How To Paint Kitchen Cabinets 

As a painter of 30 years, I can say you covered all the bases. I even picked up a few new tips from watching this. One step that I usually do is to give a quick sand after the prime coat. It makes the finish a little smoother. I hope people now realize why it can cost upwards of 10K to have a full set of kitchen cabinets painted professionally.

You make it seem so easy! But I know it’s a lot of tedious work. I hope I can do this next summer on my cabinets. Thank you for all the information and details. Wish me luck!

You did a fantastic job! This was an outstanding tutorial and your work is amazing. Thank you so much!

Great step by step video. I painted my kitchen cabinets and prep is definitely the key

Very nice video. I have kitchen cabinets VERY similar and was looking where to start with painting them. This video was incredibly informative and straight forward as well as including numerous helpful tips.

I painted my 80s vanity cabinet with one of those all in one paints and while it looks great, if I put painters tape on it, it peels the paint off. Will definitely be doing my next vanity the right way. I used the Emerald paint on a dresser and that stuff is amazing. Rock solid. You are very meticulous and do amazing work.

Thank you so much for this video, I’ve been planning on updating my cabinets and this video took out so much of my worrying! Great video!

I love how you list the links to all the tools you use in the description. Thank you!

Loved this video!! My gf and I are looking at getting into a duplex in the next couple of years and this is definitely one of the first things we will do to the rental unit. White just looks that much better. Unreal transformation

Looks so good! I think Quartz countertops match white cabinets really well!

Looks amazing!! I love your videos. Cannot wait to paint my own cabinets. I'm doing them in an off white color called Swiss Coffee.

I vote for diy concrete countertops! Great work on the cabinets. Huge transformation!

My dad was a finished carpenter and a builder. He loved TSP!

Painting cabinets doors and drawers are one of the most difficult tasks you can do. Brent, your video is a wonderful step-by-step guide for anyone wanted to take on the task. Thank you.

You give the diy guy the confidence and inspiration to try anything. Thank you

Wow, the kitchen looks amazing! Excellent work with your Wagner sprayers to get that super smooth finish!

Thank you for the ideas on using a bedroom closet to hang the doors and a list of all your supplies.

Great tutorial!! More of good tips I have watched so many RU-vid videos, they workup the Nerves to do my own kitchen which needs a really bad

Great project Brent!! you did an amazing job at painting and protecting all surface. I didnt know it would do that much paint everywhere, its good to know. Cool for the sponsor, it wasnt feeling like a huge ads like some channels and I will buy the smaller sprayer next time I get a project like this summer to stain my 6x28 privacy wall on the deck. For the countertop, using the Leggari epoxy would be amazing, but its expensive. Another option could be to do an overlay concrete over the formica. Maybe its not made for countertop but jesmonite is an amazing product, maybe its possivle to use it as overlay.. this stuff take color so well you can get pure white to pure black or vibrant colors, you can mix and do nice patterns,etc..

I just did this and have two suggestions. 1) I rolled and brushed the cabinet boxes. To get very smooth finish I thinned the paint just a little and gave two coats of primer and two coats of paint with light sanding between coats this eliminates the exesive masking and paint dust in the house, then sprayed the doors and drawer faces. 2) instead of hangars, a built a rack to hold all the doors and drawers horizontally. This gave them all a place to live through the cleaning process and minimizes run and sags in the paint when drying. Other than that, everything was exactly the same. Worked great!

The rack tip is very clever. Thanks.

I have the exact kitchen cabinet and counter top. I'm working on the painting slowly one door at a time in my study when I have a moment. It's so cold in the north country and I have kids at home.... Looking forward to seeing the transformation of the counter top. I'm thinking to simply add another layer of laminate-should be doable for me as a diy newbie...

Great video! We recently painted out kitchen as well. Prep work was four times the painting, but the end results turned out great and it saved us a bundle vs. what was quoted! Sherwin-Williams Extreme Bond Primer is unbelievable. We actually painted our backsplash as well (yes, not your normal path) and at first I had some trepidation, but once I applied the first coat of Primer I was good to go! We used Pro Classic paint and it has been very durable so far. Thanks again for a great video!

Awesome job. You did it the right way like the others said I would do a quicksand after the prime coat at the minimal. But all and all you did a great job. For me, I always hate the prep work that goes into kitchen cabinets.

That is a lot of work! Great finished product.

Sooooo much prep work 😮 great job , we'll done! 👍

Hands down best how to video. Thank you!

This is one of the best Cabinet repaint videos that I have seen. I was wondering how the primer has performed for blocking the oak tannins from bleeding through. Thanks

Really appreciate the detail you go into.

Well done! They turned out great!

