Get A Factory Finish On Your Painted Cabinets |Step By Step | THE HANDYMAN | 

Hello The Handyman. I am 19 years old and I am working as an electrician's apprentice with a solo self-employed master of 25 years. Since 16, I've been getting landscaping, painting and other odd jobs like a couple ceiling fans, some drywall repair. I thought you would like to know that I've been watching all your vids and learning everything I can because I want to have a successful home service business. I see you as someone I want to be like in the future. RU-vid Rocks!!

I used to chuckle when I heard you say "You are watching the #1 home improvement Chanel in the entire world" in the intro...after watching you for many years...I now nod my head in agreement...Thank you for all you do! you are making the world a better place by sharing your hard earned knowledge.

God i dont miss doing this every day 😅

Your quality and attention to detail is absolutely amazing 👏

With each Cabinet I finish, a new experience I have. Years after years of experience with Cabinet Refinish, the conclusion is always perfect. Congratulations, a wonderful job. Boston, MA.

Old school quality! Takes time, patience and talent.

When I saw the Coors can I knew it was legit!

1:31 - Coors Light, the banquet of beers and cabinet refinishing. 🔥

Nice tips. I use a super light chamfer bit in my palm router to ease the edges of my doors before sanding, perhaps 1/32 to 1/16" at most and hand sand them ever so lightly... helps keep the edges nice and crisp looking, but not so sharp they don't hold paint well like you said. Proper sanding and priming are really the key steps to any paint job. That cordless Dewalt sander is my favorite.

That is so beautiful. You do good work. Thank you.

Glad you explained about the composite material (MDF) for the panels. If you use panels made of solid wood the calk will crack.

Looks great. Keep up the hard work and thanks for sharing this with us take care

always amazed by everything you can do.

That looks beautiful

beautiful job! thank you!

That is by far one of the best videos Tells you everything you need to know not a bunch of filler and really easy to understand great job

I really liked your video. I wish you would have given more detail on the products you used. For example, “they make a special filler.” What is the type or brand? Also what type of caulk did you use? Another example, “ this is pre-catylized lacquer.” What does that mean and what is the benefit? Thanks and keep up the good work.

Fantastic, i love the creative process, looks awesome

A couple things to know about spraying lacquer for those who are new, learn from my mistakes. This video is great! I followed this to the tee and purchased equipment including a compressor, spray guns, etc. to produce the desired factory finish. My only critique is that I would have loved a little more information about the spraying setup, compressor used, product preparation, etc. I'm a meticulous person and did lots of prep and research before beginning this project. After all my prep and getting everything smooth as glass with sanding I made the mistake of assuming the lacquer would just flow out when I sprayed, it did not! I had horrible orange peel and all of my sanding work was for nothing I had to sand everything again. Rookie move, make sure you do plenty of testing before you spray anything on you're prepped cabinets. My lacquer was drying so fast it wasn't flowing out seemed like it was coming out of the gun already dry. With the lenmar tinted lacquer from this video I found I needed to thin and retard the product in order to get he desired finish but there is no mention of that prep step in this video. I thinned mine and retarded it in order to get it to layout without drying too fast around 30% dilution total, it took me some time to get to this solution but it certainly did fix my issues. I had to learn the hard way I hope this comment save some of you from making the same mistakes. Questions for video maker: 1) What dilution did you use when spraying the lacquer? 2) Do you prefer thinner or retardant for thinning or a combination? 3) What tip diameters did you spray with, different for sanding sealer vs top coat?

Great video, handyman !

Simply Amazing finish on those cabinet doors.

Wow that looks amazing

Great video. I learned a lot. What kind of grain filler do you use?

Thank you for this excellent video

Good refreshment choice

Nice work handyman!

Badass!!! Great job explaining and to the point!

I used to subscribe to Bespoke Post when I was into subscription boxes after graduating from magazine subscriptions. I would get Bespoke Post, loot crate, hello fresh, ect. Graduated now to subscribing to streaming services after cutting the cord. I could have used that caulk tip when I painted my cabinets last year. Will definitely do that next time.

I use a rotating stand when painting. You would not have to duck under, and potentially knock dust off your lights. (I made mine by taking the seat off an old office chair and replacing it with a platform.) I also use Duralaq and Ultralaq and have had very good success with them. The only difference is I use the white vinyl sealer. It's a great help for me in detecting imperfections before the finish coats.

Just ran upon your video. Excellent content. I'm curious about your wood filler. It looks like a thinner consistency to what I've used for other projects. What brand do you use?

