Can they just be painted over or do you have to sand them several times to allow the paint to adhere. If they have to be sanded, I am not sure how some of the groves on the molding could even be sanded.

thoughts or is their some product that can be brushed onto the current cabinet doors and facia to allow for paint to adhere?

Thanks again

following

To do this correctly takes TIME. Average kitchen probably 80-100 hours of sanding, prepping, priming, caulking, puttying and painting twice


There is a thread on here where the sequence of events to do it properly is posted

we were thinking of this, new cabinet doors. Probably have a good bit of newer hinges as well still left from my dads business. My Dad used Evans for all his cabinet doors for houses so this maybe something that she will do.

Thanks for the added advice.

If you have some of the hinges, you can probably save $3/door. When you look at time and materials, it makes a lot of sense to buy new doors plus you can really change the look with new doors. Depending on when the cabinets were built, you may have a little work to do on the drawers, but it is worth it.

Where are you located?

Brenham and the house was built by Dads crew in the middle 80's

GrimesCoAg95 said:

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Post a picture of the cabinets. A lot of the cabinets people want to paint have doors that are dated as well.

I have said this before, but here is my advice. Remove the doors and putty the holes from the old hinges then contact Evans Cabinet Doors in Brenham to make you all new doors and drawer fronts. I do not know the current cost, but a couple of years ago a shaker style door was about $27 including Blum hinges. These are paint grade and ready for paint. You may have to sand a few spots, but the prep time will be much less and you get a more modern style door/hinge. Prepping the cabinet boxes is just not that much work as most of the surfaces are flat.

If your current doors are the style you want, you can ignore this advice and get ready to do a lot of prep.

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If you have old drawers and cheap drawer slides, you can also get new drawer boxes and slides and have cabinets that are going to stack up well to what you would buy new today (soft close doors and drawers). If you go from side mount to bottom mount slides you can get slightly wider drawers in the existing openings in exchange for them being a little big shallower.

I would sand them and then prime. Sherwin Williams has waterborne acrylic alkyd paint. Its nice to use because you get the extra durability of enamel without having to deal with paint thinner during cleanup. I've used it on 2 or 3 houses and its worked well for me.

I agree that this is an excellent idea. You can keep your existing cabinets and countertops and get new doors and drawer boxes / fronts. I figured that since the OP wanted to paint the existing doors, they were watching budget. If the budget allows them to get new drawers, this is a great way to go and will add a ton to the finished product.

If anyone goes this route and needs help with the drawers, let me know. My email is in my profile.

Some good suggestions for an upgrade. While there may be debate on paints to use, the process is about the same....clean, fill, sand, prime, sand, top coat with two coats.

But make sure you get info on parts you may need, as far as their availability. Acquiring drawer slides (if needed) and hinges has been a challenge. I don't think Blum is restarting making their 12" and 15" slides for a few more months (they stopped and concentrated on 18" and 21" only).

Even some standard hinges are hard to find, and no suppliers seem to know when. I have been waiting for very common full overlay hinges for 3 months.

And some door companies may be months backlogged in production.

Doing door, drawer, slide replacement can be a bit complicated in some areas. Make sure you have the knowledge to order stuff correctly, or have someone who has done this work to give you some tips...making mistakes can add up. Seems like TA has a few of us who have done this work.

If the cabinets are oak, the Wood Whisperer has a really good video on it. Oak grain can be pretty tough to hide with paint, so depending on the look you want it can be a ton of prep work.

I have instructed my mom to talk to my Dad's old trim guys that still do work to come by and look at the cabinets and see what they think or if have proper space to mount the new style hinges for cabinet doors and then for different drawer slides if the drawer faces would be too difficult. As said here and think the drawer faces and cabinet door would be too difficult and labor intensive to have someone do. Could spend that money on new fronts.

We have quite a bit of extra blum self closing hardware, just have to see if it is the right length.

Thanks for all your help so far, it has helped to give her some feedback on pros and cons and maybe accomplish what she is intending.

Great response 1988PA.

There are a few of us who have done this. I always give the same advice on new doors because people are often wanting the painted shaker style cabinet look, however, painting oak raised panel (especially cathedral) just doesn't get there. It can still look good, but it may not the look people are really going for.

OP,


This sounds like a great approach. As you can see in the video above, oak is not easy to paint. It takes prep which is why new doors will actually save you time and not add that much to the total cost. I think having the trim carpenters look at it is a great way to go.

I agree new doors are the way to go on oak. Check with Evans in Brenham. I did a kitchen last year form stained oak to shaker style and it came out great. I also did another one late last year and there was a severe shortage and back order of overlay hinges then. Do not be cheap and purchase mdf panels for a wet area. If you are hell bent on mdf then you had better oil prime them.

it will be all hardwood if done paint grade. Never seen my dad use any MDF on cabinet areas ever to my knowledge. thanks for the advice.

There is a slim possibility a door company may have an offering of hybrid doors (wood frame, mdf panel) where the panel that is mdf is pretreated, whether it is using a water resistant mdf, or it is well lacquered/sealed before assembly of the door.