Mistakes Often Made When Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Coloured kitchen cabinets on pictures look super easy to reproduce for your own kitchen.

In just a few different colour layers, your kitchen will be freshened up for sure! But actually, kitchen cabinet painting is a task with several possible consequences.

We have summarized some of the biggest failures to set you up for success and explained how to prevent them effectively. That way, you can trustfully handle this tough job. You'll finish up with an upgraded kitchen that you absolutely cannot wait to show off with our tips on how to paint your kitchen cabinets!

Painting kitchen cabinets will reshape your space entirely. Trust us when we say that your efforts are worth it.

You don't allow yourself enough time.

Painting your cabinets isn’t something you can do overnight. Some people are often mistaken and believe that this task can be done over the weekend. The ugly truth is that you need at least four to seven days to have enough time to achieve your desired output.

You don't clean the wood before painting.

This mistake is common to everyone, especially when you want to speed up the process (and not follow the first mistake mentioned above). First, make sure to clean and wipe all the edges and corners with a grease remover to avoid further delays. Avoid applying water-based paint to an oil-covered panel, or otherwise, the colour will not adhere.

You don't remove the doors and drawers.

This is a crucial 1st phase: remove all the doors, take out the drawers and remove the knobs and hinges of the hardware. Others try to paint everything, the hooks, and all while they are still intact to save time, but it is not recommendable.

Eventually, the paint on your cabinets and hardware will start chipping and revealing signs of wear within a month or even immediately. When it happens, all you can do to save it is to sand everything down and soak the hardware with thinners to remove the paint. Save yourself from stress and follow these steps instead.

You tend to skip sanding.

You still have to sand your cabinets even if they are in a perfect state so that the paint will stick and last. Make sure to use sandpaper to give a decent polishing to all the coatings only. The goal is to rub off the glossy coat out of the surface, not try to polish it down to the actual wood.

You don't use a paint primer.

Most people try to skip this step, but it is so important. You might want to consider the fact that even if your kitchen looks good as new, the knots on the wood will start to show off through your paint two or three months later. It is suggested to use a stain-blocking primer to avoid future blotches.

You pick the wrong colour.

You can choose whatever colour you prefer for your kitchen but it is essential to select your cabinet’s colour during your first try. You might think that this is an easy job, but you will not see yourself repainting the whole thing all over again.

These are just some of the few mistakes often made by others. If you are planning to paint your kitchen cabinets, you would definitely want to do it the right way. It is not something you can do within the day.

If you haven’t done your research, you can start off by asking for professional help. We, PaintCore Finishes, are here to do the tough job for you. We are skilled professionals who are trained to update do kitchen cabinet repainting in your home. We support on-site and off-site work for your convenience.

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