So, you’re tired of the way your kitchen looks and you’re ready to make a change. You’re ready for some color! Or, you’re ready to go all black! Either way, you’re considering painting your kitchen cabinets. Before you pull out a can of leftover paint from the garage and make a decision you can’t undo, let’s talk about this. Is painting kitchen cabinets a good idea?
The Benefits of Painting Kitchen Cabinets
Right off the bat, there are a lot of benefits to painting your kitchen cabinets. We can’t ignore those in favor of pessimism. For one thing, you can choose literally any color imaginable. For those of us with a penchant for bright colors, that can be exciting – but dangerous. Choosing bright colors for your kitchen cabinets will either be the best decision of your life, or something you regret deeply, halfway through the painting process. Painting kitchen cabinets is a lot of work, so make sure you give your color some good consideration. With due thought, you can do something really amazing.
Furthermore, painting your cabinets gives you more control over the end result and how it fits into your interior design. If you want something distressed looking, and you know how to achieve that, you can end up with something really unique. However, for those of us who are less artistically inclined, it’s important to remember that painting is an art form. Slapping some color on a flat surface, like a wall, can be easy. Painting a more multidimensional surface is a different story. That’s twice as true if you intend to do more than paint a solid color.
What Does It Involve?
If you’re going to paint your kitchen cabinets, it’s important to know what you’re getting into before you start. It’s quite an involved process, but rewarding if done right.
In short, here are the steps to painting your kitchen cabinets successfully:
- Create an area where you can paint without dripping on other surfaces. For doors, making space in the garage is a good idea. It allows airflow while protecting your work from rain. For cabinet frames, you’ll want to put some painter’s tape along the wall on all connected sides. Tape prevents you from getting paint on the wall while painting back edges. Putting down a dropcloth will also help protect your floors and countertops.
- If doing more than a solid color, make a design plan before starting. Making things up as you go along is something that rarely turns out the way people want. For complicated designs, research. Your guesswork might end up really disappointing you.
- Remove all doors and hardware. Yes – that means all of the knobs, handles, hinges, and so on. This prevents getting paint on the hardware, which looks sloppy and can mess with function, if it’s a hinge.
- Begin painting your kitchen cabinetry. Some good rules of thumb include using a roller brush to prevent streaks, always painting in the same direction, and taking your time. Rushed work is never superior. Plus, you’ll need more than one coat if your paint is to last. Give each coat many hours to fully dry before applying another. If the surface is even slightly sticky to the touch, it’s not completely dry and will lead to disaster if painted on.
- When you’ve applied 2-4 coats of paint, let the cabinets sit to dry overnight before returning the hardware and reattaching the doors.
What’s the Alternative?
As you can see, painting kitchen cabinets is quite a lot of work, and harder than it sounds. If you’re crafty, you might just be up to the task. However, even the handiest of homeowners can be rebuffed by the long-term result of painting their cabinets. Paint chips, stains, holds on to dirt and moisture more, and can become sticky over time.
If you’re just not interested in the adventure of painted cabinets, it might just be time to replace them entirely. After all, Discount Kitchens can furnish an entire kitchen for as little as $1500. That isn’t much when compared to the hours in labor required to put a bandaid on what’s really a problem with age and quality. Give us a call if you want more information on how to order high quality, affordable kitchen cabinets in Toronto.