13 Huge Mistakes to Avoid When Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Smart people never rush into this major DIY undertaking.

Painted kitchen cabinets may look super simple on Pinterest — imagine, just a couple of coats of a replacement color, and your kitchen is going to be dressed in no time! Painting kitchen cabinets may be a project that has many potential pitfalls.

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To set you up for fulfillment, we’ve outlined many of the most important blunders and outlined how to avoid them easily. That way, you’ll tackle this big job confidently. With our advice on the way to paint kitchen cabinets, you’ll find yourself with an updated kitchen you cannot wait to point out! And trust us, it’s well worth the effort — painting kitchen cabinets will transform your room.

1. You’ve got unrealistic expectations.
Painted cabinets look lovely, but they are not getting to look smooth. “If the cupboards have a clear open grain, the grooves are getting to show through the paint,” warns Mr. Ismail, Owner of professional kitchen cabinet shop in Houston, Ola Cabinetry.

“Even if it wasn’t super obvious when the wood was just stained, it’s getting to be more evident once the paint dries.” you’ll fill the grain with putty, but which will be time-intensive and challenging to urge well.

2. You do not allow yourself enough time.
“This isn’t a lazy Sunday project,” says Clara Petersik, who, alongside her husband, chronicled kitchen painting projects on her popular blog Young House Love. She says people often think it is a weekend job, but it takes a minimum of four to seven days once you integrate the right prep time (and snack breaks, of course).

3. You do not clean the wood before painting.
“No matter how clean you think that your kitchen is, you would like to wipe everything down with a grease remover,” says Mr. Ismail. Otherwise, once you add water-based paint to an oil-covered kitchen cabinet door, the paint won’t stick. He recommends a paint-prep degreaser called TSP and a non-scratch delicate scrub sponge for stuck-on spots.

4. You do not remove the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers.
This is an important first step: Take all the kitchen cabinet doors off, pull the drawers out and take away the hardware knobs and hinges. Some people attempt to save time by painting everything — hinges and everyone — while they’re still in situ, but Petersik warns that it isn’t a long-term fix.

“Your designer kitchen cabinets in Houston and hardware will start to chip and show signs of wear and tear within a month — or maybe immediately.” Once the paint on the hinges starts to crack, all you’ll do is sand everything down and soak the hardware to get rid of the paint, so save yourself the aggravation.

5. You skip labeling where your doors, drawers, and hardware go.
Because what once was hung up will get to return within the same place, it’s worth using numbered labels to help you remember where everything goes. A bit of masking paper stuck to the rear of every piece will do exactly fine. You ought to write its exact location (think “above the sink, left”) so there’ll be no guessing where it goes later. Then stash screws and hinges during a jar for safekeeping.

6. You skip sanding before you paint your kitchen cabinet.
Even if your kitchen cabinets in Houston are in near-perfect condition, you continue to need to sand them; therefore, the paint will stick. Use sandpaper within the middle of the spectrum (150 or 200 grit is good) and give all surfaces a fast buffing. “You’re not trying to urge right down to the bare wood,” says Petersik. “You just want to require the surface from glossy to matte.”

7. Your cabinets aren’t dust-free before you paint.
Vacuum up any debris before you even consider dipping that brush in paint. Just a couple of pieces of dust can ruin the look: “You’ll get a gritty finish, and it will appear as if you painted over sand,” says Fahrbach. “To fix it, you will have to sand it and repaint it everywhere again.”

8. You do not elevate cabinets before painting.
If you do not prop your cabinets before painting, you risk missing edges and corners. Lay doors on painter’s pyramids so you’ll more easily maneuver a brush around the bottom edges.

9. You do not use a paint primer before painting your kitchen cabinets in Houston.
It’s tempting to skip this step, but consider this: “Your finished kitchen could look amazing then, three weeks or three months later, knots within the wood can start to bleed through your paint,” warns Petersik. Use a stain-blocking primer (she likes Kilz Clean Start), and you will not get surprise blotches because the paint cures.

10. You paint the cabinets’ surfaces in the wrong order.
Don’t just jump right in: you ought to start by painting the rear of the doors rather than the front. Why? Because if you flip the door timely and therefore the paint smudges, it’ll a minimum of face within the cupboard.

11. You choose the wrong color for your kitchen remodeling in Dallas.
Of course, there is no right or wrong color for your kitchen. except for cabinets, you must catch on right the primary time. “This project is straightforward, but it isn’t the type of job you are going to require to redo any time soon if you do not just like the color,” says Petersik.

She suggests painting an enormous poster board with a tester within the color you’re considering (you can usually get a little one for just $5). “Hang it up next to your backsplash and your appliances and confirm that’s the color you would like.” If you’re stuck on where to start, inspect color paint trends for inspiration!

12. You select the incorrect paint.
The Good Housekeeping Institute likes Benjamin Moore Advance for a smooth finish that’s kitchen-friendly. While it’s going to be a touch of quite other paints on the shelf, it’s worthwhile.

And you likely won’t be using quite two gallons of paint, so costs won’t be as prohibitive as if you were painting a whole room.

Worried about visible brush marks? Virginia at Live Love DIY follows her brush strokes with a foam roller to smooth things out. An experienced DIYer might like the finish provided by a sprig gun (like Jenny at Little Green Notebook uses), but it is a bit more unwieldy than a brush.

13. You rush to place cabinets back.
Yes, it’s super annoying to attend days for the paint to cure. But if you mistakenly smudge the paint, you’ve got to sand the kitchen cabinet door and repaint it (a hard truth any woman who’s rushed to go away the nail salon surely understands). “As very much like it kills me to stare at the doors on the ground drying, I’d much rather wait than jump the gun,” Petersik says.

You can reach OlaCabinetry.com for all your kitchen cabinet shop in Houston to get reliable and quality work. Be it kitchen remodeling in Dallas or new kitchen cabinet, Ola Cabinetry does all at affordable prices.