I have just bought a house and the kitchen cabinets are brown crappy plywood thingys. Structurally they are in good shape and also I can’t afford to replace them so my next option is painting them. I read on one website that a hard surface paint is best for kitchen cabinets, this site mentioned an Alkd (?) oil based paint, saying it comes in aerosol cans…do they mean spray paint? Can anyone help with this subject?
Personally I haven’t tried it, but I would think the drawbacks of using spray paint inside would be 1) the smell, and 2) the overspray onto other surfaces. So I’d go with a brush if I were you. If you hate cleaning brushes, buy something relatively cheap and you can throw is away when done.
Remember to remove the cabinet fronts and paint them while they are laying flat, so the paint doesn’t run.
I’m not sure how much help this will be, but a friend of mine faced the same decision. His sister (serious yuppie tastes) told him that there was no way painted cabinets could possibly look acceptable. He was quoted some staggering amount for new cabinets – thousands of dollars. The old ones were sound, so he decided to try painting.
He and a friend got a small compressor and gun, and set to work. They did three coats of paint, letting each one dry and then sanding it before the next coat. It was a long day’s work, but the results were really quite good – even the sister(somewhat grudgingly) approved.
They also did the sound-but-scruffy refrigerator, and it turned out fine, too. Total expense for paint, sandpaper, etc. was a couple hundred dollars.
Every thought of mack-tack or wallpapering them?
I mack-tacked my old cabinet doors VERY cheaply. It was fast, didn’t have to worry about them being wet etc… The only thing I did have to worry about was bubbles. Use a peice of cardboard box to smooth it out and apply from the centre outwards.
Another option, which I did when remodeling my house a few years ago, is to use a foam roller instead of a paint brush. You get the control of the brush painting, without the brush marks. You can pick up one at any home improvement store fairly cheaply, and they really do work quite well. I think spraying inside a closed environment would cause more problems than good. Just MO.
We just redid our stairs and hallway in our circa 1760 Colonial with a faux wood-grain finish that looks great. The steps involves were sanding to remove any rough spots, putting on base coat of tan/brown paint, mixing the faux finish (this is the most skilled part), applying the finish, and then putting several coat of polyurethane on it.
It requires someone at a really good paint store to tell you how to do this but the actual application is not all that hard. The finish comes in tubes and you really need an expert to tell you how to mix it to get the finish desired. Basically you brush it on, then go over it with a rough brush after the base coat is on. It looks remarkably similar to grained wood.
I would NEVER use spray paint on any cabinets because of the over-spray and the fact that the particles WILL go into the air and put a fine coat of paint everywhere in the vicinity of the cabinets.
Our total project cost less than $100. IMHO opinion there is no reason to use spray paint in any kitchen. It will be more expensive than brush paint and will cause all kinds of problems.
Careful brushwork and preparation are both more economical and more effective in the end.
I would use a pad, not a roller or a brush, these things are fast…
I think they were right to point you to an oil-based paint. The humidity in a kitchen could cause latex paint to crack and peel. It will be smelly, and you’ll need to make sure the house is well ventilated until it dries. I agree though, you shouldn’t spray.