Social media has made DIY projects like kitchen makeovers more accessible and more exciting than ever before! Replacing kitchen cabinets can be a pricey adventure, but giving them a facelift with a fresh coat of paint can extend the life of your current kitchen cabinets without breaking the budget. Here's what you need to know about selecting the best paint and prepping your cabinets to achieve great results. Choosing the Right PaintFirst, you'll want to consider different finishes for your kitchen cabinet paint. Matte and eggshell finishes may look nice, but in high-traffic areas, you'll want something more durable and easier to clean. Glossy finishes are best, but if you don't like the shiny appearance, a satin finish will still be sturdy without the sheen.You'll also want to choose a high-quality interior paint. High moisture levels, greasy meals, and constant opening and closing mean cheaper products won't last long.

• Best Paint For Kitchen Cabinets 2019
• What Is The Best Paint Remover For Kitchen Cabinets
• What Is The Best Sherwin Williams Paint For Kitchen Cabinets

We recommend either Sherwin-Williams Emerald Trim Enamel in satin, gloss, or semi-gloss, or Behr Specialty Alkyd Semi-Gloss Enamel. Both products will give you a professional finish that's ready to stand up to heavy use and lots of scrubbing.Choosing the right color is the fun part, but be sure to consider the long-term use of your kitchen and the possibility of selling your home in the near future. Bright purple cabinets might seem like the ultimate customization, but you might find yourself regretting this decision quickly! Whites and off-whites work well in most kitchens, and shades of black and grey can complement modern decor schemes or farmhouse-style kitchens.

Prep Makes PerfectIf you've completed any DIY painting projects, you probably already know that most of the important work happens before you ever open a can of paint. First, empty your cabinets and remove all hardware including hinges and pulls. Scrub all surfaces thoroughly, and use a good degreasing agent to ensure all surfaces are squeaky clean.Next, tape off all areas that won't be painted such as adjoining walls and any hardware that cannot be removed. Cover countertops and appliances to protect them from drips and spills. Use a wood filler to repair any gouges, holes, and other imperfections. Then, sand all surfaces.

A palm sander will help get large, flat areas done quickly, and tricky spots should be done by hand. Choose a 220-grit sandpaper for stained surfaces and a 120-grit for paint, and wipe down all surfaces to remove all traces of dust before moving on.Lastly, a good primer should always be used before painting cabinets. Be sure to sand surfaces lightly between coats of primer and after the final coat has applied and remove all dust before applying your first coat of paint. Choosing the right primer is essential in high-traffic areas like kitchens. We recommend a product like Sherwin-Williams Extreme Bond Primer that offers a higher degree of adhesion than a standard primer.

The Right TechniquesAs a DIYer, you could consider using a high-quality, professional brush in the 2 to 2-1/2 inch range-this is not a tool to cut costs with! Remember to paint entire surfaces together as brushing up against a wet edge will give a good finish, but dry or semi-dry edges can cause lifting, bumps, and unsightly brush marks. Take your time, and don't forget to paint cabinet edges! If you choose to hire a team of professionals, or have access to professional gear, the best tools to choose for this process would be an airless sprayer, or even a HPLV sprayer. These would help provide a really smooth finish. Leave it to the Professionals!If the process of achieving excellent results sounds like more than you want to tackle yourself, give us a call! The painting pros at have the skills and experience to make your kitchen cabinets look like new again.

All you have to do is choose a color, and we'll take care of the rest. Schedule a free estimate using our or call 888-261-3633.

If your kitchen cabinets are solid but dated and dark, a fresh coat of paint can go a long way toward transforming the space without draining your bank account. You can hire a pro to spray-paint them for a thousand dollars or more, but there's a less costly, and less messy, alternative to consider: Use a brush and paint the cabinets yourself.'

