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September 15, 2017 · 18 Comments

How to Paint Cabinets

DIY Projects

One of the questions I get more often than any other question is, “how do you paint cabinets?!” I get it. It’s an intimidating project – before I painted our kitchen cabinets, I felt like it was probably a project that was much too big for me to take on myself. But guess what? It’s not! I’ve been promising this post to a lot of people for a long time, so today we’re going to talk about how to paint cabinets – the easy way – for a professionally-finished look!

Are you excited? I’m excited.

First up, let’s talk about what cabinets I’m painting. I’ve already painted the cabinets in our kitchen, our master bathroom, and Jackson’s bathroom. That leaves only one set of cabinets left unpainted in our house – the powder room! And since we’re currently on a mission to give this room a makeover for just $100, this is the perfect way to get a new look for the room without spending a lot of money (well, really, I didn’t spend any!).

Let me give you a refresher on this room – here’s a quick comparison of what it looked like last week when I first showed it to you, along with how it’s looking now:

Quick before and after of painted cabinets in a bathroom Step by step method for painting cabinets with a professional finish

Big changes, right?! I mentioned that we were cheating slightly and making a few updates outside of the budget – when I did the flooring in the kitchen, I also brought it into here. New flooring obviously means new baseboards, and since we were taking the toilet up anyways for the flooring (and it was a weird, tiny toilet to begin with) we decided to replace that too. So, new floors, baseboards, and toilet were considered moving expenses that were outside the scope of this little makeover so they don’t count towards our $100.

I know, I’m a cheater. I can accept that. You can too. We’ll all live.

So, you might notice the ceiling – I did have enough cedar planking (left over from our master bathroom ceiling) to get it done! I still need to trim out the edges with some extra cedar boards, but I’m loving the look and it makes the low ceiling feel slightly less weird.

But, of course, the star of the show (and what we’re focusing on today) is the painted cabinets.

How to paint cabinets in your kitchen or bathroom

Pretty, huh?

I can’t tell you what color paint I used because it’s a custom blend. That’s just a fancy way of saying I took a bunch of the paint samples I had from choosing a color in our bedroom and from painting our bathroom, poured them all together, and stirred it up. Use what you’ve got, right?! I was shooting for something light a bright that would help the room feel a little less like a tiny dungeon, and I think I nailed it.

Using paint samples to create a new color

So, let’s chat about how it’s done, shall we?

A quick tutorial for how to paint cabinets in your home - it's easy to use a sprayer to achieve a professional finish!

This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy. 

How to Paint Cabinets like a Pro

You’ll need:

Paint (duh!)
A screwdriver
A paint sprayer (I use and love this one, but this one is a great – cheaper – option for beginners)
A power sander (this is the one I used – it’s lightweight and perfect for this job!)
A paintbrush (I’ve said it a million times – this is the ONLY one I’ll use)
A paint roller
Polycrylic

** Please note, this project is very easy but it is NOT a one day project. If you rush this, you will not end up with a professional finish. I recommend that you plan on taking a minimum of 4 days before your cabinets are complete, longer if you’ve got a lot to paint! Patience is key, my friends.

How to paint cabinets – Day 1

Start off by removing all of the doors, hardware, hinges, etc. All it takes is a screwdriver, and it’s a breeze. Some people argue that you can leave the doors on when you paint, but I call that lazy – it’s not that difficult to take the doors off and you’ll get a much more professional look if you take 5 minutes to take ’em off. Just stop complaining and do it. You could already be done!

Tips and tricks for how to paint cabinets with a professional finish

Now, it’s time to sand. Again, this is a step many people say that you can skip, but I’d caution you to carefully consider the current finish of your cabinets before you make that decision. If you have raw or stained cabinets without a thick finish, you may be able to skip the sanding step. For us, all of the cabinets in our house have a very thick and shiny top coat – sanding is a must. It doesn’t take that long, just make sure you remove any existing finish and get the cabinets (both the doors and the base) to be smooth and even.

