I want my kitchen cabinets painted blue, but painter warns against!

3 years ago

We're doing a kitchen reno -new flooring, granite, appliances, wall color, and

cabinet color. Our kitchen cabinets are 30 year old oak, stained cabinets. While I'd love to have new doors and drawers there are so many of them that for cost cutting purposes we will just paint them. We want to paint them a darker blue like Hale Navy or Van Deusen, but the painter said that it is not possible to get a dark primer for the cabinets. He'll have to use a white primer. He said if they were new and had not already been stained, it would be possible to use a dark primer, but in this situation it will not be. Not sure why. What that means, he said, is that any little scratch or nick will show the white primer underneath. Any suggestions?

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Comments (12)

bry911
3 years ago
Get a new painter.
salex
3 years ago
If he's experienced, his judgment about his products is probably good. So, yes, as bry911 said, ask someone else. They might use a different product or have different experience.
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Wow, I hadn't realized there were other replies after I posted a couple wks ago. I only came back to check now to rehash my decision. Because no...I still don't know what I'm doing :( I'm literally past obsessing about it. And moved on to being plain, ol' DEPRESSED over it. So much so, that I booked a flight to CA for Feb 26th, so I could go to Ikea and just waste some money on accesories. And NOT paint! At the time, I decided to just put glass in the doors, open up the other couple. Try to find something I really liked to go over the cabs. Nice rug, some under cabinet lighting, and call it a day. But, dh and everyone else knows that would only make me happy for about a wk. So, we're painting. What color? Well, we'll decide that when the guy comes for the doors :( Seriously, I'm just going to flip a coin. Last night I was set on all white. Figured adding some other color in a rug, painting the inside of the glass cabinets green, and adding other stuff wouldn't make it look so sterile. But, that darn floor and the white appliances keep staring at me. I could happily do white cabs if appliances were SS. OR..if the floor was wood. But, having both things against me. I've yet to EVER clip and save a kitchen with light tile, and white appliances. There's a reason for that. I don't like the look ! The black..sigh. I love black. But, since my first post I've changed out my living room quite a bit. It's taking on a lighter tone. And I worry the black is too heavy with it. I've had visions again of going green/gray on the bottom. Dh doesn't want to for resale. And because of how he thinks it'd look against the Lenox Tan paint on the walls. Blue, I love the color you've done! I can totally see doing something like that to work WITH what I have. Not against it. But, again..the paint throughout the whole space would be hard to work with. Dh suggested maybe going with the wall color, at half strength..for the lowers. White uppers. OR..back to black lowers. It's quite obvious I'm all over the map still. And am thankful for all the snow. So, my painter can't get started yet :( Here's my living room. Right off the kitchen. I need to make things flow. And I pretty much stink at this whole decorating thing, so it's a struggle!
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I am sorry you are having these problems. While sanding is important, I used a "no sanding necessary" primer (Zinsser) about 20 years ago on old kitchen cabinets that I put in my laundry room and one bathroom vanity. Over all, it has held up very well - though I admit neither room gets the wear and tear of a kitchen. Also, the original cabinet surface, while finished, was not glossy. The primer did take several days to cure and was initially easy to chip, but eventually hardened up. This does not help your issues with brush marks etc, but lack of sanding does not necessarily mean the paint will chip off totally. Even well done painted over finished wood cabinets experience the need for touch ups which is why I consider painting over previously finished wood cabinets to be a stop gap measure while saving for new cabinets to replace worn cabinets. With touch ups the cabinets can be presentable for many years as it can take some time for many to save up for new cabinets. I do have two friends with new white custom kitchen cabinets - both have chips on the pull out trash - so even expensive painted kitchens can need occasional touch ups. Even when the paint job comes out wonderfully, I usually caution against expensive counters / backsplash on painted over previously finished wood cabinets. Often, the paint job does not hold up over the long haul (> 5 years) and new cabinets become necessary - then the new counters and backsplash are wasted. If you plan on continuing improvements - keep them sensible and low cost - laminate counters rather than stone. You can have a sweet and functional kitchen without spending a fortune. If your layout is good, and your cabinet boxes in excellent condition, you could consider refacing in several years. it is great your cabinets are so tall. I hope you are able to get a discount and or repairs to your present paint job - but the kitchen is looking pretty:)
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suedonim75
3 years ago
Really, he can't get a dark primer? And yeah...he is telling you the finish is going to scratch, so definitely find another painter.
Tara
3 years ago
Why not just use two coats of the preferred color?
bry911
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Let me expand, there are plenty of tintable primers out there, in fact, I am struggling to think of a non-tintable primer.

Can you provide some more information about the process and products he plans to use?

ETA: any adhesion issues are exponentially more likely going to be between old and new coatings, so the scratch thing seems questionable.

I suspect he is just trying to make his life easier. White is pretty forgiving, the further from white, the less forgiving it is.
cat_ky
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I agree with the others, find another painter. Also question them for the type of prep they do before priming and painting, and also extremely important, what kind of Cabinet paint they are using. Cabinets dont get regular type paint. You need paint for cabinets. Prep doesnt take one day, it takes several days. Primer needs to be top quality and a sealing bonding primer. But remember without proper prep, nothing will stick to the cabinets. And if you want blue cabinets stick to that decision, no painter that is hired by you, should question what you want. There are many on this forum, that have painted their cabinets blue, so yes, you can.
tina d
3 years ago
check at paint store like SW.
Jane Barrow
3 years ago
If there is a 'group' as JunkKnow suggests, I'd continue to look but one thing I do know is that deep colors, blue, red... take several layers of paint to get a nice quality. Time consuming to do. Folks think that such hues should be the same effort (2 coats) and same price as painting light colors... but no. My 2 cents.
wiscokid
3 years ago
There is, in fact, a group titled exactly that, Kitchen Cabinet Painting Experts. It’s an excellent resource for pros and amateurs alike. Highly recommend to anyone even remotely considering painting their cabinets, either DIY or having it done.
PRO
User
3 years ago
With the right primer, and right paint, even deep colors can have a 2 coat system. Modern Italian wood coatings are not paint.
riverlivin Nunley
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you all for weighing in! I will definitely consult with the Kitchen Cabinet Painting Experts to learn more. To expand a little on what the painter told me, he said that SW does sell a primer that is darker, levels 1-4 I think he said, but according to him that primer isn't as high quality as a primer he can get that Kelly Moore sells. He said that adding color to primer will weaken the primer and it will not last as long or perform as well. I was thinking that if you sand the cabinets all the way back down to the natural wood (is that even possible?) it would be like painting new cabinets. That's another thing I'll ask to the KCP experts... thanks again for all your advice!
cat_ky
3 years ago
No painter will take the time to sand back to bare wood. They just do not have the extra time for all of that, since it will take weeks to do all that sanding. Cabinet prep takes a long amount of time, and is the most important thing to do for a nice looking cabinet paint job.

I want my kitchen cabinets painted blue, but painter warns against!

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I want my kitchen cabinets painted blue, but painter warns against!

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