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njh3799

painting unfinished cabinets

5 years ago

Hi, I am considering buying unfinished cabinets ( https://www.unfinished-kitchen-cabinets.net/unfinished-kitchen-cabinets.html) and painting them myself. My goals in doing this are to 1) save some money, 2) avoid the plastic-looking baked on finish that I keep seeing in cabinet stores, and 3) have the ability to repair any chips or scratches that happen. I've read through a thread from 2012 or so about the pros and cons of factory finish vs. paint and in spite of the durability factor, I just hate the plastic look--it no longer looks like wood to me and I feel like I might as well be buying thermofoil. Has anyone tried this, and what was your experience? What kind of paint did you use? How did it hold up? I've seen the following types recommended: Farrow & Ball Full Gloss Paint, Benjamin Moore's Advance Satin paint, and Fine Paints of Europe. If anyone can offer some advice, I would really appreciate it.

Comments (24)

  • 5 years ago

    You are definitely on to some good paints. It comes down to having the space for a dust-free paint booth and also down to the fact that it's hard to finish the interiors once they are already assembled. If you don't want a plasticky look, then you might prefer doing a whitewash coating rather than painting. All the paints you mentioned will conceal the grain. Most manufacturers send touch-up kits as far as that goes. You'll need to purchase or rent a paint sprayer. There are plenty of posts here at Houzz and elsewhere on the web that describe the job for the do-it-yourselfers. You'll want to do intermediate sanding and dust removal between coats for the best finish.

    njh3799 thanked Aglitter
  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Don’t waste all that effort and paint on bottom of the barrel quality cabinets. If you’re going to do that, buy something worth putting the huge amount of work into. It’s like buying a RTA Yugo. Look at what you’d end up with after you’ve spent 700 hours on it. Look at Scherrs, or Conestoga. Buy quality once.

    Then, practice, practice, practice. You can’t fake experience and skill just by watching YouTube. You have to make your own mistakes. There will be things you pick up quickly. There will be things that you can never master. Because you are doing a one off project, that won’t be repeated enough to weed out your issues. Better to make those inevitable mistakes on thrift store furniture than on something that you care about the results. Mistakes on cabinets you paid good money for aren’t as easily set at the curb with a Free sign on them.

    njh3799 thanked User
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  • 5 years ago

    Wanted to add, all of our painted wood is maple. Oak would’ve looked VERY different painted. ;) The cabinets are extremely well built and we had all doors off when stuff was painted. We did lightly sand in between coats. I have found that I dislike using tack cloths to clean the dust off because sometimes that leaves a residue, so I learned a trick from askwoodman and after I wipe things off with a cloth (I tend to use old cut up cotton tee shirts) then I use my bare hand and the shop vac... I rub my bare hand on an area and then vacuum my hand over and over again, it gets up all that dust very nicely and doesn’t leave anything behind, and you can really feel whether the area is smooth and clean. I use that technique now whether I’m painting or using some other kind of finish like Waterlox or polyurethane.

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    Cabinet refinishing or in your case buying cabinets unfinished is great to save money. We always offer that option to our clients in hopes of being eco-friendly. The paints you found are what any contractor would use. It takes a little more than just paint to get the cabinets finished right. Good luck, and do a good search so you won't get stuck midway.

    njh3799 thanked Novel Remodeling
  • PRO
    5 years ago

    I've painted several sets of kitchen cabinets myself, plus cabinets in two laundry rooms. I've used Cabinet Coat (sold at Benjamin Moore stores) and Sherwin Williams Pro Classic. Both paints are considered self-leveling, and I think my cabinets have always looked fine, and have held up well.


    I prefer one coat of oil-based primer, and two coats of paint. Once, in a laundry room, I painted some unfinished oak cabinets and I think it took four coats of paint before the oak grain didn't' look "dark." (The grain was still visible, but it was like the paint hadn't soaked all the way in after the usual two coats.)


    I've never used a sprayer, always a brush and a small foam roller. Same items I've used to paint my front doors, and if you can paint a front door you can paint a cabinet.

    njh3799 thanked Open House Home Staging & Redesign, LLC
  • 5 years ago

    skmom, your kitchen looks great! How nice that your husband was able to design and build everything. Love the white Shaker cabs and the shelving above. I am also thinking maple, as I read that oak grain is very hard to cover. Thanks for the trick--had not realized that the tack cloths could leave residue.

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks to everyone for all the good advice and encouragement. I appreciate it! Any thoughts on whether to paint the interiors or finish them to show the wood? Is that just a personal preference or are there other considerations?

  • 5 years ago

    Forgot to say, I did purchase a sample door so that I could practice on the surface I would be using and experiment with the various paints. Hoping that helps.

