DIY Spraying Kitchen Cabinets Like a Pro: Part One

We are on the final leg of this Kitchen renovation series. If you missed the other post you can read them Removing Backsplash and Repairing Drywall HERE and DIY Backsplash Tips and Tricks HERE.

Painting the cabinets was my absolute favorite impact on the space. It took these maple cabinets from dated to bright and airy. My oldest, T, loves it so much he wants his next room to be bright and white just like our kitchen, ha!

I am often asked why did I go through the work of spraying these cabinets vs rolling/brushing them?!?

Great questions!

This isn’t my first rodeo. This is actually my third time painting kitchen cabinets. It took me FOREVER to brush all the nooks and crannies and I still ended up with brush marks. This round I spent far too many hours researching ways to avoid spraying these cabinets…… In the end I concluded this method provides the best and most professional finish. I also think when it came to the doors it was LESS time consuming!

I am also asked often, “would you do it again?”

Heck to the yes! Now that I am on the other side of the project in a heartbeat! Especially on the FORTY FOUR doors and drawers. This was way more efficient and provided better results.

I did get several quotes to hire this project out. The quotes came in around $6K. 😲 For that price point it was worth investing in great products, supplies, and time to do it myself!

Side note before we jump in. I did have my little brother help me update the crown molding prior to starting this project. It was the last of the grapevines….HALLELUJAH.

One of these bad boys had the detail sticker on them, so I did a little research…Someone paid $705 per 8′ section of this crown and these medallions were over $400 each 🤦‍♀️. I estimate they paid over $4,000 for the trim and embellishments in this kitchen. I can’t even wrap my mind around those numbers. For about 30 seconds I felt guilty….. But if you have been following Marie Kondo….These grapevines do NOT spark joy for this little lady 🤷‍♀️😂 so buh-bye 👋

There is so much content related to this process I decided to divide it out into three separate post. This first post is all about supplies and prepping (as tempting as it is DON’T skip prepping). I do have some video footage of the entire process saved to my Instagram highlights under “Spraying Kitchen Cabinets”.

Okay friends grab a beverage of your choosing ☕🍷…. I have included links in this post, they are not affiliated. It is just to make your life easier if you end up tackling this project too. 😁

Supplies

120 Grit Sand Paper

TSP Cleaner

Sponge and bucket

Painters tape

Tape with Drape

Roll of Construction Paper

Plastic drop clothes

Paint Sprayer

Primer (I used Stix from Norbergs)

Paint ( I used Pratt and Lambert Aquanamel from Norbergs)

Sharpie

Mask

Wood Filler

Plastic cups

Investment

Approximately 25 hours total

$700 Paint, Primer, Sprayer, and Supplies

Step One: Prepping (4 Hrs)

I HATE this step in any project. It is a bit tedious and it makes everything look worse. However I have concluded after hours of research, reading horror stories on chalk painted cabinets chipping right away, and consulting with my local paint experts at Norbergs it is NECESSARY when painting kitchen cabinets. Often cabinets have a thick top coat to protect them and may have grease from cooking. Neither of these are conducive with paint adhesion.

So if you are tempted to skip this…Crank your music and suck it up buttercup, your future self will thank you! 😉

I started prepping by removing all of the hardware and placing them in plastic bags right in their cabinet or drawer.

As I removed each door I labeled the door itself using sharpie and painters tape. I used a naming convention that would make sense to me much later. For example Island right right was the right door in the set of doors on the right. Sometimes they were labeled with what I kept in the cabinet like my coffee cupboard. This way each label was very unique. By the end of 44 doors and drawers my handwriting wasn’t fantastic and my brain was mush.

Our doors have European concealed hinges. Meaning you can make several adjustments on them to make your doors plum. Our doors were already plum. So to make re-installing the doors much easier later on I labeled each hinge and place in a a labeled bag right in its assigned cabinet. So for example my coffee cupboard doors have three hinges. I marked the hinges with top, mid, bottom. I also used a sharpie to mark where the screw hit on the hinge when installed.

This made such a huge difference when it was time to put the doors back on. Each door had its coordinating baggie and hardware. I knew exactly where the hinges needed to hit on the screw because of my sharpie marks.

Once doors were removed we began the tedious process of sanding every inch of them with 120 grit sand paper. Making sure to always sand with the grain. I did this all by hand. Sometimes my palm sander leaves behind swirl marks. I didn’t want to do anything to risk the finish. Keep in mind, you don’t need to remove the clear coat finish you just need to scuff it up. This allows the primer to adhere to the surface and prevents chipping.

As I was sanding doors I enlisted T’s help washing the doors in TSP, then rinsing them, and wiping them dry. TSP is a a powder cleaner you mix in water per package instructions. It is specifically made to prep surfaces for paint. It is a de-greaser and makes the surface more likely to take paint. I was instructed by my paint expert to rinse it off as it can leave it’s own residue behind.

At this point I had a few glasses of wine to celebrate this step was DONE!

Up Next in this series we will tackled taping and draping!