Update - How do I do this?

bowman

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Neal
Staff member
Corporate Member
My daughter and SIL have requested that I repaint their kitchen cabinets while they repaint the rest of their house. This also includes the island and built-in display cabinet that are stained and clear-coated.

I have an Earlex 5500, but so far my only spraying has been to paint some pine boards for shelving. They are wanting these to be a bright white, not sure what sheen is wanted yet. My thought is a satin.

Recommendations on preparing these pieces? preferred primer? Brush or spray?

Thanks in advance!

Neal




 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I have never done this but I have sprayed lots of Resisthane including the white tinted. They sell a white primer for it I also use. I spray with a mini-mite but I think your Earlex will do it. It is water borne. Even though the mini mite is HVLP over spray goes everywhere and sticks well. If you spray inside you will need to mask everything.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
I might rather paint the rest of the house.... If it were me I'd take doors and spray elsewhere, brush/roll etc the face frames etc.
I'm a Target coatings user (all waterborne), and have no experience with spraying anything else - but I have had very few issues with their products. The few issues I have had were all user related - not product issues. They have a white lacquer. I do not have experience brushing or rolling this product... but I believe they state it can be brushed/rolled. Check their site if interested.
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
Regardless of the finish you choose I'd suggest a really good surface cleaning to get rid of any grease or oils that seem to get on everything in a kitchen over time as a first step. Just Dawn and water will do a great job of degreasing everything.
 

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
I've painted over a few plastic-y factory cabinet finishes. They're very slick. Sherwin Williams sells a high bond primer that has worked well for me. Still have to rough up the original finish. I'd suggest an oil paint. I don't have any spray experience, so I can't help you there. Good luck!
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
It's going to be almost impossible to cover that dark brown finish with 2 or 3 bright white overcoats without thorough stripping of the current finish before repainting. Can both pieces be moved somewhere else for the refinishing?
 

bowman

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Neal
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Corporate Member
It's going to be almost impossible to cover that dark brown finish with 2 or 3 bright white overcoats without thorough stripping of the current finish before repainting. Can both pieces be moved somewhere else for the refinishing?

The island contains a down-draft stove. So the island would have to be disassembled. The built-in display case, i can remove the doors with the glass panels, and doors to the underneath storage. I was hoping that a white bonding primer would hide most of the darker finish.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Tinted Resisthane won't hide the old finish but I think their primer may. You may need to get some finish and try a door or something. You can in theory brush this but it dries so fast I would not.

I do not like Sherwin Williams paint or primers. I had to repaint all the trim in my last house because the builder's painters insisted on their products. It looked good just long enough to clear the warranty (1 yr) of the builder. But that was one primer/paint. They may have products that work too - but you will pay handsomely for them. Latex I use Behr. I think it's better paint for less.
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
Clean twice and then scuff sand with 220. If the sandpaper is clogging up, clean again. Take the doors off and spray them in the garage. Spray the rest in place using an LVLP system, like the Sprayit guns from Cal air tools
I would spray two or three coats of Mohawk EZ vinyl white sealer. 45 minutes between coats and light sand with 320 or pad. Then I would spray Mohawk precut lacquer tinted white in a 20 (satin) sheen. lightly sand between coats
I would plan on three finish coats.
One day to clean and sand
One day to seal
One day to spray finish
Let it cure overnight before rehanging doors

I have appropriate gun and compressor plus an explosion proof fan to exhaust fumes that you can borrow
 
Last edited:

Johnson

New User
AD
I did the same with my stained kitchen cabinets. After two days of sanding, I sprayed two coats of Original Kilz (oil) primer and then two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance Satin in "White Dove." It was an irritating but cost effective project. The BM Advance requires a full day between coats, however the end finish was very smooth and durable.
 

cyclopentadiene

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User
I repainted my kitchen and bathroom cabinets using an Earlex HVLP. Everything was sanded to 220 and sprayed with Sherwin Williams products. They recommended a paint that cures very hard (do not recall the product). I used a formula recommended by Golfdad and it worked great. I sprayed 4 coats then a surface coat of polyacrylic for good measure. Water beads on the cabinets like a freshly waxed car!
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
I did some cabinets in the past similar. I used a auto body filler primer paint. Similar to the old DP3/DP40, but it was water based similar to Evercoat feather fill primer. The advantage was the stuff dries super hard but has a tooth to it so it will grab the top coat. Then, used a water based auto paint. The stuff I used was a PPG product, but I can't remember the names.

