Mistakes To Avoid When Painting Your Kitchen Cabinets

There are times when we feel like we need a change. You may be thinking about painting your kitchen cabinets a different color. This would be a great was to renew your kitchen without spending too much money. However, if you are not careful, you could end up making serious mistakes that will cost you in the future. It is easy to make these mistakes when you are not informed. Therefore, this article highlights the most common mistakes you should avoid when painting your kitchen cabinets. 

1. Lack of sufficient prep work
You cannot skip out on this step if you want to have good results at the end. You have to do a number of things to prepare to paint your kitchen cabinets. You will have to ensure that the room you are painting in is well ventilated so as to give room to avoid filling up the room with fumes from the paint. You also have to remove hardware such as knobs, handles and other such materials from the kitchen cabinet before you start painting. Remove your doors and drawers too. Do not leave the doors on and decide to close them when you think the paint has dried. You are not saving time by painting all of these at while they are still in place. If you do this, your cabinets will begin to chip almost immediately. When the paint on the hinge starts to peel or crack, you know it is time to start again. Save yourself this hassle by separating the drawers, doors and any other hardware. 

2. Lack of cleaning
Once you have done all the required preparation for painting your kitchen cabinet, you should clean your kitchen cabinet. You can clean using a liquid detergent or a good cleaning agent. If you use a cleaning agent, be sure to clean it off using a damp cloth. After this you should use a grit sand paper of good quality to get a dull finish on the kitchen cabinets. It doesn’t matter how clean you think your kitchen is; you have to clean the wood before painting. If you don’t, water-based paint will not stick and will soon start peeling off.

3. Failure to completely sand
You shouldn’t slack on the sanding part of this process. Make sure you sand each and every section that you intend to paint. If you don’t, paint will not stick properly even if you use a primer. You will end up with a kitchen cabinet with uneven spots that need to be painted again. Spend a little more time on those areas that are especially hard to reach so as to ensure you don’t have to repeat the process. Even if your cabinets appear to be in perfect condition, you have to sand so that the paint can stick. 

4. Skipping the primer
This is another grave mistake that you should avoid when painting your kitchen cabinets. It may be tempting to skip the primer. You will proceed to paint and enjoy your results for a short while after which you will have to repaint it. You should also make sure that the primer you are using is made specifically for painting. More often than not, people forget to tint their primer. This can be done by adding a little bit of your intended paint color to the primer before using it. For example, white is a pretty hard color to hide. Tinting your primer will allow you to use fewer coats thereby saving you money and time. Also, make sure you find a good quality oil based primer to maximize the results. 

5. Failure to label your hardware, drawers and doors
Whatever you removed in the preparation stage will have to go back where it was after you are done. If you don’t label these items, you can end up mixing them up and having an awkward combination of kitchen cabinets. You can put numbered labels on a piece of masking tape and stick it to the back of each piece. This will make the process of reassembling much simpler. You might think that you will remember which door goes where. However, anything can happen and you can end up mixing up the hardware. This will save you a lot of trouble in the end. 

6. Failure to use the right paint
You should make sure that the paint you buy is of good quality. Poor quality paint could lead to results that you did not anticipate. It could also result in a poor paint job where the brush and roller marks can still be seen. Be careful when selecting the color for your kitchen cabinets. You can test several colors before settling on the one you want. Be sure to hang it up against you’re appliances and backlashes to see how it blend in and make sure that it the one you want. If you pick the wrong color, you may have to redo the whole job. Don’t go for the paint just because it is cheap. Good quality paint will give you a smoother finish and will last longer. Also, make sure that you are using good quality brushes so as to get the best results.

7. You fail to remove dust before painting
You should wipe off any dust before you actually start painting the cabinets. Even a few pieces of dust can spoil the look of your kitchen cabinets. Failure to dust will lead to a gritty finish. The paint will look like you painted it on top of dust. 

8. Rushing to reassemble the cabinets
It may be completely annoying to sit around and wait for paint to dry. However, if you hurry it up and end up smudging the paint, you will have a bigger problem on your hands. You will have to start over, sand the cabinet and paint it again. Fight the urge to put the cabinets back before they are completely dry. Avoiding these mistakes will help you get the most out of your painting job and you will not have to repeat the process in the near future.