Spray painting your Kitchen Cabinets can be an economical remodeling method. In fact, if done properly, with a little elbow grease and patience, spray painted kitchen cabinets can actually look very decent and will also be durable and long lasting. However, I would only recommend spray painting cabinets if they are made of solid wood! If the wood is a compressed particle type of wood, you may run into problems like never being able to get a smooth surface or warping and breakdown of the actual board.
Probably the most important step is the first one: preparing your kitchen cabinets and doors to be spray painted. First thing’s first, you’re going to have to take off the cabinet doors and hardware. If you’re happy with the way your kitchen cabinet doors line up on their cabinets, use small decals or pieces of masking tape to label everything so you can match them back up later on without having to drill new pilot holes. Now remove the cabinets themselves. This is going to be at least a two person job, and you may need a couple of more helpers depending on the size of the cabinets. Most cabinets should be fastened to the wall via screws, as long as your cabinets are empty (As they should be!), all of the fasteners should be easy to spot. You also might want to have a small “Wonder Bar” type crowbar handy just in case they were nailed in.
With the cabinets down you’ll want to strip any lacquer off of the surfaces so the spray paint will achieve the best possible bond with the surface. Use a heavy grit sandpaper (such as one labeled specifically for paint stripping) with a palm sander and this task will proceed much more swiftly. Then follow up with a medium grit sandpaper to remove any scratches the course stripping sand paper may have left behind. Now here’s an age old re-finishers technique: dampen a rag and lightly wet the surfaces. Allow it to sit and dry overnight, then when you return to it you’ll notice that the wood roughened up a little bit as little bumps popped out all over. Sand the surfaces one final time with fine grit sandpaper and your surfaces should feel as smooth as glass!
So now you’re ready to paint! Well one of the most joyous things about spray paint is that there are just tons of color and texture options available. You can use metallic colors, such as gold and silver. If you want to have a truly earthy look they have faux stone spray paint. Or you can just go with a solid color whether it is something classic such as white or black, or eye grabbing and loud by using a bright yellow or green. And you just don’t need to stick with one color either. You could paint the doors one color and the cabinets another. Or you could also use blue painter’s tape and a ruler to create vibrant stripes on your doors. Print up some shapes on your computer and create stencils to add magnificent diamond or heart patterns for the cabinet doors. A little creativity goes a long way with spray paint! Think about it. Paint up a little board as a test piece and hold it up in your kitchen to see how it would look. Whatever you go with, just make sure that you’re confident and happy with your decision, because you don’t want to go back and do that stripping and prep job again, now do you?
When you’re settled on the colors and design you want, it’s simply time to get to spray painting. Just be sure to check some things first! Did you remove all of the hardware from the doors? Are you in a well ventilated area? Are you wearing a protective mask and goggles? Do you have ground and wall cover so you don’t also wind up having to repaint your garage or work shed? Did you remove the little ID labels you’re using? Do not proceed until you’ve checked off all of those tasks!
Okay… Start painting! Here are some general tips. Follow them, and you should be fine.
– Hang the doors up off the ground if possible on a strong clothesline or prop them up against something that you won’t mind getting painted. I wouldn’t recommend trusting putting them up against a wall that’s been covered, unless you’re absolutely sure the paint won’t bleed through and get on it. Spray paint specks will be floating around too, so keep everything being actively painted away from walls and over things that you won’t want to see get covered with paint specks. And even though you have to take the ID labels off to paint, keep them near each piece until they are painted and dry.
– When painting, do as the instructions say on the can. Shake the can to mix it up and keep the nozzle 12 inches away from the surface being painted. If you spray too close you will get plenty of little bubbles on the surfaces and likely also some paint drips and runs.
– Light coats are BETTER than thick coats! Spraying light coats will make the paint look more uniform and you’ll avoid runs and drips in the paint. And let the paint dry between each coat. Yes it will take longer, but it is worth it… unless you want to risk repeating the lovely strip and prep process again!
– If you plan on adding stripes or shapes to your cabinets and doors, then paint the base color first, allow it to dry completely; then tape off your patterns and spray paint the secondary accent color.
– I highly recommend going the extra step in coating your cabinets with a protective lacquer once you are done with the decorative paint. There are several products out there, also in spray paint form. It will keep your hard work looking good long after the job is done and will also protect against nicks and scratches.
With all of your newly spray painted kitchen cabinets and doors done and dry, simply call your friends back over and reattach everything! This time work in reverse order by putting the cabinets back up first, and then attach the hardware, and lastly put on the cabinet doors.
Viola! You’re all done, and your kitchen looks so much better than it did with those properly spray painted kitchen cabinets! Time to sit back and enjoy your handiwork!
