Dreaming of a new Kitchen but don’t want to spend $$$$

Have you been asking yourself How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets without sanding because you don’t want all the mess? You can give your kitchen a complete makeover by painting all the cabinets, doors and drawers without any mess.

This is a great way to save money, as you can avoid having to replace the entire unit. Plus, it’s not as difficult as you might think!

Paint your kitchen cabinets without sanding them by using these three simple items.

• A 600 grit Scotch Brite Pad
• Some Mineral Spirits
• Clean Rags.

Using these 3 items within the cleaning stage eliminates the need for any sanding.

There are a few key things to keep in mind when painting kitchen cabinets:

• Determine the type of Cabinets you have, the material they are made from and the existing finish that is on them.
• Choose a paint that is specifically designed for your cabinets. This will ensure good coverage, adhesion and durability.
• You won’t need to sand the cabinets before painting them. Just make sure you clean them well using our technique before painting.

Follow these simple steps and you’ll have your painted kitchen cabinets looking like new in no time! With a little effort, some preparation, and the right paint, you can achieve a beautiful finish that will last for years to come.

The best part of this process is the fact that you will not need to remove any of the items from inside your kitchen cabinets. You don’t have to change anything about the way your kitchen functions until you’re almost done with the whole process.

The best part of this process is the fact that you will not need to remove any of the items from inside your kitchen cabinets. You don’t have to change anything about the way your kitchen functions until you’re almost done with the whole process

How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets

Here’s the actual step-by-step process of how to paint kitchen cabinets.

1. Clean and check your kitchen cabinets and panels.
2. Paint Kitchen Cabinets with primer fronts, backs, and edges if needed.
3. Paint Kitchen Cabinets with top coat fronts, backs and edges if needed..
4. Remove all cabinet doors from cabinet frames.
5. Prime Kitchen Cabinet framing if needed.
6. Top Coat Kitchen Cabinet Framing.
7. Re attach Kitchen Cabinet doors to cabinet frames.
8. Fit new Kitchen Cabinet Handles.

That’s it… 8 Simple steps to giving your kitchen a new lease of life and giving your home a completely new look and feel for minimal cost and just a little bit of effort.

STEP ONE – Clean and check your Kitchen Doors and Panels

Before you can start how to paint kitchen cabinets, you must clean and check your Kitchen Cabinet Doors and Panels.

Firstly go over your kitchen cabinets thoroughly, including doors, panels, and cabinet frames, and check the condition of them. If you’re happy with the condition, apart from just a clean, then you’re all good to just give them a good clean because we will be using a self-priming undercoat.

Fix any Damage

However, if your kitchen cabinets have some imperfections, dents,or dings, I would recommend giving them enough of a touch-up that your happy with the finish. Fill any dents with a water-based quick-drying sandable wood filler.

Remove any Handles

While we are at this stage, it’s going to make sense to remove any remaining hardware from the door panels and drawer fronts like handles. Save handles and screws in a bag for re-installation at the end.

If you want to replace your door handles once you have painted your kitchen cabinets doors, then now would be the time to consider this. Remove your existing door handles and putty up the holes with a water based sandable filler.

Are you replacing your Handles

It would be a good idea to have sourced your new handles now and to drill the mounting holes for them before any painting to not damage the final paintwork.

Clean your Kitchen Cabinets

Once you have given all the kitchen cabinets and paneling that will require painting a good check over, it’s time to give all the surfaces that you are planning to paint a good clean. All you need for this step is a good degreaser and a clean rag.

Look for a good quality heavy duty, but non-toxic cleaner that will remove any grease buildup that can get in the way of your paint. It’s important at this stage that we create a good surface for the paint to stick to. Any grease residue on the doors will inhibit the adhesion qualities of the paint.

Simply spray on cleaner and wipe off with a very slightly damp microfiber rag or paper towel. Tougher spots may need a little more elbow grease. Be sure to clean every paintable surface well so your paint will stick.

STEP TWO and THREE- Time for Painting your Kitchen Cabinet Doors.

Are you Painting the front and back of your Kitchen Doors?

Depending on the style of your kitchen and how it has been built, you will need to determine if you require painting the fronts and backs of your doors or just the fronts and if you will require to paint any cabinet framing at all.

Once you have determined this, you will know whether or not you will require removing all the doors in your particular application

In this example we will be going to paint the front and back of all the doors as well as the cabinet framing, so we will be removing all the doors completely from the cabinet framing after they have been fully painted. It is much easier to paint all the doors whilst they are still fitted to the cabinets.

Prime Cabinet Doors – (If needed)

Most kitchen cabinets will not need to be primed before painting. It really depends on a few factors. What paint you are planning on using and what the doors and cabinets are made of?

