Painting Kitchen Cabinets

[glen]

We had a guy come out and set up a paint shop around our kitchen. Brought in window blowers. He painted wearing a suit that looked like diver. He had to breath off a tank. It was expensive around $5k. It is the hardest paint I’ve been around. You can get oil koolaide whatever on them and it wipes clean. If I can look and find the process I highly reccomend.

[Bassdeer]

He's in the ball park, I have been a painter for 35 years and have done dozens of cabinets jobs just like yours and most run $1200 to $2000. Just make sure they use oil base paint, (don't let them use latex paint)

[SoTXAg06]

Painted the cabinets in our first home. I would gladly have paid someone $1800 after the fact. It was incredibly tedious and time consuming. We also made the mistake of taking the door off of the cabinets. It sucked rehanging them.

[dirtybay]

1800 is not bad at all. Oil based paint and the prepping is worth paying for it. We did our kitchen last year and it looks like a totally different home.

[TacticalCowboy]

Don’t paint em!

[lwelch70]

I grew up in construction and painting and decided to tackle on my own (recruited my dad to come help). From prep to hung it took us 4 days to do mine. The quotes I got ranged from $2,400 - $5,000. Honestly the $1,800 you got quoted is on the cheap in my opinion - if that’s of concern is up to you. I had the low end quotes tell me they would leave the doors installed and use airless (huge red flag).

Remove the doors - prep and prime takes a long time and is very tedious work. That’s why it’s so expensive.

I sprayed mine with HVLP. Sealed the kitchen from the house and made a spray booth outside for the doors.

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[meltingfeather]

We've done ours at our house, lake house, and rental property and have been happy with how they've come out every time.
We enjoy painting and therefore get some practice and are pretty good at it. I know some folks that have done DIY painting projects that look like junk.

[lwelch70]

Should also note that the previous homeowner did what I think was a "gel stain" with some glazing. I did not do any grain filler because of this because I didn't want to risk a reaction that would compromise my paint down the road - these were custom built ins from when the home was originally built and I wasn't looking to have to do this twice before we inevitably end up selling to move into something else.

Happy with my decision but you'll need to consider this as well for what you're wanting the paint to accomplish. Hardwood that you want to look like cabinet grade MDF - you'll need the filler (which is a whole other mess of it's own).

[topshot]

I've painted three sets of cabinets in the past 7 years using spray rigs and rollers... I paid very close attention to detail and meticulously prep the wood through stripping, sanding, priming, and enamel paint. I've never been 100% satisfied with the end result. There was always a spot here or there that I screwed up, no matter how careful I was. It only takes a second of failure to screw up days of prep.

I'm paying to have my next set of cabinets painted by a pro.

[krisw]

I sanded ours and stained them. It was a pain but you can save money if you have time. If I ever do it again, I am pulling them out and taking them to my shop. We had some custom cabinets built in after that. The builder asked if I wanted to stain them or paint them. I let him stain and lacquer them. Like someone said, oil based only.

[czechgrubworm]

I think those cabinets already look so pretty.... just my 2 cents... love wood
color

[Lonestar_HOYT]

lwelch70 you did a great job, they look fantastic.

I agree on the $1800, that sounds to cheap to me. I love to paint but all the prep that is required is a huge pita.

[CaptainDave]

I agree with the majority of comments above. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, experience in painting, or really like that kind of tedious work; this is a text book type of job to hire out to a professional.

$1,800 seems low and if that was from a qualified professional with good references, I'd jump all over that.

If you aren't careful, you could end up with an end product you are not satisfied with after hours of work; or even worse, a kitchen that is out of commission longer than expected, combined with an upset wife that probably wanted you to hire a professional to begin with.

[Bassdeer]

sent you a PM

[Txtourist]

I build and finish new cabinets for a living and I have nightmares about site finishing a kitchen. It’s 95% prep work and honestly, $1800 seems cheap to come in bag off openings, remove and label all fronts and hardware, clean, scuff, prime and paint.
My advise is to spend the money for a good paint. Latex enamels are common for site finishes due to ease of use and clean up. They are okay, but lack durability.
Lacquers are quick and dirty and offer little in the way of longevity whether pre- or post catalyzed. I’d stay away from them, they offgas for months and are very soft.
Conversion varnish is uncommon for site work as it’s finicky. It’s durable, yet brittle and difficult to touch up.
Personally, for your situation, I’d use and Ilva or sayerlack water based 2k urethane and apply it with a diaphragm pump. Best of finish durability and can be touched up easily with a foam roller.
Harbor freight hvlp, in-line hose filters, drain your compressor tank every day and make sure you have a 20 gallon tank.
These paints may run upward of $90-100/ gallon but you’ll use maybe 2 gallons and the ease of sanding, clean up and ease of use, it’ll be worth it.
If you can find a painter to spray a solvent 2k urethane paint in your house, hire him and leave town for a couple days. The hardest, most flexible and best coverage with no off gassing after a few hours. It’s hot smelly stuff that’s no joke, basically automotive paint.
If you’re going full DIY buy a Surfprep sanding kit with some of that money you plan to save. It’ll make the sanding portion a breeze.