Adventures in Food
9 Secrets to a Really Crummy Kitchen Cabinet Paint Job
My eyes! The glare from the cabinets is blinding.
If you’re looking to take double–no triple–the amount of time to paint your kitchen cabinets than you should, I’ve got the tips for you! These are the tips other professional painters won’t tell you. Promise. So if want kitchen cabinets that are truly unique, with personal touches like paint bubbles, streaks, and overly thick sections, here’s how to do it:
- Determine that you’re going to paint all of your kitchen cabinets in one day. No. Matter. What.
- Laugh when your husband says silly things like, “Maybe it’s too cold to paint today.” Or, “You know, you might want to paint inside.”
- Lightly sand your cabinets right before you paint them. Don’t bother to wipe them down with a towel or anything.
- Paint the front of the cabinets first.
- Paint in your garage when the outside temperature is 32 degrees or below.
- Keep going even when the paint starts to thicken from the cold.
- Add more paint to smooth out the thickening paint.
- Figure you already painted half the cabinets you outta finish the job even if the paint is the consistency of peanut butter.
- Whatever you do never, ever do a sample test of your paint color before you start! That saves way too much time when you figure out your paint is glaringly bright and shockingly shiny.
With these helpful hints (shhhh, secrets!) you too can have crummy kitchen cabinets like mine. And you can join me in spending a day–no three–stripping the paint off and then starting all over again. Bonus: there’s nothing better than spending your extra money on sand paper!
Scrapping, scrapping, and more scrapping in my future
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about 6 months ago
Oh, I’m so sorry! We’ve had our share of home improvement disasters too. When you’ve never done something before, it’s hard to know how to do it right. We’ve mangled just about everything you can think of. I hope it goes better the second time!
about 6 months ago
Sorry…so frustrating after all that work! Consider it valuable practice…and a lesson learned, I guess.
about 6 months ago
I was a little gung-ho on this project since I have painted bathroom vanities plenty of times. I thought kitchen cabinets wouldn’t be too bad. But I’m working with oil-based paints this time, which is much trickier because of the clean up, smell, and of course the cold temps didn’t help any!
about 6 months ago
Yes, many lessons learned. Round two I plan on taking my time instead of trying to rush to get everything done.
about 6 months ago
You poor dear! You cracked me up, but I feel your pain. I usually leave the painting to hubby because I have no patience.
about 6 months ago
glad to see your sense of humor survived the challenge. I once worked on a job where part of what I did was paint kitchen cabinets — all while still in place — with deck paint, so I’ve had my encounters with painting cabinets with thick paint too. my own kitchen cabinets, however, are wood surfaced still…
about 6 months ago
You’re going to go work for a truth in advertising marketing firm, aren’t you? Don’t forget to use the cheapest possible paint you can find so that you have to put on multiple coats which will take that much longer to complete your project.