If the cabinets are a melamine finish, or are laminate cabinets that have a timber substrate and laminate outer, then I would say that you will not need to be priming your doors.

Most Kitchen cabinets and timber doors are sealed adequately that you won’t need to prime either, however, if your doors and cabinet frames are an old timber finish, then you may risk the chance of the timber stain etc, bleeding through the topcoat.

You can test this by painting a small test section with your topcoat paint and letting dry.

If there is no staining showing through your paint, then you are all good to go, however, if there is an indication of staining then I would recommend priming with a stain-blocking primer first. So in this example, we are not going to be using a primer as in most situations you won’t need one.

Top coating Kitchen Cabinets and Doors

Paint Cabinets

Now before we start, let’s Talk Paint. Not all paints are the same when repainting your kitchen cabinets and doors yourself. There is a lot to choose from out there, but you will need to be mindful of certain characteristics of the paint for this to be successful.

Because we are painting the kitchen cabinets and doors whilst they are still fixed to the cabinets, as mentioned this will make life much easier for you, the paint needs to have certain characteristics.

Drying time is a major one. The paint needs to holds it’s shape better while it’s wet, which means it goes on smooth and has the perfect drying time. Paint drying time really makes all the difference in this type of project.

When painting your doors and drawers, you will need a paint that is “Self Leveling” which means it dries slowly enough that it has time to even itself out and get rid of brush strokes, but not too slowly that it will run and drip everywhere.

Seriously, I can’t say enough about how important this one characteristic is to make this project so easy. With any style of painting, you still need to be mindful of painting carefully and not applying it to thick and working away from all your edges.

The other great thing about having paint with the correct drying time is that you can generally re coat’ or give a second coat after your first coat within a few hours, meaning you will be able to complete all the coats of paint necessary in one day.

Other factors to consider with how to paint kitchen cabinets is in choosing the correct Kitchen Cabinet Paint.

These are…

• Paints that have a low VOC or odor.
• Water-based or Enamel based paint.
• A built-in paint primer.
• Paint Colour range.
• Paint drying Times.
• Paint coverage
• Ease of use.

A Kitchen Cabinet Paint that I have used on many projects and meets all of these criteria and would highly recommend is the “Nuvo All In One Cabinet Paint”. It’s a water-based top coat paint that has built-in primer as well as all of the above properties and more.

See my Full Review of The Nuvo All In One Cabinet Paints Here

Painting – The Brush

Not all painting brushes are created equal. Choosing the correct paint brush will make a world of difference in how easy this project is and how great your finish looks.

I would recommend using a 2″ angled sash paint brush. These types of brushes are designed to get into all those nooks and crannies and give you a nice even finish with no brush strokes.

Make sure that you avoid any paint brushes that are too soft or have natural bristles as they will not give you the same finish as a synthetic sash brush.

Painting Technique

When painting kitchen cabinets, the actual painting technique is very simple once you know how, however’ there are a few things that I always do when painting doors to make sure that I get a beautiful professional looking finish.

The first thing is to use a Roller. I know what you’re thinking, won’t using a roller give me a streaky finish? No, not if you do it correctly. When you start painting always roll first and then go back with your brush to even out any lines or streaks that the roller may have left behind

Painting the Doors

When choosing a roller I would recommend using a micro fiber roller about 4 inches in width. Micro Fiber rollers will give you the best finish without loosing any hairs or particles from the roller.

As already mentioned, we will be painting both the back and the fronts of our doors.

Paint the Edges

The first step is to paint all of the edges of the doors with a brush, making sure to paint away from the edges so not to create runs or excessive build-ups of paint.

While we have the brush out, if your doors have any recessed routered designs to the face of the door, give these a brush of paint as well.

With your drawer fronts, pull out the drawer so you can access the back sections of the drawer and give all the surfaces a coat of paint also.

Paint the Faces and Backs

After you have given the edges and recessed areas a coat of paint, whilst it is still wet, give the back and front faces a coat of paint using a microfibre roller.

If you happen to get any runs or heavy build-ups with the roller you can feather these out with your brush as you go. Once dry, you can give a second coat to all of these surfaces.

STEP FOUR – Remove all your Cabinet Doors.

Removing all your kitchen cabinet doors is recommended when how to paint kitchen cabinets.

Tip: Make sure you label the doors with a piece of painter’s tape so we don’t damage the final paintwork, as well as the cabinet corresponding to each door. This will make life a whole lot easier when re-installing the doors.

In this example, we will be going with removing all the doors completely from the cabinet framing after painting as we will be painting the cabinet framing as well. If you have decided that you don’t require to paint any cabinet framing, then you would be ready to move on to step 7

How your cabinets are constructed will determine how you will need to remove the doors. If your cabinets are face-frame construction, then most likely they will have what is called European hinges. These types of hinges allow you to simply remove the door by unscrewing two screws that hold the hinge to the frame.

