What kind of paint and sprayer for kitchen cabinets?

I have new unfinished maple kitchen cabinets. I want to paint them white. I was thinking I would spray paint the doors. I have a few questions.

1. Should I use an airless sprayer or a HVLP air sprayer. I already own a compressor.
2. How much should I thin the paint to spray it?
3. What type of paint and primer should I use?
4. Should I use special cabinet paint? Is it better than other paint?

Thanks,
Judy

 

1 Unless it's pretty powerful, your compressor won't hold up - paint sprayers take a lot of air.
2 Generally, 10% is ok.
3 Oil based will dry harder but will yellow with time so I would not use white oil based paint. For white I would go with a waterborne enamel.
4 See # 3

That said, spraying is messy, I'd do this with a brush myself.

 

My compressor is pretty powerful. I use it to spray ceramic glazes. It is a 150 psi porter cable 6-gallon compressor. I was thinking I would spray the paint to avoid brush or roller marks on the doors. I would really like to have a professional looking finish.

 

It's not the air pressure but the cfm that makes your air compressor unsuitable for much spraying. That said I have sprayed with undersized compressor but you spend a lot of time waiting on the air compressor to catch up. Extra thinner helps a small compressor to atomize the paint better but then there is a new set of problems.

Air powered paint guns work well with solvent based coatings but aren't very good for spraying latex or waterborne as they need to be thinned more and tend to dry at the tip as the paint is coming out of the gun. An airless is best for spraying waterborne or latex enamel.

Oil base coatings dry the hardest = wear the best, but as Mitch noted - whites and light colors tend to yellow over time. Waterborne would also be my 1st choice. it dries almost as hard as oil enamel, dries fast and cleans up with water. Latex enamels have the softest finish. There is a big difference between the quality latex enamels and their cheaper counterpart.

I would use an oil base enamel undercoater for the primer and a waterborne enamel for the top coats. Thinning the paint slightly and sanding between coats will all but eliminate any brush marks or roller stipple. While I'd spray them in a shop or an unfinished house, I rarely ever spray anything in an occupied dwelling - too much work to contain the overspray and cover everything up.

 

OK. Thanks. I can't use oil based primer because my husband has COPD and he can't breath the fumes. I also need something that dries faster because I have 2 cats. I will try the waterborne Enamel paint and a fast drying primer. What brand of waterborne paint do you use? They are hard to find.

 

I doubt you'll find waterborne enamel at a big box paint dept. I use SWP's ProClassic but B.Moore is also good. Most any local paint store [not dept] should have waterborne enamel. You can get a latex enamel undercoater that will do a decent job.

 

One thing I haven't saw mentioned is that I would putty in all the nail holes if they haven't been already, then spray the primer, then sand every square inch lightly with a light sand pad (touch up any nail holes). You will have a much slicker job by sanding primer. Also be very careful. Cabinets can be tricky to spray and you will get runs in your corners and angles if you don't know what your doing or don't pay very close attention and anticipate your next move.