Another How to Paint Cabinets Question!

newlywed2011

11 years ago

I'm am ordering unfinished pre-sanded paint grade maple cabinets and am going to paint them myself. I've read on this forum all the great advice on painting cabinets but am wondering about painting unfinished wood. Do the same rules apply? prime, sand, prime, sand, paint? Or can I just prime and paint? Do I need to sand between? Any advice would be appreciated! I am VERY new at all of this and a bit nervous!

Comments (3)

jessicaml
11 years ago
Sanding your coats in between will give you the smoothest finish, but it's not mandatory.

I'm attaching a link to the article I found the most helpful when I was painting my cabinets. Essentially, getting unfinished, pre-sanded cabinets lets you skip to step 4.

I found it useful to keep damp rags nearby to run along the back of the doors after painting to catch drips.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paint Your Cabinets in Six Steps
newlywed2011
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks so much! That's just the info I needed! So you've done this? How did yours turn out? What type of paint did you use? I'm thinking of Cabinet Coat even though I have to drive about 40 miles to purchase it!
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jessicaml
11 years ago
I used Ace Cabinet & Trim paint, and I really love my results! C&T is an oil/latex hybrid (alkatex) so it levels well like oil and has a harder finish than latex, but it doesn't yellow as much as oil and can be cleaned up with soap and water (rather than mineral spirits) while it's wet. The only real con was having to wait 24 hours between coats. Latex paints have faster recoat time, which would have been nice and sped up my project greatly. I believe Cabinet Coat comes in a satin finish, though, which some people prefer to semi-gloss. I think the semi-gloss cleans up great and has a nice glow.

Don't settle for a cheap brush (for my C&T paint I mostly used a 2" Purdy Chinex brush, with a couple smaller Purdy and Stiletto brushes for the detailed spots) and don't over-work the paint. One technique is to roll the paint on for fast application and then brush back over it with a good brush to eliminate roller stipple. I just brushed in on as quickly and smoothly as I could in long strokes and tried to resist the temptation to go back to it, letting the paint fix brush marks itself as it leveled out. It's not as smooth as a factory finish, mind you, but I don't mind my kitchen having a human touch.

Other paints besides Ace C&T and Cabinet Coat that have been recommended often for cabinets on GW include Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo (oil or latex), Benjamin Moore Advance (another oil/latex hybrid), and Aura. Sherwin Williams has an oil/latex hybrid too, but I can't recall its name. My mother just used Clark + Kensington in satin ultra white on her cabinets and she was quite happy with it, (though she wished there was a sheen between satin and semi-gloss). Ace is doing another free paint Saturday this week for a free quart of Clark + Kensington, but the freebies are only available in flat enamel. (Full disclosure: I work at an Ace.)