What is the Best Paint for Kitchen Cabinets?
While remodeling your kitchen or bathroom can be expensive, cabinet refinishing and repainting is a cost-effective way to give your kitchen a new look. Painting your cabinets will not only change its look without breaking your budget, but it will also allow you to update the space with more trendy colors without having to buy and install new cabinets. A fresh coat of the best paint for kitchen cabinets will not only transform them but can also give your kitchen a cleaner and fresher look. Because of the advances in paint technology (particularly with the chemistry of the paint itself), there are a number of excellent products on the market that will give your kitchen a beautiful new color. They can even give all the wood in your kitchen a smooth, chip-free finish.
What to Consider Before Painting
You want your new cabinet color to go well with your countertops, flooring, and your kitchen’s overall color scheme. As you pick your color, don’t feel pressured to make everything match. A little contrast is good, because it will add to the overall look of the kitchen. You also want to take your climate into consideration. If you live in a warm area and have a lot of natural light coming into your kitchen, dark paint may not be the best choice because it can act like a magnet for the sun’s heat. You also want to keep in mind that very pale and dark shades show wear, tear, and cooking splatters more quickly than the broad range of hues in between. As for the cabinet interiors, you can skip painting them altogether if you line them with contact paper (which is an inexpensive but attractive option that can protect and extend the life of your shelving).
You should think about priming before you start painting because it will hide any discoloration, splotches, and visible knots in the wood. Primers will fall into two main categories: light and dark. In general terms, you should pick one based on your paint color. You can even have your primer tinted to match your finish color, which can help you to achieve a homogenous and rich color after you have applied the paint.
If your cabinet refinishing is being done on light-colored cabinets, you want to use a white primer (which is better suited for these types of paints). If you’re going for a darker color, you want to get a primer that won’t leak through. Most paint manufacturers will state each primer’s paint color suitability on the label, so it should be easy to find what you need. You do, however, want at least two coats to go over the finished cabinets (or one coat if your cabinets are raw wood or matte-painted).
The best primer on the market is Sherwin William’s EXTREME BOND, and the best cabinet paint on the market is Sherwin William’s KEM AQUA (which is a water-based lacquer). It is available in every color and will dry the hardest, which will give your kitchen the durable, chip-free, and smooth finish.
Why You Should Hire a Professional for Cabinet Refinishing and Painting
While you could see painting wood kitchen cabinets as a DIY project, there is a big reason why it isn’t. It takes someone with a great deal of painting skills to apply a finish by hand without leaving roller marks or brush strokes. In fact, there are few professional painters who can accomplish it. And without professional spray equipment, it’s almost impossible to get the “factory finish” look of new cabinets.
Professional cabinet painters also use the best paint for kitchen cabinets, products and tools that aren’t easy for homeowners to master in a weekend. A professional painter will often use professional-grade lacquer that is used by many cabinet manufacturers and will give your cabinets a smooth feel. Sprayed finishes (especially lacquers) can be hard to master. A number of things can cause your paint to sag or go thin, which will affect its ability to cover well or last long. The best cabinet painters will prepare the surfaces by cleaning them with TSP and by sanding them with a fine grit. This will provide the proper base for the primer and finish paint to bond correctly and to last a long time.
Painters who bid less on jobs will typically do less. With less preparation, the job may look nice after it’s finished. But after a while, the paint will start to sag and chip. So, it won’t last as long than if you were to hire a professional painter who will take the time to prepare the surface correctly and use the best paint for kitchen cabinets. That’s why hiring a professional will give you the best results.
If you’re looking for a qualified professional that will give your kitchen cabinets a new look, be sure to get in touch with the Cabinet Painting Guru.