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    Interiors of the boxes should be prefinished from the factory in any good cabinet line. The boxes are built from pre finished, or laminated sheet goods. The exteriors are usually finished with something more durable than the products being discussed. A .2K poly, or conversion varnish.

    njh3799 thanked User
  • 5 years ago

    I decided to use clear shellac on my interiors because I didn’t want to risk having any lingering chemical odors inside of my cabinets. For the most part it has held up perfectly, but I did decide to put shelf liners down because if you don’t coat the shellac with wax then any little water droplets will leave a white residue on the shellac. I didn’t want to bother with the wax, so I just put down shelf liners where dishes sit.

    njh3799 thanked skmom
  • 5 years ago

    Yes, I have done this. Make sure you prime with an oil base primer. I used Ace cabinet paint( Alcatex) but Advance is good too. Do not use a latex product. Make sure you sand between coats and tack off carefully. Allow to dry overnight.

    njh3799 thanked lynartist
  • 5 years ago

    This small kitchen has oak cabinets from HD. I used Ace cabinet coat. They have held up very well as I did them some years back and saw them recently and they look great! Of course you have to like the look of painted wood and the slight grain that shows through on oak but I find that rather nice myself. These were very nicely installed also so if doing this pay attention to that!

    njh3799 thanked lynartist
  • 5 years ago

    Definitely read the Houzz stories and comments on DIY painting for kitchen cabinets. We did this over a year ago now. We had existing bases/boxes but new unfinished wood doors. We used Benjamin Moore Advance cabinet paint and have been very pleased with the results. One coat primer, two coats paint. This is a big job. You need drying space. For best results, you should use a sprayer. Most easily done outside with drying space in a garage. Best tip I can give is use a wet sanding sponge/block after the primer and first coat of paint. It is SO much easier than dry sanding - no dust, and much easier to get a consistent smooth finish. A bit messy, and best done outdoors where you have a water hose to spray the doors/drawer fronts down, and hose the residue away.

    njh3799 thanked chloe00s
  • 5 years ago

    I will be stripping my 62 year old cabinets that have multiple layers of latex (with probably an oil based paint as the first coat, and it probably has lead in it).


    I will use an oil based primer so as not to raise the grain and prevent bleed through.


    Then I will use the Benjamin Moore Advance Satin for the cabinets (but semi gloss for baseboards).


    I will use another product for the shelves that my local BM dealer carries, the name escapes me, but it has a really really really short full cure time, like less than a day. Full cure on the BM Advance is 30 days. Partial cure so that it is safe to open and close doors is considerably less than that but shelves need full cure before you can start filling the cabinets up. The short cure time of this product also means it is less forgiving when applying it because it dries in less than 20 minutes. But nobody is going to look at the shelves that closely so I will use it to get the advantages of the quick full cure time and not worry about the more difficult application or making shelves look extra good.

    njh3799 thanked Pyewacket
  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I also prefer the look of hand-painted cabinets. If needed any touchups are simple.

    Painting is not difficult, but requires some attention to detail.

    I am using water-based primer & paint on my current cabs. Before the first coat i raise the grain with a light wetting with water, sand, then repeat. Plywood has more grain issues than solid wood pieces.

    20 Surprising Tips on How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets

    https://www.familyhandyman.com/kitchen/diy-kitchen-cabinets/surprising-tips-for-painting-kitchen-cabinets/

    best wishes on your project!

    njh3799 thanked THOR, Son of ODIN
  • 5 years ago

    Great article--thank you! I had been curious about milk paint. Seems like an option since I'm thinking about working with unfinished cabinets.

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    I've had both. I had hand-painted cabinets (painted by MY hands!) for many, many years. I used high gloss oil based enamel and they wore like iron and were easy to touch up (only twice in 32 years!).


    It was very hard for me to get used to the catalyzed vanish paint on factory finished cabinets. I, too, thought they looked very "plasticky". I did realize that it was more profound if one was looking at a raised panel door (the sample of my "color" in the cabinet shop) and when I got my Shaker sample it looked far less so.


    I ended up going with the factory paint job as my great painter had cancer and his helper beginning dementia and I simply could not trust them to do a truly great job hand-painting my new cabinets. I was not up to doing it at all.


    I'm very glad I did go with the factory paint! No, it will not be as easy to touch-up but I am an elderly woman living alone. Yes, my cleaning woman nicked a place and it's probably only obvious to me. The factory paint is so easy to wipe down and does not show the finger marks my high gloss enamel did. And of course, it was because it WAS "high gloss, oil-based enamel" that those hand-painted cabinets wore like iron.


    I could not be happier with my cabinets. Now if I had been buying Plain English cabinets painted in the UK, who knows. They were not one of my choices for multiple reasons.


    Here's a picture of mine.





    njh3799 thanked Anglophilia
  • 5 years ago

    No, seriously, you DO NOT WANT MILK PAINT. I am old enough to remember when folks who had a cow (or two, or three, or herds) might still use milk paint. It was a leftover from pre-refrigeration days that hung on in the more long-lived of that last generation that knew true deprivation. It wasn't good paint, it was just a way to use up spoiling milk and get something slapped on the woodshed so it might not fall down until NEXT year. Plus nobody makes milk paint now the way they made it back then. The stuff was pretty toxic. It was lumpy. It flaked off rapidly. It was ugly. As I recall the "recipe" could include anything from unboiled linseed oil to kerosene.