The reason was to correct all the issues on the surface. I would had to spend way too much time and would likely fail in getting the surface to a glass finish. The primer fills the cracks, scratches real well, that reduced the amount of sanding on the priming prep.

The other source you might think of is Marine type finishes from a Marine supply like West Marine, but I would recommend buying from them second, they are usually overpriced. Just some thoughts.
 

mkepke

Mark
Senior User
For what it's worth I have painted over shelving originally done in a dark commercial finish of some kind. Clean/degrease, scuff sand, primer coat with original Kilz (shellac), 2-3 finish coats with Inslx's Cabinet Coat thinned 10% with water for better atomization out of a cheap HVLP conversion gun. That combination will cover dark wood.

The Cabinet Coat rolls pretty well too, but more surface texture.

I also looked at BM Advance and think it would work just as well, but went with the Cabinet Coat due to the faster drying time between coats.

Personally, this sounds like a great job..for your kids. :)

-Mark
 

Barry W

Co-Director of Outreach
Barry
Corporate Member
Please post pics when finished. I'm going to try Golfdad's formula with S-W on some kitchen cabinet doors that need refinishing. Good luck!
 

stevenross

steven
User
Second Berry's request - pls post pictures, how you did it and what you would do different next time --- I have been trying to avoid a similar project - but being an ostrich works for only so long
 

bowman

Board of Directors, Webmaster
Neal
Staff member
Corporate Member
Thanks to all of the offers and tips provided. We've been working on this all week. I'll provide some pictures tonight of the final results. (Lessons learned will be posted below.)

Monday- SIL wanted to get all paint from Lowes, so we got the Valspar Cabinet and Furniture enamel and Zinnser 123 Primer. We took down the cabinet doors, removed all the hardware, and used TSP to degrease them. Once dry, I started a light sanding of the doors. That's when I discovered the previous owners had used wall latex as the sanding resulted in small rubber balls instead of expected sawdust. Ugh! :mad:Then onto sanding on the cabinet carcasses and faces.

Tuesday- I started spraying the primer onto the (27) cabinet doors and 4 drawers. Prime one side, and set aside to dry. Next up start hanging plastic to prevent the overspray from getting onto floors, appliances, painted chimney, and countertops. Daughter and grandson step in to help making a tent around the kitchen island, 2 hrs later, ready to spray primer on the island and built-in display case. 20 minutes later, spraying completed. Flip cabinet doors and spray other side. Set aside to dry again.

Wednesday- Start spraying doors with 1st coat of enamel (on the backs of the doors). This finish requires 2 coats, 4 hours to dry to the touch, 8-12 hours between coats. With the heavy rains, these are set aside until the next day before I touch again. With the overspray concern, we decide to use paint rollers on the cabinet frames, so the remainder of the day is spent priming the upper and lower cabinets. Apply second coat of primer to island and display case with paint rollers.

Thursday- flip cabinet doors to get 1st coat on show side, set aside to dry until Friday. Use rollers to put the 1st coat of enamel on the island, display case, and cabinet upper & lower. Discover that glass doors from display case were put aside and have not been primed yet. Doh!:rolleyes: Mask off glass and prime one side

Friday- Flip display case doors and prime other side. Apply enamel to one show side of display doors once primer is dry. Repeat of Thursday with second coat. Spray enamel onto back side of display case doors at the end of the day

Saturday- plan to spray enamel to the show side of display case doors, install hinges to doors, and mount to cabinets

Lessons learned:
  • Hose from Earlex 5500 will come unattached at the worst possible time.
  • Hose is too short, have to keep moving the unit around
  • you will step on the hose, no matter the length or where you place the turbine
  • Earlex 5500 has intake on the bottom, but if you have plastic on the floor, unit will try to suck plastic into the bottom, so have to create makeshift riser to keep airflow moving
  • Trying to keep a consistent motion over the length of the cabinet door is challenging, depending on how you have the spraying station setup for maneuverability
  • lighting is critical to seeing what you have sprayed, shadows are frustrating
  • overspray goes everywhere

Other thoughts:
  • The Valspar enamel and Zinnser primer covered well and leveled after spraying, very pleased with the results
  • I was not prepared for how tiring i would be after using the sprayer
  • You will find the best process/motions for spraying on the last piece to spray
  • the Valspar enamel says not to thin for spraying, I was pushing the Earlex 5500. I used the 2.0 needle with this product and also with the primer, which I thinned with water.
 

bowman

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Neal
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