You don't need to spray to get a smooth finish,' says painting contractor John Dee, who has worked on a number of This Old House TV projects. He often brush-paints cabinets anyway because it gives him more control and avoids the risk of paint spray ending up where it's not wanted. (Surface prep is the same whether you spray or brush.) Brushing is time-consuming, he warns, and could take up to a couple of weeks to complete.

But the result is a durable, glass-smooth finish that's the equal of anything from a spray gun. 'You just need to use the best materials and take the time to sand and do the brushwork right,' Dee says. Read on for our tips for painting kitchen cabinets.

Before starting a kitchen paint job, empty the cabinets, clear off the counters, and remove freestanding appliances. Relocate tables and other furniture to another room. Tape rosin paper over the countertops and flooring, and tape plastic sheeting over the backsplash, windows, fixed appliances, and interior doorways (to protect the rest of the house from dust and fumes). Mask off the wall around the cabinets.

Finally, set up a worktable for painting doors, drawers, and shelves.Pro Tip: In kitchens the key to a good paint job is surface prep. 'Old cabinets are covered with everything from hand oils to greasy smoke residue to petrified gravy,' says Dee.

'You've got to get all that off or the paint won't stick.' Before starting a kitchen paint job, empty the cabinets, clear off the counters, and remove freestanding appliances. Relocate tables and other furniture to another room. Tape rosin paper over the countertops and flooring, and tape plastic sheeting over the backsplash, windows, fixed appliances, and interior doorways (to protect the rest of the house from dust and fumes). Mask off the wall around the cabinets. Finally, set up a worktable for painting doors, drawers, and shelves.Pro Tip: In kitchens the key to a good paint job is surface prep.

'Old cabinets are covered with everything from hand oils to greasy smoke residue to petrified gravy,' says Dee. 'You've got to get all that off or the paint won't stick.'

Sand all surfaces with the grain using 100-grit paper. To make sure no bits of dust mar the finish, vacuum the cabinets inside and out, then rub them down with a tack cloth to catch any debris that the vacuum misses. Dee says, 'Hand sanding is the best technique on oak because you can push the paper into the open grain, which a power sander or sanding block will miss.' Pro tip: When using a tack cloth, unfold each new cloth fully, down to one layer, then crumple it to get the greatest dust collection surface. Slow-drying, oil-based primers work fine on tight-grained woods like maple or cherry, or on man-made materials. But they just sink into open-grained woods such as oak, ash, mahogany, or hickory. Brushing putty, the pudding-thick, oil-based coating Dee used on these oak cabinets, fills the grain as it primes the wood.

A couple of caveats: It should be applied with a good-quality nylon-polyester brush, which you'll have to throw away after each coat. And it doesn't become level as it dries; assiduous sanding is required to flatten it out.Starting at the top of the cabinet, brush on the primer or brushing putty across the grain, then 'tip off'—pass the brush lightly over the wet finish in the direction of the grain. Always tip off in a single stroke from one end to the other. Give it a day to dry. (If using brushing putty, apply a second coat the next day and wait another day for it to dry.) Sand the flat surfaces with a random-orbit sander and 220-grit paper. Sand any profiled surfaces with a medium-grit sanding sponge.

When you're done, everything should be glass-smooth.Pro tip: Follow the underlying structure of the cabinet or door with the brush. Where a rail (horizontal piece) butts into a stile (vertical piece), for instance, paint the rail first, overlapping slightly onto the stile. Then, before the overlap dries, paint the stile. Where a stile butts into a rail, paint the stile first. Squeeze a thin bead of latex caulk into any open seams. Pull the tip as you go, then smooth the caulk with a damp finger. Fill any small dents, scratches, or dings with vinyl spackle, smoothed flat with a putty knife.

Once dry, in about 60 minutes, sand again with 220-grit paper, vacuum, and wipe with tack cloth. Spot-prime the spackle, and any spots where the brushed-on primer is 'burned through,' with a spray can of fast-drying oil-based primer. Wait an hour, then sand the primer lightly with 280-grit paper. Vacuum all surfaces, and wipe with a tack cloth.Pro tip: The hole in a caulk tube's tip should be no bigger than the tip of a sharp pencil. Slice 45-degree slivers off the tip with a razor until you see the hole open.

