Cabinet interiors should be clear finished maple. Either maple melamine (better) or clear finished maple plywood. All cabinet finishing should occur off site, in the painter’s clean room. Never on site. Not unless it’s a refinishing respray. Site finishing with bugs and dust is low end TX builder stuff.

Yeah, mine are just the maple inside. I’m not super careful with slinging stuff in my drawers and they would probably look like heck if painted. It doesnt make much sense that it costs more to NOT paint them!

The only cabinet interior you should ever consider painting is an open or glass fronted cabinet to match the exterior color. There are dozens of cabinet interior finishes better than painting. They should have been built out of either pre-finished maple or melamine faced board. Site painting interior boxes is an amateur move. If I had to paint an interior it would be done before assembly . There's way too much blow back painting inside a box. You shouldnt be paying extra for that. They should have been built that way.

If your only choices are between having them painted or clear coated, then I definitely recommend the latter. You might not think it, but the insides of cabinets take more abuse than the outsides do, particularly the shelves. Also, if down the road you should decide you want to change things up a bit and paint the cabinets a different color, you’ll be very thankful that you chose to clear coat the insides instead of painting them to match the outsides.

Good luck with your new build; it sounds like you’ve made some lovely choices!

Why are house painters finishing cabinets at all? Much less painting the interior, which should be constructed out of prefinished sheet goods? Then the doors and face frames are painted in the finishing booth, and the whole is assembled. Painters won’t have the right products or experience. I’ve seen the painted drawer glides and other issues that result from things like this. It’s not acceptable.

I prefer a lighter interior. Most time we use a white melamine,

Dunford Court · More Info

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Thanks everyone. It’s so strange cuz this guy says they do all the homes this way (paint inside and out) and yet everyone I talk to has them natural inside. I guess I’ll pay him extra to leave them natural but clear coat them. I’ll let them go ahead and do the laundry and my powder vanity all painted inside and out. I’m glad I did a walk through with them and they mentioned it.

But wait. Why aren’t your cabinets being finished off-site by the cabinet maker? Why on earth would house painters be doing this in a custom home? A friend had the cabinets of her new home painted on site, but it was an extremely economical house and the paint on several of the drawers was biffed up before even moving in.

I’d do more research about on-site vs off-site finishing and ask more about this, as there is no way in heck that I’d go for that in a custom home. (Are the cabinets also custom? Who are they using?)

Well this is how it’s done and nothing I can change now as cabinets are set. Yes I could have paid a lot more for them to be finished at cabinet place. I guess I’m not to concerned because I see them painted on site on the HGTV shows. Anyway thanks for your concern.

Yes its too late now but you are missing the point. You dont pay more for finishing the interior of cabinet boxes at the factory. They use finished materials (sheet goods) to build boxes out of. Its not more money to do that. Its the standard way of doing things. By everyone. You will for sure pay more painting after the fact.

Okay thanks! My cabinets were designed special by my friend who is helping us with our house and they made me some gorgeous cabinets (he works at a shop where they do lots of cabinets for their business which is a high dollar business and they do beautiful work). We recently built a new church and they did our cabinets and they are gorgeous. We also finished onsite altho we stained all those. I’m painting mine mostly but staining some in the bathrooms. Anyway, thanks again.

Just for those who may be following. Pre-finished sheet goods that cabinet boxes are build out of such as maple plywood have a clear coat thats been applied on a UV cured finishing line. This is just about the strongest finish you can get. A Lacquer finish spray onsite will fail if exposed to moisture. Also all high-end six figure cabinets are not finished on site. Those are just facts. Everyone is entitled to they option.

I see them painted on site on the HGTV shows.

HGTV is entertainment, not a place to find the proper way to do home improvement. They only care about making things look good for a final reveal, not doing things correctly, or making things last.

Maybe you could ask your friend about finishes he would recommend?

People, I believe, often use "paint" to mean a pigmented or colored finish, and "lacquer" to mean a clear finish. Actual paint and lacquer are at the bottom of any list of products to use on cabinets. The only benefit to them is ease of touchup.

You can still have a decent finish applied to installed cabinets, but you will need to ask for it, and probably pay more for it.

HGTV isn't the way real renovations/builds are done.

HGTV is to create buzz, not inform. It's to sell air time to advertisers. Which creates buzz - proper technique (boring...) or drama/tension (OMG did you see what they did on XYZ show?) ? Guess what they're going to focus on.

Christopher Peacock cabinetry is finished on site, a very high-end brand, but I've seen dust caught in their finishes, so unless you have sophisticated systems for creating an on-site clean room with filtered air and expolision-proof venting fans, it isn't the best approach for a dust-free finish. Sanding and clean-up will need to take place between coats, keep in mind.