Handyman, have you ever done touch ups with lacquer that's glazed? I know you don't specialize in cabinet finishing, but over the years, wondering if you've dealt with that. We have lacquer finished cabinets (or issue is on the top cabinet surface of a built-in) with a "chocolate" glaze. The aged accents were big when we built our house several years ago. Anyway some if those sticky Christmas decorations that kids can stick on glass and mirrors were places on the too of the cabinet after the holiday season. I put them on wax paper to protect the cabinet and keep them sticky to reuse, well some of the dye, or whatever, bled through the wax paper and into the lacquer finish. It's not on the surface. It looks like it's sunk into the finish.

Right! NS Builders. Super high end builder, pre-paints the edge of the panel so he doesn't get that line. Good tip. Caulk works.

Looks great

Awesome tips, and just in the nick of time for me. Have a client who wants me to sand and repaint her kitchen in a custom color in a few weeks, and it'll be my first time. She probably won't like the price, but I think she's going to love the finished product now.

Best handyman on youtube

Awesome, thank you sir for this video. Am grateful to see this. God bless.

great video. I will be painting some oak faced unfinished kitchen cabinets. what sealer do you recommend to fill in the grain to make it smooth?

Day/Video 27 of asking Handyman to say Howdy in the intro. Caulk tip was on point.

I too caulk the panel. Nice job!

Good job, thanks!

Curious if you thinned the products used in your sprayer. I know you have to thin products for some sprayers. Does that make a difference in the outcome of this project?

The Handyman knows how to use caulk to keep the housewives happy. I am having a terrible time finding a place locally to buy lacquer. I used acrylic enamel on my last project, and the finish it nice, but MAN does it dry slow.

Beautiful door. I see you use mdf for door panel. What wood do you use for door frame/styles? Can you please do a video making cabinet doors?

Hey Handyman loving your channel and patreon. Wanted to know what kind of wood filler is that 🤔 I have a bug baseboard/door frame/door repair job and that would help out big time

Great tips

Coors will make every job look great,

I was searching for James Taylor, but I came across this video and couldn't stop watching. My boyfriend has a cabinet shop. He loves to make them, but he hates painting them. I think he'll enjoy this video. Your knife looks a lot like one of those Rambo knives that my brother wanted when we were younger.

Bro, I love your lights just hanging like that and your makeshift painting booth. Seriously. You could make a panting booth in such a tight area like yours. You don't need a whole lot of space.

I tried your recommendation on sealing the panel. It mostly worked. I used DAP bathroom caulk. I make my own doors so in the future I am going to put beads into the panel gap AND seal. As for the LINMAR, I had very good luck using this with a turbine sprayer without thinning. Grateful for that.

Have you ever used bondo as a filler? If so, what do you think about it?

Love the content

Man, 340k subs! I think I started watching around 20k. Keep up the good work.

Grain filling stuff the same as for hw flooring (made by rustolium i think “pro finish”). If so, easy to work with.

Hi Handyman, What brand/type of caulking and wood filler are you using in this video? I’m about to start a cabinet project and need all the help I can get. Thank you for taking the time!

What kind of compressor do you usually use for this application? Can I use any size of compressor? What about the spray gun? Can you suggest a good one that I can buy without hurting the pocket? I'm a new DIYer when it comes to painting, and would really appreciate any advice. Thanks and more power to your channel!

Looks amazing! You have upped your game. I bought the HomeRight paint sprayer on a Black Friday deal. Going to paint my builder grade oak cabinet doors when the weather is a little warmer. Thanks to you and the helpful information you put out there!

I like these better where you really give extra details and information about the process.

I love your video, great job! I watched it multiple times and can’t find the info on what wood grain filler you used. Can you please share? Also is this lacquer able to be tinted to a color or sold in other colors? Thank you!

What spray tip did you use on the hvlp? Great video

Great job!!!!

What size needle do you use on spray gun. Can I get the same results with an hvlp turbine sprayer? I'm learning and trying to get that factory finish . Excellent job by the way 👏

Hi Handyman, thanks for sharing, learned alot, where did you get your full face respirator?

great job on the video. what tip do u use on the hvlp?

Awesome video...What's product the used for filling the grain?

Great tuteral thanks , amazing

this was great. did you use moisture resistant MDF? If so, where can I get MR MDF in the USA?

enjoyed the video, very helpful what compressor are you using if i can ask?

Great video as always. Question: we have upcoming project to repaint a kitchen cabinets and doors. Once the surface is sanded down do we need to put a primer first or it’s ok to paint without primer?

I find the voice over style refreshing. The video where you convert carpeted stairs to wood (five years ago?) got me hooked. Not a lot of talking. Just showing. Keep it up.

