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.

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.

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.

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

Old school quality! Takes time, patience and talent.

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

Your quality and attention to detail is absolutely amazing 👏

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

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

always amazed by everything you can do.

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.

beautiful job! thank you!

Fantastic, i love the creative process, looks awesome

That looks beautiful

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.

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.

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

Simply Amazing finish on those cabinet doors.

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?

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.

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

Great video, handyman !

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.

Wow that looks amazing

Good refreshment choice

Nice work handyman!

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

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.

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

Thank you for this excellent video

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.

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

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 too caulk the panel. Nice job!

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.

Looks 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.

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.

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.

Good job, thanks!

Filing the grain is much much easier if you use a spray on high build , or filler primer. It also seals the wood and give a great base for shooting on pretty much any paint. Just used. 400/600 grit then spray on a single stage lacquer

Great tips

Coors will make every job look great,

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.

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.

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.

Love the content

Best handyman on youtube

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

Love the ka-bar! Semper Fi!

Great tuteral thanks , amazing

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

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?

Great job!!!!

I agree with the comments. You do very good work. The patience and care is evident. Not wearing any protective gear or using any decent dust collection when sanding though. Ouch. I feel sorry for your respiratory system. Quality doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your health. Look out for your future self!

Good job mr handyman

Just recognize it as a combat knife. Only because one of my friends, when we were kids, had a GI Joe with Kung Fu grip that held one. I think. My memory may be off. (Practical stuff aside, slightly softened edges just look nicer. 👍 And good mention re using MDF for the center panel. Much more stable & consistent than wood. There's an HDF too, (high density fiberboard) that's even better if you can find it.)

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

Great vid. K-bar?

I don't even bother with primer from the paint store anymore. Just get some awl grip high build primer from your marine store. You wont regret it its one coat and done for grain issues or blemishes. Great video!

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

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?

Well done 👍

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!

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

12:08 That is one beautiful finish.

Good job.

Good job

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!

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?

Tqvm

Use featherfill catalyzed high build primer (stolen from automotive) on grain, then sand....unorthodox but fast and effective.

Very Nice! Great tips on getting that Factory-finish. Your finished job looks awesome. Thanks for the video.

Dang I wish you lived in GA. About to start a kitchen remodel and that includes... you guessed it! Cabinets

God i dont miss doing this every day 😅

Just WOW!!!!

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

A little Banquet never hurt anyone!

Хорошая работа 😎

Rambo knife? Also great video, lots of little tips.

Some guy came in today to paint cabinets, his oil based paint job on the cabinets was amazing, they look like they're made out of granite

...and those who swear by how amazing their cabinets came out with an all-in-one and a roller. I can put on a pretty smooth finish with a brush and BM Advance which levels like no other if you move quick and don't double-back, but nothing holds a candle to a proper spray coat and good technique. If you've ever been trained in automotive finishes and you hear how awesome a roller application was... I have an old car I want to sell them.

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

As a custom cabinet maker, it is the painter's job to caulk the doors and cabinets and fill all the nail holes. It is the cabinet maker's job to repair all damage before install and prep cabinets to 120 grit if paint grade, 150 grit if stained.

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

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

Fast and good product

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

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 👏

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

I'm making some assumptions here. That the lacquer and vinyl products are solvent based and that your "spray booth" is not vented and those lights are not explosion proof. You might be wearing a respirator, but the flash off fumes stay in the air for some time. After spraying I assume you take off the respirator and stay in your shop. Lacquer and lacquer thinner are very hazardous to your health. Just wondering about the message here about a diyer spraying solvent based product without proper ventilation and such. Just my two cents. I'm a retired furnituremaker.

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

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.

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!

Excellent video! Especially the caulk for the “black spaces”! I wish you could have done my custom kitchen! QUESTION: How to spot clean a white satin lacquered finish without scratching or leaving “smudges” on the finish on custom slab cabs AND without using mineral spirits? The smell leaves me with a migraine every time. *Cleaning everyday or every week. I don’t want to screw up using the wrong products or technique and have scratches or ruining the texture on the custom cabinets.😬 The custom cabinet maker told me only mineral spirits can be used to clean the cabinets and the whole door/drawer has to be cleaned while avoiding the handles with the mineral spirits. Avoiding the handles is near impossible. So that leaves the cabinets looking dirty near the handles. I don’t mind removing the handles and using mineral spirits when doing a deep clean a few times a year for a truly “cleaned” kitchen cabinets but on a daily or weekly cleaning, using only mineral spirits, that doesn’t seem to be the “only” answer to spot clean the cabinets. Although I could be wrong..?

Loved the video and the process. As an FYI, you are wearing a 3M acid gas/ OV/ HEPA cartridge, indicated by the yellow label. You are paying extra for the acid gas protection which you don't need for painting with VOCs. You need the black label which is combination HEPA/OV or 3M 60921. Might save you a few bucks per cartridge and they last a bit longer as there is more carbon vs the acid absorbing media.

Those seams are a complaint of this househusband. Wife doesn’t even notice all the crap that gets stuck in those seams.

There is this great oil base primer that you can use that will fill all the grains in oak cabinets and after you hit it with 220grit it will come out so smooth

Yumm Coors! Lo and behold it is not a light beer either.