Learn how to paint wood cabinets with this detailed step-by-step tutorial!  Painting your cabinets is a great way to save money when updating your kitchen or bath.  You’ll learn how to paint wood cabinets without spraying, and still get a fabulous finish!

 

Painting your wood cabinets can very quickly give your room a more updated look, and it’s a lot less expensive than buying new ones!

Recently, I went to my local Habitat for Humanity store to buy a sample cabinet for this tutorial, since all of our cabinets have already been painted.

I chose this cabinet, which is not oak like the cabinets in our home.  So, the steps are a little different than in my How To Paint Oak Cabinets post.

Before we started our renovation we had 90’s orange oak cabinets that looked very dated.

So, we painted the kitchen cabinets,

the master bathroom cabinets (I forgot to get good before pictures of the bathroom vanities before we took the doors off),

the hall bathroom cabinets (twice – first white and then blue!),

and the basement bathroom cabinets (forgot to take before pictures… but they were the same orange oak as the others).

Along the way, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work when painting wood cabinets.

If you don’t have a paint sprayer, this method I’m sharing here (using a microfiber roller and paint brush) will give you really good results.

 

HOW TO PAINT WOOD CABINETS

INSTRUCTIONS

I’ve created a step-by-step video to show how to paint cabinets, and I’ve also included written instructions under the video:

The Prep – There are a lot of preparation steps before you can start priming and painting.  Don’t get discouraged!  Doing them will help you have a great painted finish on your cabinets.

1. Empty cabinets and drawers, and number each cabinet.  Put the same number on the corresponding door or drawer
2. Remove the doors and drawer fronts.  Put the tape with door number in the hinge hole after taking off hinges, so that it doesn’t get painted.
3. Remove the knobs or handles.
4. Tape off the inside of the cabinets and any wall areas next to cabinets with painters’ tape.
5. Use dropcloths to protect floors and counter tops.
6. Scrape any pads off the backs of drawers and doors.
7. Clean the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers with Simple Green general cleaner.  Following the directions on the bottle.  I like to rinse with clean water, and dry with a dry cloth.
8. Sand the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers with 100 grit sanding block or sandpaper to get the shiny finish off.  If you have laminate on the sides of the cabinet boxes, sand carefully so that you don’t go clear through the laminate finish to the particle board underneath.  I recommend wearing a dust mask or respirator.
9. Wipe the sanding dust off with a tack cloth.

The Priming – If you DON’T have oak cabinets, you can skip this step.  Priming your cabinets with a good stain blocking oil-primer will help to keep any staining from the wood cabinets from showing through to the painted finish.  If you have laminate sides on the ends of your boxes and you’re using the Pittsburgh Paints Breakthrough paint, then you can skip this priming step on the laminate surfaces.

1. Lay the doors and drawers flat.  Use painters’ tripods or something else like paint cans to lift the doors and drawers off of the painting surface.
2. Paint the cabinet boxes, drawers and doors with the oil-based primer using a nylon/polyester brush.  I like to do the backs of the doors and drawers first.  Let them dry, and then turn them over and prime the fronts.  Be sure to paint in the direction of the grain of the wood.
3. After the primer is dry (usually around an hour, but read the directions on your primer), lightly sand all of the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers with a 220 grit sandpaper.

The Painting – Finally, we’re ready to paint!  Again, I highly recommend using Pittsburgh Paints Breakthrough paint.  They aren’t paying me a penny to say this, I really love this paint!  It’s held up for us extremely well – very durable.

Again, I like to paint the backs of the doors and drawers first, let them dry, and then turn them over and paint the fronts.

1. Lay the doors and drawers flat.  Use painters’ tripods or something else like paint cans to lift the doors and drawers off of the painting surface.
2. Paint the cabinet boxes, drawers and doors with the PPG Breakthrough paint using a nylon/polyester brush.
3. Put some of the paint in a small roller tray.  Using the Wooster Shortcut paint brush, paint any areas of the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers that will be hard to paint with the roller.  I like to do the backs of the doors and drawers first.  Let them dry, and then turn them over and prime the fronts.  Be sure to paint in the direction of the grain of the wood.
4. Using the roller, paint all of the rest of the surfaces.  To prep the Whizz roller, use a piece of tape to get the extra lint off.  Also, get the roller slightly damp.
5. Let the paint dry for 2 hours.
6. Apply a second coat of paint to all of the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers.  Following steps 1 – 3.
7. Apply a third coat of paint to all of the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers.  Following steps 1 – 3.
8. Let the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers dry for at least 24 hours, and then re-hang the doors and drawer fronts.  To protect the cabinets, apply felt pads to the backs of the doors and drawers.
9. Put the knobs or handles back on the doors and drawers.

UPDATE:  I’ve created a video showing how to apply an extra protective coating (polycrylic) to your cabinets.  You can find it here:

Congratulations – you’re done!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this how to paint wood cabinets tutorial!

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