Hello All,

See attached photos.

My house was built in 2006 and they installed cheap cabinets. I think the doors might be partial wood if that makes any sense, but the rest of it seems to be some sort of laminate.

How do I prep these things to paint?








My neighbor has these same cabinets. She told me that when she put tape on the outside edges so she could paint the wall, she peeled the tape off and it was like cardboard or something. Not sure if that makes sense but there you have it.

 

I'll leave the painting to other moderators, they are good at it.

The side panels of your cabinets are melamine or what I would call photo paper, a cheaper version of melamine. If you tape off the cabinet side when painting the walls, the finish is prone to pull off when removing the tape, even blue tape might or will cause damage.

The face frames and door rails and stiles are solid maple. The door panels are 1/4" plywood.
Even though these are cheap cabinets, it seems a shame to paint them. The installation looks like a good job and this color was and is very popular with customers.
One of my favorite colors and I've seen them all.

 

Thank you for the info!

While I am sure this style flows with many peoples tastes, it unfortunately does not with us. We have hated the look of these cabinets since we bought the house.

We prefer to explore painting them rather than replacing them.

 

Prep and primer are very important when painting cabinets! I'd lightly sand them and apply a pigmented shellac primer like Zinnser's BIN. You may find this helpful - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/pa...t-repaint.html

 

Wow. Sounds like that Shellac based primer will adhere to anything.

Any kind of precautions I should take when roughing up this fake wood? The Ideal Cabinet Repair post says to use 180.

How do I rough up and ensuring I'm only roughing up?

Should I only make one pass with my sand block in the same spot?

 

All you want to do is scuff up the existing finish to help promote adhesion, just a pass or two is all that is needed.

What color do you intend to paint them? Oil base enamel dries to the hardest finish [will wear the best] but whites and off whites will yellow over time. Latex enamels don't dry as hard but can chip. There is a big difference between the quality latex enamels and their cheaper cousins. I prefer waterborne enamel even though it costs the most. It dries quick and almost as hard as oil base but won't yellow.

 

We plan on painting it a dark brown. I don't know anything about paint so I will follow your lead and do some homework on the paint types you've suggested.

Question:

Aside from my cabinets, I also have to paint my walls. Since I will have to tape off the border between the cabinets and my walls, should I paint my walls first? If I paint my walls first, I won't have to put the tape on the cabinets. As you noticed in my previous posts, my neighbor had paint peel when she put tape on the cabinets to paint her walls.

My thought process is that I will paint the cabinets after painting the walls because the finish that may be removed from the tape can be painted over.

Your thoughts?

 

Latex paints and tape don't play well together. Generally tape does ok over oil base or waterborne paint. I try to limit the use of tape! Providing you have a good quality brush it isn't that difficult to cut the wall into the cabinets or vice versa. Whenever you do use tape, the quicker you remove it the better.

 

Ideally you cut in with a brush and no tape is used.
One way to get a perfect line is to add scribe molding to the cabinet sides after painting the walls.
The scribe is generally 1/4" thick by 3/4" wide and is almost always used when finishing cabinet sides.

 

Can you provide an example of what a piece of scribe molding would look like that would go there? I've never heard of it before but found a definition here:

What is Scribe Molding? | Definition of Scribe Molding

I am just having a hard time visualizing what you're suggesting to put there.

 

I'm sorry but I don't think those cabinets look all that bad and painting them is a crap-ton of work. Do you really think they're going to look so much better afterward that it will be worth it?

 

Basically it's a thin molding that matches the cabinet's finish and is flexible enough were it can be pushed tight against the wall and the cabinet negating any large gap. Sometimes it needs to be scribed [cut to the walls contour] hence the name.

 

Stickshift,

Isn't it always a crap ton of work when somebody wants to paint the cabinets to match their tastes. I am glad you like the cabinets but per my previous post, we hate their look and can't wait to paint them.

 

Here's an example of scribe placed against the wall.
Also a link to HD, the picture there is hard to see. It's available in several colors, you will need to paint the scribe before nailing it to the cabinets.

Very easy to cut and a good way to get a nice paint line.



Hampton Bay 0.75x90x.25 in. Kitchen Scribe Edge Molding in Cognac-KAMS-COG - The Home Depot

 

Hey, your house and your call - my point was about how much different are they going to look with brown paint instead of brown stain? Another way, I just don't see that you're making all that much change. Maybe the paint is a different shade than I'm envisioning or something.

 

Here is my vision in how different they look in color.

 

OK, we're on the same page - I do think that is an improvement.

 

While it takes a little more brushing skill you could get a similar look with a couple of coats of tinted poly while still leaving some of the grain to show.

 

I like the darker look also. Your original cabinets are a little dark compared to natural, but your vision looks better. Very nice.

If you are installing the appliances you can get help here. The vent hood and other items can be tricky.

 

Stickshift,

I thought you were going to come back and say that it might be better to buy new cabinets. I just want these to fit our scheme color wise. Their physical design we're not crazy about but the paint should help.

 

Nope, I was just trying to make sure you didn't go to a lot of time and effort only to say, "Gee, that little change was not worth it" but the color difference is more dramatic than I had in my head.