Painting my kitchen cabinets: Suitable materials

“Painting my kitchen cabinets’ is the number one renovation trend. Why would one throw out a perfectly good kitchen if all it needs is a fresh coat of paint? The advantages are obvious: One saves $$1,000; lots of time and avoids the mess in the house. If you think “I want my to paint my kitchen cabinets” but are unsure if your cabinets are suitable for painting, read on.
Almost every kitchen cabinet can be painted
It is an urban myth that only wood is ideal for painting. Many other materials can be painted just as well. Actually, almost every kitchen cabinet can be painted. The different materials simply require different preparation for painting. We can assure you with the right prep work, many materials look amazing after they got re-surfaced. We can actually paint almost every material from wood to vinyl wrap.
Wood
Wood is a great product for painting. However it does need proper preparation before you can get the paint brush out. Regardless if you have unfinished wood, wood that has already been painted or nicely stained wood, you always start with sanding the wood back. This is to remove uneven spots. We also want to make sure that the paint sticks well. Once you have a smooth surface, you need to apply one or two coats of primer before you can start to actually paint your kitchen cabinets.
Laminate Kitchen Cabinets
Laminate kitchen cabinets can be just as well revived with a fresh coat of paint. However we go about it differently than we would to paint wooden kitchen cabinets. We don’t want to sand back the actual laminated surface of your cabinets. Instead you clean them thoroughly and apply the primer coat before sanding. When painting laminate kitchen cabinets it is important to use a special bonding primer to make the primer stick to the laminate surface. In a next step you then lightly roughen up the surface with sand paper in order to prepare the kitchen cabinets for painting.
MDF – or pressed wood kitchen cabinets
Many kitchen cabinets are made off mdf – medium density fibreboard, or simply pressed wood. If you want to paint your pressed wood kitchen cabinets the process is very similar to painting wooden cabinetry. You start with sanding down the mdf doors and drawer fronts. Following the sanding you apply two levels of undercoat. It is important to remember to let the first coat dry thoroughly before applying the next layer.
Vinyl wrap
Vinyl wrapped kitchens have been a trend for decade. The reason is that vinyl wrapped cabinetry is lots cheaper than painted kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately you get what you pay for. The vinyl wrap typically starts to peel after seven years’. The only way to revive a vinyl wrapped kitchen is to paint it. The reason is that re-gluing the vinyl wrapped cabinets does not last and destroys the underlying substrate. Vinyl wrapped kitchen doors and drawers, often called thermo-foil doors are easily stripped of the plastic coating. Once the underlying material is revealed it requires a gentle sand back to remove remains of glue and smoothen the surface for the primer coats.
Of course you don’t have to do the preparation work yourself. At Dianella Polishing we pride us for excellent customer service. So regardless which material kitchen you have, we do prepare your kitchen cabinets for painting – at no extra cost. So if you want to paint your kitchen cabinets – just give us a call to arrange for an obligation free quote. Comment below or drop us an email to info@dianellapolishing.com.au.
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