This is good to know. Now all I need is a paint sprayer

At what psi do you spray your colored (white) paint on these cabinet doors? You mentioned something earlier about the clear sealer, but not the color. Is it the same psi?

Hello, what spray tip size did you use please for the vinyl? Thx!

What paint cup brand and what compressor plzzz. I want a factory finish too. I've been doing with trim paint all these years. Also can you use the vinyl sealer on previously painted surfaces?

Nice work. I've painted a LOT of cabinets and have never used a vinyl sealer before... only lacquer under-coaters. And if we're "closing the grain", we just spray more coats of primer and/or paint--until the grain is closed. That's the beauty of lacquers... you can re-coat almost immediately. Personally, I prefer an open grain look. Why use "real" wood (vs mdf) if you want the finish to look like plastic? When the grain is open, painted cabinets look like wood--not mdf. And I can usually explain that to a client well enough that they get it... but I of course give them the option to have open or closed grain--usually by showing them a sample of each. And, of course, we charge more to close the grain--since that takes more time and materials. I'd say it's about 50/50 in terms of client preference.

Great video man and nice wood filler. What brand is it?

Was the sealer in place of primer? I was planning on priming mine with a couple of coats sanding between each coat because I’m restoring 60 year old cabinets. Will that work?

Good job mr handyman

THANK YOU. I’ve been remodeling our house, and the kitchen and bathroom cabinets have been stressing me out the most. I’ll be following your guide to a T!

What kind of HVLP sprayer do you use? Does it hook straight up to your air compressor?

Just out of curiosity, why don’t you sand between coats of the Pre-Cat lacquer? I refinish furniture full time and have been considering adding cabinet painting/refinishing to my service list. But I have ALWAYS sanded between coats with 320. Would love your input

Good job.

The Handyman What wood filler did you use?

Good job

A little Banquet never hurt anyone!

Thanks for the great video. Wish I would have found it sooner. I had a question on your vinyl sealer. Its that necessary or can you use a quality spray primer like M.L cambells clawlock? I used that this weekend and seemed to work pretty good but its $$$. I can use Vinyl sealer just leaning on what to do or not to do. Also, is there a particular pre-cat paint you like to go with? I already built my kitchen cabinets but havent painted them yet and was leaning towards cambells Turino. Its a post cat laquer and you may ask why Cambell? Its what i've always used for clear finishes so was sticking with the same products but Im open to suggestions. I appreciate your feedback and time and will support your channel anyway I can. Thanks again

Great vid. K-bar?

Awesome video .....Quick question can you add color To Pre catalyze lacquer....??? I wanna do this to some large shoe box cabinets I'm working on in different colors mainly Black and Red .... and also orange ....

Love the ka-bar! Semper Fi!

That knife you wanted ID on looked like a K-bar. Great video, good scoop. Glad I found you and have subscribed.

What's the wood putty/filler you're using? Also, where are you getting the vinyl paint and sealer? Looked on your amazon page and didn't see those. Also looked at my big box stores plus Benjamin Moore for the Lenmar.

You can get MDF profile doors these days. They don't move like frame and panel timber doors do, they are cheaper and they paint up a treat, with minimal prep work.

I'm sorry if someone else asked this question already. What paint gun tip did you use? I would like to know the size the tip(s)? Is the tip size different for the sealer versus the paint? I'm assuming yes. And I'm assuming you are using two different guns: sealer and painting. Lastly, do you use an adjustable valved gauge with filter on your paint gun? If so, what can you tell me about it so that I can replicate your setup. Thank you ahead of time and great vid.

Just a few pointers as I have sprayed Lenmar for Over 20 years. Switch to the Lenmar Megavar Conversion Varnish. It is worth it by far. You will love the difference you see immediately. Also if those lights are not explosion proof I would be extremely careful. As with any solvent based finish any small spark including static can be deadly. Great channel keep up the good work.

my new cabinets were paint with white pre-catalyzed paint but I see some lines that need to be filled, my question is, after filling it does it have to be paint again or the filing only will be enough? thanks

Well done 👍

The first bit of sending you did ? would you need to sand those outer pieces if they're new / unfinished? Obviously I want a round off the edges (the outside and the center of my cabinet doors are all unfinished oak. Do I need to send the cabinet door before adding in the wood green filler?

care to share the product you mentioned that fills all ridges in oak doors?

Fast and good product

Lol, love the full face mask on the beard. Fauxchi would be proud.

Thx for video. The blue cloth, what is it called and where may i purchase it