I'm really thinking about refinishing my cabinets!

[4re308]

My wife says the cabinets in the kitchen need to be redone to match the upcoming granite counter tops. Is it a pain to repaint all the cabinets and replace knobs?

[Don]

Hey Ed, welcome to the forum. Define pain. If you have granite countertops then the kitchen is not a throw-away. Tell me a little more about what you have. Replacing hardware is not bad, but painting can be a little involved depending on what you are wanting to do. Tell me more or post a few pictures.

All the best, Don

[Dagster]

I'm a fan of painting older cabinets to revitalize them but I'm not a fan of brush or roller painting them. Depending on your situation it might be worth it to buy a cheaper HVLP spray gun and take the time to spray the cabinets. It really isn't all that difficult if you take the time to mask and remove the doors etc. You mention "repaint". I assume this means there is already paint on them? For best results you may need to sand or strip the previous layer. If the current finish is nice and smooth with no chipping then a good cleaning and primer would be necessary to remove all grease etc. If the paint is nice and smooth except for some slight chipping you can use bondo or other epoxy filler to fill the void and sand smooth.

[Terry Mac]

Well if you paint with a brush you'll be taking off all the hardware anyway, or taping it up, or being real careful not to get paint on the hardware (which will slow you down). Is it a pain? Definitely, especially the upper inside cabinets. That is unless you've got plenty of spirits around to imbibe to numb the pain. ;)

I like Dags idea about spraying, but it also has pros and cons. Cleaning and stripping can be a pain. But it is certainly faster, and a cleaner look IMO.

Good luck with it, granite counter tops are wonderful and enhances the look of the kitchen a lot.

[Jammin]

It all depends on if you want to have painted cabinets. You could reface the boxes and mount new doors if you wanted to go with wood still. How big is your kitchen and how many cabinets are in there

[dustyangel42]

I just redone my cabinets and it wasn't too bad. I had custom made oak cabinets on one side of the kitchen and wanted to add more cabinets that I built. The cabinets that where already done had a stain and high gloss shellac on them. I thought nothing would cover that. The trick is using a good primer. I used kilz which covered great no sanding then a white high gloss cabinet paint. I am very pleased with them and everything matches great. Good luck!

[DIYer]

i'm not an expert, but i might also recommend binz shellac primer. That will cover just about anything.

[Dagster]

I'm a fan of Kilz covertsain primer. Works very well, covers most anything. I'd start with a good degreaser like Simple Green and use 0000 steel wool as your scrubbing pad since you'll be painting anyway. You really want to remove all the grease and oils before painting, even with a coverstain primer.

[woodman43]

I have no idea, I can't bring myself to put paint on real wood. When we sold our 1929 home the new owner spayed all the cabinets wjth white paint. The cabinets were the original cabinets with the original finish. To this day I won't drive by the house because of what they did to those beatiful cabinets. Strange?

[Cocobolove]

I'm not really sure what kind of look you are going for, but I recently repainted my bathroom cabinets. They had about 4 layers of paint on them of varying colors, so I wanted to get all that off. I took a wire brush on a drill, and took them all the way down to the wood, primed them with baer primer, them covered them in baer white gloss trim paint. The result was very nice. The wire brush made the grain really stand out. I wish I had some pics, but unfortunately you'll just have to envision it. As for a pain? Yes, very much. Also makes a huge mess. Good luck.

[mmwood_1]

Is it a pain? Of course it is! But, we tolerate pain for the sake of an end result. I'm mostly with woodman on the aversion to painting wood cabinets. But if they're already painted, what the hell? As for spraying versus brushing, again, it depends on various factors. Sure, spraying will give you a more professional look. But if you're in an old house, (as I was for a decade) the brush strokes can add a certain character to the look of the cabinets. And I really do mean that in a positive sense. Also, if your budget is tight, (as mine was) you may not be able to afford to drop $100-$200 on a hvlp sprayer, plus another $200 on a compressor. And then there's the airborne spray issue if you're not removing the cabinets. Geez, it justs hurts more and more...