Tips for painting the kitchen cupboards
If your kitchen has wooden cabinet doors, and you tend to peruse Pinterest on a daily basis, you’re probably itching to paint over your cupboard doors just like the rest of the world. Is it just us or does every kitchen image on Pinterest seem to have deliciously painted kitchen cupboards in it?!
It’s no surprise that it’s all the rage, as it can really transform a room and it’s a great way to revitalise a kitchen without having to spend fortunes on putting in a brand new one.
However – before you get the ladder and the paint brush out, be sure to follow our kitchen cupboard painting tips. They will ensure that you don’t destroy your lovely kitchen in one fell swoop of a paint brush!
First things first – clean the wood doors
You might think of yourself as a pretty clean person, but even Monica from Friends would need to clean this rigorously before a painting project! Be sure to thoroughly clean the kitchen cupboards with warm soapy water and then dry them off. Then give everything a wipe down thoroughly before you begin.
Allow enough time
This isn’t something you start on a Saturday lunchtime with the idea of having it done by Sunday evening. This is a proper paint job that could take up to seven days – the preparation alone will take a decent amount of time and you don’t want to be too rushed. An activity for half term perhaps?
Remove all doors and drawers
This is a really important step. Be sure to take off all the drawers, knobs and hinges before you begin painting. Don’t be tempted to save time and simply paint over those hinges. Painting over them will cause chipping and display signs of wear and tear within just a few short weeks. Once the chipping sets in, you’ll have to sand all the paint off and start again. Nightmare.
Sand away
Sanding the doors and drawers down is a must if you want any of your paint to actually stick! The idea is to take the wooden surface from a glossy feel and look to a matte one, rather than actually stripping the doors back to a raw wood.
Remove all traces of dust
Get that hoover out and make sure your surfaces are all totally dust free – you don’t want to have bobbles of grit and dust under your paint, it’ll ruin the whole look of the door if even a few pieces of dust escape.
Last but by no means least – PRIME
Knots in the wood will start to bleed through your painted cabinets if you don’t prime them before you paint, so don’t forget this step.
Happy Painting!