How to paint cabinets in your home to achieve a professional finish

Now for the fun part – time to start painting. I like to do a hybrid of painting by hand and using my sprayer. I’m much too lazy to tape off the entire room so that I can spray the bases, so I typically paint those by hand – but the doors are much easier to paint by sprayer. I start off with the doors, because they take much longer. Lay them out in the space where you plan to paint them, and start with the back of the door. That way, when you flip them over to paint the front, if there are any issues (such as the paint not being fully dry, paint peeling, etc.), it’s on the back and not the front. Use your sprayer to slowly and evenly paint a thin coat of paint on the back of the doors, and allow to dry thoroughly before adding a second coat.

A quick tutorial for how to paint cabinets

I find that it usually just takes me two coats to get good coverage. I like to let it dry for at least 2-4 hours in-between coats and at least 12 hours before I flip the doors over. I painted the first coat on the back of the doors, then I headed back inside to paint the base.

For this project, it was really easy to paint the base (it’s so tiny!). I actually didn’t even bust out my roller because I didn’t want to waste a roller cover on this. I just used a paintbrush to quickly paint the entire base. If it’s any bigger than this (or if it has an exposed side and isn’t wall-to-wall), you’ll want to use a paint roller to avoid brush strokes.

Details on how to paint cabinets

Come back a couple of hours later, add another coat to your base and another coat to the back of the cabinets. Then? Walk away for the day! This is a key to getting a professionally finished look – patience! Even if your cabinet doors feel dry to the touch, they aren’t fully cured. So if you mess with them or flip them over now, you may end up with dings or scratches, or big chunks of paint may even stick to your dropcloth and peel off! Don’t risk it!

How to paint cabinets – Day 2

After you’ve waited a good 12 hours or so, you can come back for round two. Personally, I like to wait closer to 24 hours, but do what works for you. Your cabinet base is probably done with paint at this point (if it needs a third coat, you can go ahead and do it on day one), so you’re going to start by focusing on the doors. Flip them over (continue to be careful with them – it takes a good 48 hours for paint to fully cure) and use your sprayer to do two coats (several hours apart) on the other side.

On day two, you’ll also want to go ahead and add the top coat of polycrylic to your base. This gives it extra time to cure fully, because the base is more likely to get dinged from the cabinet doors. You can use your regular paintbrush, but I like to use a foam brush to help eliminate any brush strokes. Two coats is usually enough, but if it’s in a high-use area (like your kitchen), I’d recommend being extra safe and doing three coats.

Once the paint on your cabinet doors is dry (2-3 hours after you paint your final coat), you can go ahead and add the top coats of polycrylic on the top if you’d like. If you want to be extra safe, wait until tomorrow and start with the back. However, I generally go ahead and add the top coat to the front side of the doors on day two because my patience has its limits and I can only wait so long with torn-apart cabinets.

How to paint cabinets – Day 3

If you did one or both coats of the polycrylic on the front of your doors yesterday, you’re ready to flip them over and do the back. If you didn’t do the top coat yesterday, I’d still flip them over and start with the back (again, just in case there are mistakes or issues). Just like with the base, I recommend two top coats, and you should follow the directions on your polycrylic for dry time (usually it’s between 2 and 4 hours).

How to paint cabinets – Day 4

How to paint cabinets in your home with a sprayer to achieve a professional finish

You’re ready to put it together!

Note: If you started the top coat on the doors on day 3, then you’ll need to do the other side of the doors today, and put it all back together on day 5. It’s fine either way, it just depends on how much time you have to work on it each day and how antsy you are to get everything put back together!

You can obviously replace the hardware at this point if you like – if you’re doing that, I recommend getting all new hardware including the hinges. Hinges are a small detail that make a big difference in a finished room, and we’ve noticed that we have regretted skipping that step in the past.

Phew. Are you as tired as I am?

I’m telling you, this is a project that is very easy and makes a huge impact on a room, but you have to have patience in spades because it takes a long time, y’all. Again – some people will tell you that you can rush it and do it in a day or two. They aren’t wrong – you can! However, your finish won’t be as durable, and it likely won’t have quite as professional of a look to it. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’ve just learned over the years that it’s worth it to me to take a little extra time with this project to make sure that it looks exactly how I want it!

