest about not priming. I'm amazed he admitted that, but kudos to him for honesty.

Hopefully a resolution comes soon.

Just met with the contractor today. We have approximately twenty 42" cabinet doors and drawers. His suggestion was to respray the damaged areas - around ten cabinet doors - with the same acrylic paint, and then put some sort of a conversion varnish on top. His philosophy is that the problem occurs when water droplets sit on the acrylic paint, causing the paint to blister and peel, showing the bare wood below. He said the varnish will prevent water reaching the paint.

It is VERY clear to me, based on the experienced folks posting here, that the cabinets should be sanded, primed and painted. When I told him that's what I wanted, he just shook his head. If I could read his mind, he was thinking there's no way I'm going to sand, prime and respray all these cabinets.

I told him we'd get back with him...

Would the conversion varnish keep the water from peeling the paint, and maintain the integrity of the paint on the cabinets?

Thanks!

Andrew

No, nothing will stick to an improperly prepared substrate. Needs to be sanded, primed and resprayed. He is suggesting just a patch job, to appease you until he is done, and paid, and then will ignore you when you try to get him to come and fix more damage that has occured.

If I could read his mind, he was thinking there's no way I'm going to sand, prime and respray all these cabinets.

I bet he was thinking something a bit more, um, colorful...and it probably began with an “F” and ended with a “U.”

;)

The contractor was a fool not to prime the unfinished wood before painting. He is either a fool or hoping he could fool you. Hopefully, you did not accept that as a solution & find someone who specializes in painting cabinets the professional way.

Bummer you're cabinet paint job isn't holding up. A Pro cabinet refinisher can fix that. Pick a reliable company that warrants their work.

Well, he didn't prime, so we know he doesn't understand how coatings work and adhere and why they fail and this new suggestion just proves he still doesn't understand. He thinks the topcoat is all that matters and doesn't realize that anything you put on top of a failing paint layer only causes stress to the failing layer. The failing layer needs to be removed. Of course, now that you know this guy doesn't even know how to finish cabinets properly, do you even want him to try and fix it?

The problem being, knowing what a good solution is, and making your way to that solution are two different things.

---

I suspect you are going to get a free bad fix or pay dearly for the right fix. I don't know anyone who would put CV over an acrylic paint, but at the same time I suspect your contractor isn't going to really remedy this, furthermore, I am not sure you want him to.

You can't spray 10 doors with CV. You are either going to have to spray the entire kitchen or spray nothing. That means trying to site spray CV and that takes people who know what they are doing and a house that isn't going to be lived in for a bit.

If you are going to try some half-@ssed fix because that is what you can get him to do. I would go with Kem Aqua Plus rather than conversion varnish. It probably isn't going to work either, but it has a better chance than a traditional conversion varnish.

Best of luck.

That is unfortunate to hear that the painter/wood installer you hired, did not sand or prime your cabinets before painting. We always recommend that you check the license/insurance of who you hire before hiring them to avoid this issue. He is most likely not licensed. A simple license check with your state will prevent many of these issues from ever occurring in the first place.

Because he did not degloss, sand and prime the cabinets (and then wait the appropriate amount of time for the primer to cure) before painting them, then you will unfortunately need to strip the cabinets and start over.

Our company specializes in painting cabinets as well as stripping cabinets- We have fixed a LOT of jobs around our area, where homeowners "went cheap" and hired an unlicensed/unqualified painter and paid the price. This is very, very common. We probably do 2 jobs a week to fix the mess of someone cheaper. I really don't understand why more people do not just hire professionals the first time, why tempt fate... but I digress.

There is no quick fix here- you will need to do things the right way from here on out, unless you want to experience this problem all over again. So again, you'll need to have the cabinets completely stripped then cleaned, prior to sanding, oil priming and repainting. Or you could just buy new doors entirely, and negate needing to do the stripping and cleaning work for the cabinet doors. (You'll still need to sand, oil prime and paint them.)

I recommend hiring a professional to finish this job, as most likely this guy is just going to do things wrong again. They always do. If he isn't smart or diligent enough to even do a basic google search or crack open a textbook to understand cabinets need to be primed, then do you really think that he's going to magically become a cabinet aficionado the second time around? Most likely not. And if he does a bad job stripping the cabinets, he may cause further damage, like deep scratches, uneven stripping, etc, along with wasting more of your money on materials and time.