5 Mistakes When Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Date:  September 10, 2019

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Categories:  Painting, Renovating, Tips

Tags: , , ,

Learn how to avoid the five most common mistakes when painting kitchen cabinets.

Call it Upcycling, Kitchen Makeover or Kitchen Facelift: Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and those DIY blogs are full off amazing before and after shots off DIY kitchen renovations. And it seems dead-easy too. A can of paint; a couple of paint brushes, and an afternoon later the fixer upper is turned into a rockstar entertainer kitchen. Wow! You think? The reality shock comes when you have a go yourself. Those bloggers don’t post their painful pitfalls. These are the 5 mistakes when painting kitchen cabinets.

  1. Painting Kitchen Cabinets Yourself

We don’t like to be spoilsports either, but the biggest mistake when painting kitchen cabinets is indeed to paint them yourself. The kitchen is the most important room in your house. It is simply the wrong spot to get save some cash. The kitchen stands out. the last thing you want is the centre of your home to look like a cheap DIY gone wrong. So our advice, hands down, leave it to the experts. The good news is however you can upcycle your kitchen successfully and it will save you thousands of dollars. So read on to know what to look out for.

  1. Paint it where it is and as it is

A common shortcut is, to paint the cabinets in place “as is.” It might seem like a good idea not to dismantle the cabinets, or more precisely not to take the doors and drawer fronts off before giving them a new coat of paint. But it is an absolute no-go. You need to take all the doors and drawer fronts off in order to spray the edges, the back and the front. And no, under no circumstances do you want to spray on the hinges or “simply” tape off the door handles. The paint will crack; there will be runners and uncovered spots and you’ll find yourself embarrassed when you have to open the cabinets when you have guests.

  1. Dismantle without labelling

Even professionals keep doing this. They dismantle a kitchen with ten doors of the same size, identical hinges throughout, so they simply take them off, stack them and reassemble them somehow when they are done. It doesn’t work that way. You might not see a difference with the bare eye when comparing two doors to one another, but once you try to make them fit, you’ll notice there is a difference. That is why it is crucial to label all parts, hinges, doors and door handles. Every single piece needs to go back to its original spot. Simply start in one corner e.g. top left and count it down from there: 1, 2, 3, etc. A diagram might help to remember later if you forget where you started or turned.

  1. Skip sanding

Some people think, you only need to sand back cabinets that are a bit on the rough side. But really the sanding back process is not a cosmetic choice. Sanding aka buffing the cabinets is needed to make the new layer of paint stick perfectly. Of all 5 mistakes when painting kitchen cabinets, this might be the most common one. So if you don’t want your freshly painted cabinets to peel like a banana; sand them.

  1. Your cabinets aren’t dust-free before you paint

Your cabinets need to be totally dust free and clean to achieve a great result. So you need to vacuum off any debris and leftover sand dust. Step 2, particularly for kitchen cabinets is giving them a thorough clean. Cooking debris, fat and oil as well as dirt and dust often sticks to the edges and the carcasses of kitchen cabinets. You don’t want to paint over it. As a final step wipe the cleaned cabinets with a damp cloth to remove any remaining particles. Once dried, the cabinets are as ready for painting as you can get them.

How to avoid the 5 mistakes when painting kitchen cabinets

But we will be honest with you: If you don’t have a dust controlled environment, you have virtually no chance to get a perfect result. That is why at Dianella Polishing we can achieve and guarantee such a perfect result – we have custom made spray booths that are climate controlled to achieve the perfect professional result, you expect. Give us a call on 93032176 or click here to request a quote and check for availability.

Want to know how to do it right? Click here to learn about the-seven-steps-to-professionally-paint-your-kitchen. Feel free to share your DIY paint disaster and ask for advice. And check out our part 2 of this article.

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