Those look amazing! Maybe for the countertops you can use epoxy and make it look like marble. Would be a fun project/video.

Excellent job! Truly you master this skill! Thx

Very professional! Good job!

great job. excellent tips/suggestions. I would have painted the kick plate and replaced the countertops first so as not to mess up the great paint job. Leaving the kickplate and other trim the wood color is like adding a 70s stripe to a modern kitchen. Cheap counters: I went to a few granite shops and asked for their scrap. I got some nice granite and silestone for kitchen and bath for $700 installed and I had a lot more counters than you have.

One more thing, I shoot the faces horizontally on a lazy Susan and one side at a time starting with the backs and on the sharp pyramids. This helps get all sides and nooks and crannies.

Great vid. Extremely clear

Did an entire house last year of all old wood trim like this the sanding was the worst but man did it look good afterwards

Very professional ❤awesome job man

This is exactly how I was thinking of painting cabinets down to using a Wagner. But I will use one cabinet to test if I can get away without sanding. I think using a excellent primer can make sanding a negligible difference, I will do some side by side testing. Sanding to me takes to much time especially in tiny spaces and then cleaning the fine dust. Though the testing will conclude. I will be using a sprayer though, I’m thinking of using that tiny Wagner with a kit that connects to the paint gallon, just for the much easier clean up, I don’t mind the extra time to paint since prep work is 99 percent of the job.

Top notch video beginning to end.

Great results Sir. Painting cabinets is not as easy as you make it seem.

Your channel is the best! Keep it up

Great illustration on your technics on painting as a DIY. For your Countertops, maybe u can do a epoxy marble type.

Good video, I’ve been doing this for some time and was able to pick up some tips. One thing I didn’t hear you mention, did you sand the primer? This is pretty important to achieve a smooth finish.

Wonderful

I like to use a wood grain filler to hide the grains. Looks better that way. Great job though! Thanks for sharing.

Lol I watch all your videos love all your work it watching a contractor or somebody that knows how to work but they don’t do it the correct way to take shortcuts .I have watched for a few years now oh yeah when you get the Apoxsee countertops I’ve never seen nobody do it like you they look better than anyone else’s one RU-vid I watched stone coat but It off-the-wall colors that make no sense some of those showers 😱🙀🫣 lol love that deck you remodeled in that barn door 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Amazing video!

I think some butcher block style counter tops would look really good in this space.

lotta work great job!!!!

Awesome 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

I always lumped hardware into one bucket, I was never the one putting them back up... Might start individually bagging the hardware for ease of install after I spray.

Very nice! You are a great teacher,. You nailed all the steps, and the vid is perfect. Beautiful results that will last. When I was painting in the '80s and '90s, the 312 was my go-to for cabinets and interior doors. Nice to see it handling Emerald Urethane so well. Love that paint.

Beautiful job! Your prep work is amazing.. Cannot wait to see the countertops.

great job

I have a Wagner 4566 that my neighbor gave me that was still unopened in the box.... looking forward to doing some pro level work.... I'm also going to get a good hvlp gun

This video convinced me to subscribe!

Hi Brent... This may reach you too late, but it might be worth considering doing 'epoxy-pour' countertops (Stonecoat comes to mind as one) . You can use the existing countertop as your substrate and the epoxy materials are not very expensive. I am a retired, former kitchen & bath remodeling contractor, so I can say with confidence... You put together a great video, your explanations were clear & thorough, you also did a great job on that kitchen project.

No do not use emerald for cabinets absolutely not. Emerald is one of the slowest drying times for water based urethanes out there. Emerald is a soft flexible trim paint. Airless wastes tons of paint doesn’t matter what pressure or tip size you’re using or what technique the best possible transfer efficiency with an airless is 40%. You absolutely must use a solvent based primer for oak cabinets to stop tannin bleed either BIN or a vinyl sealer before the top coat. If you can’t get your hands on solvent based primer use general finishes stain blocker primer or enduro undercoat. Hvlp 5 stage turbine ideally with a pressure pot system is the way to go. Waste less time masking the entire house and save on material as you can get transfer efficiency of 80% to 90%. Do not use emerald. It’s not a KCMA (Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer’s Association) approved. If you want to use Sherwin William products, use either Vinyl sealer from them ideally in tandem with a fog coat of Zinsser BIN (NOT ADVANCED) over the bare surface then heavier coats of vinyl sealer. Airless puts on paint too heavy and you will have to move too fast to get good coverage with one coat. Emerald urethane sags and drips horribly on vertical surfaces you will need to use a .01 orifice or higher for it to not sheer so badly adding a thickener or a hardener to speed the dry time will help prevent sags and drips on verticals. But do not use emerald. Use Kem Aqua Plus, CAB lacquer, Kem Aqua, Gallery Series or Hydroplus if you’re using Sherwin William products. I prefer to fill the grain on oak with Aqua coat first before priming then after the first coat of vinyl sealer go back over the grain with bondo glazing putty and once fully dry, sand. Here’s a tip from years of experience vinyl sealer (lacquer) sands best when wet. Once the bondo and primer have been sanded smooth hit it with one to two more light coats of primer before the top coat. Use less coats on the back of the door save yourself money on materials. Use paper not plastic inside the boxes as the plastic will build up primer and paint then flake off if it has built up too much and it will fall into your paint job, paper will absorb the primer and paint and will not flake.