Work from top to bottom, applying the paint across the grain, then tipping it off with the grain. For cabinet interiors, apply the paint with a smooth-surface mini roller, which leaves a slight orange-peel texture. Sand all surfaces with 280-grit paper, then vacuum and clean with tack cloth. For the last coat, break out a new brush. When the final coat is dry, replace the shelf hangers.Pro tip: Brushes pick up dust, so always pour paint into a separate container to prevent contamination of the paint in the can.

If any paint is left over, pour it back into the can only through a fine-mesh strainer. The strategy for prepping and painting doors, drawers, and shelves is the same as on the cabinets, except that all the work is done on a table to reduce the chance of drips, runs, and sags. Paneled doors pose some special challenges; here's Dee's approach.Follow the same prep sequence as for cabinets—clean with deglosser, fill the holes, sand, vac, and tack—and the same priming sequence: in this case, two coats of brushing putty. Smooth the flat surfaces on the panel and the frame with a random-orbit sander. On bevels or profiles, apply elbow grease and a medium-grit sanding sponge. Spackle and sand any dents.Pro tip: When priming or painting paneled doors, brush in the following sequence to get the best-looking surface in the least amount of time: start with the area around the panel, then do the main field of the panel, then finish with the stiles and rails around the edges.

As you go, wipe up any paint that ends up on adjacent dry surfaces. This eliminates the chance of lap marks. Remove all dust—first with a vacuum, then with a tack cloth—and apply the finish coat. Tip it off with the grain.

Best Paint For Kitchen Cabinets 2019

When the first coat dries, power-sand the flats; hand-sand the profiles. Vacuum and tack every piece, then brush on the final coat.Pro tip: To prevent drips on outside edges, pull the brush toward them. To prevent drips in corners, first unload the brush by scraping off the paint, then paint by pulling the brush away from the corner. If a drip laps onto a dry surface, wipe it up immediately. Painting cabinet doors is a trade-off between perfection and speed. John Dee, a perfectionist, prefers to do one side at a time, keeping the faces flat so they don't get runs.

What Is The Best Paint Remover For Kitchen Cabinets

But that's 48 hours of drying time per door—one day per side. Here's his method for painting both sides in a day.Twist two screw hooks into holes drilled in an inconspicuous door edge (the lower edge for bottom cabinets, the upper edge for top cabinets). Paint the door's outside face as above. Let it dry for an hour while resting flat, then tilt the door up onto its hooks and put a drywall screw into an existing hardware hole. Hold the tilted door up by the screw and paint the door's back side.When you're done painting, pick up the door by the screw and one hook and hang both hooks on a sturdy wire clothes hanger. Suspend from a shower curtain rod or clothes rod until the door is dry. Low-tack painter's tape2.

Rosin paper3. 0.5-mil plastic sheet4.

Liquid deglosser and abrasive pad6. Lint-free rags7. 100-grit silicon-carbide sandpaper8. Two-part polyester wood filler or autobody filler to fill dings or screw holes9. 220-grit silicon-carbide sandpaper to smooth primer between coats10. 280-grit silicon-carbide sandpaper to smooth paint between coats11.

What Is The Best Sherwin Williams Paint For Kitchen Cabinets

Sanding sponges, medium- and fine-grit 12. Vinyl spackle13. Oil-based primer for use on smooth surfaces or tight-grained woods (cherry, maple, birch); or14.

Brushing putty to prime and fill open-grained woods (oak, ash, hickory)15. Oil-based spray primer for touch-up16. Siliconized acrylic-latex caulk17. Oil-based paint Easier to clean and more durable than water-based, which softens when ex­posed to heat or oil.