I want to repaint my kitchen cabinets; however they’ve been (poorly) painted a few times before. They were laminated wood grain initially, so using a chemical paint stripper is probably not the best solution. Am I stuck with sanding them down to get a smooth surface and then repainting? They’re a medium blue now, but I want them to be white so I’ll definitely have to prime them and apply a couple coats of paint.

In short, yes. I'd only recommend sanding down enough to even it out and give the primer something to bite into. Also, a quarter sheet palm sander will help out a lot with this if you're careful not to sand into the laminate, especially on the edges.

couldn't you just use Kilz as both primer and finish since you want white?

I don't want pure white, and kilz is not good as a top coat for cabinets because i doesn't hold up well to scrubbing./cleaning.

I don't have the link handy, but go to This Old House online, and there is a very thorough article on how to paint cabinets. To do it right is a ton of work. Lots of sanding, vacuuming, and getting rid of dust with a tack cloth.

You might check out chalk paint. I am not talking about chalkboard paint. My friend just used it to paint her laundry room cabinets & I have known others that have used it to paint furniture. There are a couple of different brands & it comes in several colors. You can also get more of an "antiqued" look. It is sold at specialty stores & there was recently an article about it in The Dallas Morn News. I actually saw some samples of it last weekend at a store in downtown Bryan. The owner was very helpful w/my questions. It is not cheap paint so I figured a quart wouldn't do much & she assured me you can paint an entire kitchen w/a quart. Apparently she has some house flippers that buy it so she rattled off the exact number of cabinets it would cover. The great thing about this paint is it does not require any prep work. You apply it directly to your current surface. She had some stuff in her store that had been painted w/it & it looked great.

Wouldn't chalk paint be porous? That seems far less than ideal for a kitchen situation where greasy/oily splashes would occur.

Take care of any major blemishes before priming, filling holes, etc. Then sand just enough to give primer something to stick to. I use 60 grit.

Put on good coat of primer then sand with 220 Grit to smooth.

Then apply top coat of paint. If using latex and applying with a brush or roller you can add Fluerotrol to the paint and it will help hide/smooth the brush/roller strokes.

It is very important to make sure all dust is removed after sanding primer to get a smooth finish. If you have an air compressor to blow them all off outside of the painting area then wipe down with damp rag or tack cloth.

[This message has been edited by harge57 (edited 4/22/2013 9:08a).]

I picked up paint yesterday- going with SW ProClassic in a semi-gloss with their multi-purpose water-based acrylic-alkyd primer.

I had already planned on sanding the doors outside & using tack cloth to get all the grit off of them.

I'll report back once I get them done.

Valspar Ultra Kitchen and Bath is what we did our beach cottage cabinets with. Turned out great. The paint is thin though. That is apparently on purpose so that the roller marks flow out. It has been scrubbable so far. No primer was needed

Smooth foam rollers are the recommended application method.

We did sand them 1st as they had been painted a few times already.





[This message has been edited by yakman (edited 4/22/2013 2:19p).]

One lesson learned while doing this. Do not stack them on top of each other after painting... Even if they are dry the weight will cause them to stick together and peel paint off of one of the cabinets.

Anyone try the Rustoleum cabinet paint kits yet? I am very tempted, apparently came out in 2011 and has good reviews. After 4 years, my renovated kitchen cabinets are chipping and peeling, and are impossible to clean without causing more damage. Would like to go a darker color since the white shows every mark. Miss my old oak cabinets.

The chalk paint examples I can find seem to only be a distressed, patchy look. I guess if I just leave mine alone for another couple of years I could achieve that . . .

Can't comment on the Rustoleum kits, but there have been a few deals lately through HD.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/93452/home-depot-rustoleum-cabinet-transformation-kits-white-expresso-cabernet-rust

Before:


After:

Well done!

Wow, the "before" is pretty scary... Nice work though. What kind of paint?

SW ProClassic in semi gloss. I also used the 'pink can' multi-purpose water-based acrylic-alkyd primer.

[This message has been edited by Max06 (edited 5/4/2013 6:53a).]

You did a very nice job and it looks fabulous!

Very Nice Max, and we used a Rustoleum kit for our island and I thought it was easy to use and turned out great.

Looks good! Now just tile the backsplash to give it some color!

Nice job, Max

How did you do it? Just take the doors off and paint? Or did you have actually take down the cabinets?

I just took the doors off and sanded outside the house. I covered the contents of the cabinet boxes and sanded them indoors instead of taking them down.

What sick person paints their cabinets periwinkle & cream?


Nice work, looks great!

I have sampled several of the items to do reviews. I personally prefer the rustoleum kit. I like chalk paint, but it is better for furniture. The wax on top is too easily dented, fingerprinted etc. Rustoleum is the easiest and seems to be the most long lasting out of everything I've sampled for the companies. However, their faux granite countertop is not my fav.

Well done Max! Looks so much better now.

Nice job. New > > > > > > > > > > Old (damn who picked that color scheme)

The previous owners (or possibly the owners twice removed) had some very 'interesting' ideas.

The countertops were initially white laminate. At some point, they peeled the laminate sheet off the substrate and then applied 12x12 peel n' stick floor tiles down instead. While it was probably OK to begin with, over time the seams and corners peeled up and collected all sorts of nastiness. A taste of before:




Tile backsplash isn't in the budget, but I am strongly weighing a bead board backsplash. If I'm brave enough, I want to paint it a deep red/maroon.

WOW!! The after picture looks great! I think adding the maroon would look good - it would contrast nicely with the lighter color cabinets and appliances and brown counters. Post another picture if you do it. Good luck!

Good job! Friends of mine just repainted their cabinets white and did white bead board backsplash and I think it looks real nice