If your cabinets are a frameless construction, then they will have what is called concealed hinges. These types of hinges are not able to be removed without first taking off the door panel. To do this you will need to unscrew the hinge from the frame and then gently pry off the door panel.

Depending on the age of your kitchen, you may need a Phillips head screwdriver or a flat head screwdriver. A cordless driver gun with an attachment will make short work of this process.

Step Five – Prime Cabinet Frames (If needed)

Fill any holes or imperfections with wood filler

Once you have all of your doors removed, check over cabinet framing for any dents, holes or imperfections that may need filling before painting.

Any small holes can be filled with wood filler using a putty knife. Once the wood filler is dry, you can then lightly sand over these areas with a fine-grit sandpaper until smooth.

As already mentioned earlier, if you have determined that your doors required a stain block primer, then your kitchen cabinet framing will require one as well

Step Six – Topcoat Cabinet Frames

Painting your kitchen cabinet frames is an important part in how to paint kitchen cabinets.

Give all your cabinet frames and paneling two coats of your topcoat paint. Don’t get too crazy here, just do the surfaces that you will see once the doors are back on and when you open the doors. Try and finish the painting along the edge of the framing rather than the middle, this will look a lot neater at the end. 

Step Seven – Re install all your Kitchen Doors

Now that all the painting is done with how to paint kitchen cabinets and has had sufficient time to dry and cure we can re-install all the doors. Be careful when re-fitting them as the paintwork will still be fresh and could easily be damaged at this stage.

If you have labeled them as we suggested earlier, this will make life much easier.

Once all of your doors are back in place, give them a quick wipe-over with a damp cloth just to remove any dust or dirt that might have built up whilst they were off. And sit back and enjoy your newly painted kitchen cabinets without sanding!

Now you can re-fit your existing handles or new ones if you are changing them.

That’s it! You have now completed painting your kitchen cabinets without sanding. This is a great way to save time and money on a kitchen renovation and can be done just on a weekend, with minimal disruption to your kitchen use

Conclusion

You have just Painted your Kitchen Cabinets without Sanding.

So there you have it. 8 simple steps on how to paint kitchen cabinets to give your kitchen that desperate make-over you’ve been waiting for without the need to spend thousands of dollars in the process.

Allow yourself at least a couple of full days to do this project, depending on your kitchen size of course. Most projects could be easily done over a weekend, and as mentioned, without all the mess and fuss of having to remove everything from inside your cabinets.

That’s it! You have now completed painting your kitchen cabinets without sanding. This is a great way to save time and money on a kitchen renovation and can be done in a few weekends with minimal disruption to your kitchen use.

We hope that you have found this guide helpful and that it has given you the confidence to tackle this project yourself. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave a comment.

But don’t stop there

Now that you have mastered the art of painting your kitchen cabinet doors, why not go the next step and give those tired bench tops a new lease of life, you’d be surprised how easy it is….

Read my Article on Re-Painting your existing Benchtops here…

FAQ

Q. Can I just paint over my kitchen cabinets?

A. Short answer is Yes, as long as you use a paint that has a built-in primer, but you will need to be aware of some of the steps as outlined in this guide.

Q. What type of paint should I use on my Kitchen Cabinets?

A. We recommend using a water-based acrylic paint as it is much easier to work with and will give you a nice smooth finish, with a built-in primer.

Q. Do I have to sand cabinets before painting?

A. If your using a paint that has a built-in primer, generally no, you can paint straight over your existing cabinets, however, I would be recommending that you do some prep work based on the conditions of your cabinets for best results.

Q. What type of brush should I use on my Kitchen Cabinets?

A. We recommend using a synthetic bristle brush as these are designed for use with acrylics and won’t absorb all the paint like natural bristles can, resulting in less waste.

Q. How many coats of paint do I need?

A. We recommend applying two coats of paint, but if you find that the first coat is not giving you good coverage, then a third coat may be necessary.

Q. Do I need to Prime?

A. That depends, if you are painting over an existing colour or laminate cabinets, then you probably won’t need to prime first, but if you are painting over a dark timber or an oil based paint then you may require a stain block primer to prevent ‘bleed through’.

Q. Can I use a roller?

A. Yes, you can use a roller for large flat surfaces, but for any intricate areas or moldings, we recommend using a brush as it will give you much better control.

Q. How long should I leave the paint to dry before re-attaching the doors?

A. We recommend waiting at least 24 hours, but if you can wait longer then that’s even better.

Q. Can I use a spray paint?

A. Yes, you can, but we don’t recommend it unless you are confident in your abilities as it is very easy to make a mess and overspray your work area. If you do decide to use a spray gun then we recommend using an HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) type as these are designed for use with latex paints and produce much less overspray than standard airless guns.