You can give your cabinets a new look by painting them. If you have colonial style cabinets, just painting them white will make all the difference. You can get your cabinets ready for painting and paint them within three weeks. If you have oak cabinets, and you want to give them a new look, then you will have to spend considerable time painting oak cabinets. Here are a few tips for painting oak cabinets.
How to prepare oak cabinets for painting
Unhinge a cabinet door and show it to the hardware storekeeper along with a counter for paints. Oak being porous, your cabinets will look pock-marked if the surface holes remained unfilled during construction. By taking the door with you to the shop, you can ask a professional which paint, sandpaper and primer are good for it.
At the hardware shop, pick up latex paint samples so that you can choose the colour you want. Look only for high-quality paints specially made for use in the kitchen. If you wish to put in new pulls and hinges in the cabinets, take them along so that you buy identical ones.
Make a solution of water and detergent and scrub the cabinets with a sponge dipped in this solution. Rinse thoroughly and use towels to dry them. Ensure that the detergent has a grease-cutter like Trisodium Phosphate in the proportion of half cup of Trisodium Phosphate and 7.5 litres of water. Let sufficient air enter the area before rinsing and drying.
Demarcate a cut-off area to stack your drawers and doors as you get them ready for painting and allow them to work well on your cabinets. If you choose to use your garage for this, cover its floor with cloth.
With the help of a screwdriver, detach the doors and drawers from the cabinets. Put away all the hinges and pulls in tiny plastic bags so that you don’t lose any of them. Tape the cabinet edges on the insides and the outsides. Now, lay newspaper on the floor and tape it too around the edges.
With 220-grit sandpaper, sandpaper all the doors, cabinets and drawers that you want to paint. Ensure they are well-sanded, particularly if the wood comes with a thick coating of polyurethane. Sweep away any dust and wipe the surfaces using tack cloth.
Painting oak cabinets
With so much done, you’re now ready to begin painting your oak cabinets. Use an primer with oil to make a first coat of paint on the cabinet surfaces. After you apply one coat of primer, give it 24 hours to dry. Use extra thick primer, if you have been so advised by the paint professional said that your wooden surfaces had remained unfilled during construction.
Alternatively, you could hire a sprayer for paint so that you can better apply primer to your drawers and doors. In the absence of a paint mist, you can use foam rollers for use on the cabinet surfaces and doors and a slanted brush to paint small areas. Do not paint the surfaces with a brush.
With the oak primed, sand its surface lightly with sandpaper. Use tack cloth to wipe it and apply another layer of primer. Let it dry for 24 hours. Then, repaint.
Next, use paint mist to apply latex paint for the doors and drawers. Use a foam roller to paint the cabinet on the inside of the house. Now, let it dry for another 24 hours.
It’s time to apply a maximum of three more coats of paint, depending on how effectively the paint adheres to the wooden surfaces. Let the third coat dry and treat the wood. Leave it aside for five days. It’s not uncommon for some people to wait for about two weeks to check that the paint has been cured well and won’t stick.
You might want to paint the inner side of your doors. For this, you will have to wait another five days before you turn them and repeat the above procedure. After five days, you can now reinstall your doors and drawers with new pulls and hinges. Take off all the tape you had put earlier around the edges of the surfaces and cabinets. Get rid of the newspaper on the floor and clean your brushes and paint rollers thoroughly.
Process of painting oak cabinets is over!