    But possibly you are not talking about real milk paint, but the canned stuff they pass off as milk paint today, that is basically casein that has been chemically altered and mixed with other chemicals. It probably lasts a bit longer than real milk paint, but it seems to share many of the less desirable attributes of real milk paint. It is ugly. It flakes and chips. It is often used by people who think "shabby" actually goes with "chic". Be prepared to strain it often because it lumps up easily. While its probably not LESS "eco friendly" than many modern paints, it isn't really any MORE "eco friendly" than any other low VOC paint.


    You'll just end up sanding it off. Stick with something that wears like iron, or at least as close as you can get. I wanted to paint my cabinets with a high gloss enamel but (1) they don't make real oil based high gloss enamels anymore; (2) the stuff they pass off as enamel is still just as smelly and hard to clean up after and (3) it is no better than the water based "hybrid" cabinet paints such as Benjamin Moore Advance anyway when it comes to wear and how easily it can be cleaned.


    After painting my entire interior with Kilz Original to cover up lingering smoker smell (and yes I DID thoroughly wash down every single flat surface with TSP, then bleach water, then a double rinse before even THINKING about priming, do not EVER let anyone tell you you can just slap paint up over nicotine stains on your walls because eventually it will peel) I just can't face any more cleanup involving any solvent stronger than plain ol' water. I got to the place where I just started throwing brushes away rather than have to clean them. But I am old and decrepit so YMMV on that issue.


    You will be happier with a long-wearing paint such as the BM Advance. You don't have to get it in a gloss or even a semi-gloss. You can get it in a satin. I wouldn't suggest dropping below satin because cleanup gets harder and the paint doesn't wear as well. The BM Advance and similar paints will give you a long-lasting, attractive, non-glossy or about as glossy as you want it to be (or not) finish that is easy to clean and won't chip at the drop of a ladle. Kitchens build up grease at an amazing rate, and grease comes off a good hard finish way easier than something as fragile as so-called "milk paint".

    njh3799 thanked Pyewacket
  • 5 years ago

    I bought unfinished cabinets for my dining room built-in buffet when I was younger and in my new-to-me house that needed lots of renos the same year we got married... so, many expenses. The few hundred $$$ I saved was NOT worth the time and aggravation spent painting. I used oil based paint, which did come out and hold up nicely, but was very difficult to work with and cost a lot of money in supplies, not to mention the careful disposal necessary. I’m sure it would have been easier if I used latex paint, but I learned my lesson - never paint cabinets again!

    njh3799 thanked emilyam819
  • 5 years ago

    Anglophilia,

    Thanks for your comments and photo--your kitchen looks great. I am considering a butcher block peninsula like your island. Do you like it?


  • 5 years ago

    Pyewacket, Thanks for your advice. No, I was not thinking of making my own milk paint. :-) Some thing more like the type made by General Finishes, which--with a top coat-- gets good reviews. The advantage being no sanding seems to be required. Are you familiar with this brand? Anyone?


    https://www.amazon.com/General-Finishes-QSGG-Paint-Seagull/dp/B00JUP1WLM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=milk%2Bpaint&qid=1577035183&s=hi&sr=1-1-spons&smid=AFU7D1Z4UO933&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFOMFhVUVFTTElQSFImZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAxNDkwMjgyRlhRRFU0TERQVkozJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4NjYwMzA1U0dKUFI4VEY2Tkkmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1

  • 5 years ago

    I sprayed my existing cabinets with Diamond Vogel Aquaclad and an air HVLP gun. It's a urethane modified acrlyic equivalent to Inslx Cabinet Coat or SW Aqua Kem Plus. These are woodworker grade spray only paints but the dry/recoat times are less than 1 hour so you can do two coats on both sides of a door before lunch. They are Wallwater based as well so easy to clean up. This is the best you can do without getting into the solvent based sprays like laquers and conversion varnishes. I was happy with the results. The only problem I had is that the previous stain bled through the water based primer so I had to switch to BIN Shellac as a primer to seal the previous stain. Total cost with supplies was less than $200 with two separate colors so you can't beat that.

    If you are hand painting rather than spraying then you will want a longer dry time like the paints you linked to so they can level out. All the paints you listed come highly recommended but the dry times will probably dictate one coat per day on one side so you will be slower.

    My advice is to do 1 door only, full prep start to finish. Let it sit for two weeks or a month and see if you are happy with the results and finish before doing the rest of the doors/cabinets and getting yourself into a mess. Prep work is more important than the painting itself. Sand/clean doors before each coat in a separate room to the painting to eliminate dust in the air. If you have a Hepa filter run it. Tack cloths are overrated, just use a high quality microfiber cloth (like Norwex) to clean the surface just prior to painting. I can't say enough good things about my Norwex cloths.

    Your paint will not wear as nicely as a factory finish, but since you have the paint, touch up is a breeze so wear is a non issue.

    njh3799 thanked Kevin Rein
  • 5 years ago

    Hi Kevin, Thank you for the advice--very helpful. I've purchased a sample door to work with, so I do intend to try out at least a couple of paint options. Hopefully that will let me gauge my painting skills, give me a better sense of the time required, and also give me a few finishes to subject to some abuse and see how they hold up. Thanks!