Finally, the last thing I’ll touch on is paint. There are some people that have very particular opinions about which paint to use when you paint a cabinet. You can find entire blog posts discussing the merits of one brand over the other when it comes to cabinet painting. I tend to ignore most of those and stick to what works for me. I use Behr Marquee paint on just about everything, and it’s what we have used to paint the cabinets in all of our bathrooms (I believe we used Valspar on the kitchen cabinets). I do think that the Behr has held up better, but I don’t think you should spend a ton of time or effort researching which is the best paint for your cabinets. Just be sure you aren’t buying the cheapest paint available (which is just generally good life advice – splurge on the good stuff, it’s worth it!) and you’ll be just fine.

I hope this was helpful, and I’d be happy to answer any other questions you have on how to paint cabinets! I know this can be a really intimidating project, but I promise it doesn’t have to be. This is one that you can just dive into and give it a shot. After all, what could go wrong? It’s just paint!

Don’t forget to check out all of the other talented bloggers participating in the $100 Room Challenge – there are some exciting makeovers happening!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gabby says

    January 6, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    My kitchen cabinets are in my 2018 makeover plans. I know patience is the biggest thing ,.. and my weakest area! Ha! Thank you for the awesome tips. Can’t wait to see how this turns out.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      January 8, 2018 at 11:33 am

      Thanks, Gabby! You’re going to love getting it done!

      Reply
  2. Giselle says

    September 25, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    I could not have read this at a better time! We are getting ready to paint our kitchen cabinets and have been debating on using a kit or just buying the paint and polycrylic ourselves. My kitchen has 20 doors and reading your blog has convinced me to buy a sprayer! Thanks for so many great tips!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      September 27, 2017 at 6:13 am

      Yay! I promise you’ll love it – it’ll change your painting life!

      Reply
  3. Gabby says

    September 22, 2017 at 1:16 pm

    I want to paint my kitchen which I know will be a huge project. I know patience is the key! Thank you for your great tips and reminding me of what my biggest skill needs to be for this project. Patience! 😉 Can’t wait to see your reveal! Looks great so far.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      September 25, 2017 at 8:05 pm

      You can do it!

      Reply
  4. Carrie says

    September 20, 2017 at 12:00 pm

    Ooh,it’s looking good. And I’m so glad you had enough cedar to do the ceiling!

    Reply
  5. Melissa says

    September 19, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    This is such a helpful post! I’ve also learned that patience is the most important step in painting cabinets. You did a great job and I can’t wait to see the rest of your room.

    Reply
  6. Emy says

    September 19, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    I always love the power of paint! That cabinet looks great!

    Reply
  7. Erin- Lemons, Lavender, & Laundry says

    September 19, 2017 at 6:48 am

    It must be the week to paint cabinets in this challenge. I love how these turned out. It lightens the space so much. I painted my bathroom vanity in March (first time ever) and I was intimidated, but love the result. So much easier than you’d think 🙂

    Reply
  8. Natalie @nelidesign says

    September 19, 2017 at 6:48 am

    Great job! Such a difference!

    Reply
  9. Sheena says

    September 18, 2017 at 9:37 pm

    Looks great!! I am not sure I am quiet patient enough for painting my cabinets. I am having a hard time being patient with just having my washer and dryer out of my laundry room for the weekend.

    Reply
  10. Meredith Wouters says

    September 18, 2017 at 9:09 pm

    It’s amazing what a little paint can do! This is a great tutorial. Your powder room is really coming together!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      September 20, 2017 at 12:38 pm

      Thanks, Meredith!

      Reply
  11. Kristi says

    September 17, 2017 at 8:16 am

    Great tips – thank you! I’m painting my powder room cabinets, too! I can’t wait to see how your powder room turns out – the progress is awesome!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      September 20, 2017 at 12:38 pm

      Thanks, Kristi! I’m anxious to get it done!

      Reply
  12. Wendy says

    September 15, 2017 at 12:33 pm

    What a great tutorial! I actually haven’t used polycrylic before, always used polyurethane. So I totally learned something new! Thanks and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      September 20, 2017 at 12:41 pm

      Thanks, Wendy! I love my polycrylic!

      Reply

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Overwhelmed by DIY? Let's do it together! I'm Amanda, and I live in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with my husband and two sons. I've taught myself how to make simple updates to help make my house a home, and I want to show you how to do it, too. Click here to learn more about us.

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