Very nice

Butcher block counter tops is the only thing that makes sense with that color cabinets or maybe even a black quartz 😍

Thank you 🙏

Great video bother, thanks. Green frog tape has paint block technology LOL

Freaking awesome man. Great job! Do a white concrete counter top!….that way i can know how to do it for my own project i want to do

Incredible video. You do great work. Very meticulous. Wondering if you have ever done an RV cabinet paint job?

Thank you sir for this amazing DIY tutorial. I have a rental that I am upgrading. Can I just use the Wagner Flexio to paint the cabinets? You stated it is slower, but is it to slow to do about the same amount of cabinets you are painting?

Looked easy when you are doing it and wait till I need to do it myself😂

Good job.

This was a great job. Filling and sanding the grain would have took them even further but even still these were great good on you

coat hangers, AWESOME hack

Excellent and thorough.. Question, can you paint the inside if you want?

Great video! How long did it take you to do all of this?

counter tops would look good as butcher blocks or wooden ones in general, or you can do budget with plywood and laminate on top

Kitchen looks great. Did you have to screen out paint and or use reducer to dilute paint for sprayer like for the hand held smaller sprayers.

I like it I paint too nice job bro

Concrete counter tops 😍

It would be really cool to do prefabricated granite for the countertops (150-400). You can find it really cheep at certain depots/yards and it would make a killer video to teach people how to cut (ryobi wet saw 79.00) and polish (grinder 39.00 w diamond disks 25.00). Just a thought because I haven't seen a ton of videos on it.

What are your thoughts on spraying the toe kick? Are they annoyingly difficult to spray well?

If you don't want the grain to show through would you recommend pore filling and sanding?

What makes your videos so good!

nice!

Nice!!!! What material did you fold into the bondo?

Excellent attention to prep and detail. I’m a bit bugged why you left the inside unfinished vs. A.m a nice clean white

Nice work, Pata Pata brought to me memories of a late family member, who loved this talented artist. Thanks man,!

great video, one question the primer and paint you used, works for oil and water based ? thanks

1D exposed grain is a desired effect and some people love it to countertops or a completely different trade from painting + 3 using lacquer inside an occupied home will stink 4 weeks

I've followed your tutorial to the letter including the paint that you used and my cabinets look amazing. However, during the application of the finish paint, it appears that I didn't get enough paint on several cabinet doors. (and I ran out of paint) My question is: Can I get a small airless sprayer and add another coat of finish paint to the sections that appear to need more paint? Is there a time where it's too late to add more paint and keep that amazing finish? Thanks for your help! I look forward to following your work on the epoxy resin countertops, too!

so fun

I love your work. You’re such a professional. I’m about to do my kitchen. Thanks for the great tips like the hooks to hang doors and wrapping the drawers and what kind of primer and paint to use.

Hi, I have exact same cabinets and wanted paint them. However I was rold I have to remove the lacquer using some gooey stripping stuff. Your method seem easier. Will the paint last as long by removing lacquer vs sanding? Thanks

Hi Great video, i have wagner 250m what tip guard are you using ? Dos greco tip fit on Wagner guard ?

Great Job! Did you worry about ventilating the room, what was your though process on that?

I really enjoy seeing your work, it's inspiring! Calms my OCD to see such attention to detail 😂😁👍 Definitely think a epoxy with glitter would give a very unique look.

I have a previously painted kitchen cabinets in light color, do you need to sand it down and prime it? Or i can just clean it real good and then paint and no priming?

"Removing tape with a perfect crisp line is always satisfying in my book" Yes! I stare at my crisp lines as if they were the boy I was crushing on in 6th grade.

Awesome BYOT! Do you have a link and name for the hardware template kit? Job looks fantastic

Great video!!! Please tell me the counter tops were replaced!!! 😮

Great video, good info. You didn't mention anything about thinning the paint. Did you?

Nice job man. I've been painting for years and still got a couple cool pointers.

For the countertops how about a light coloured bamboo? I think granite or concrete would probably be too expensive for such a small space.