Painting cabinets (Home Depot/lowes)

[spankswife]

If you've had your cabinets painted for a while, how are they holding up? Are you glad you did it? How much does something like this cost?

Our cabinets our nearly perfect, but are cherry wood and just nms. I'd like to paint them white. I am think about having HD or Lowes do it so I can use the 12 mos no interest. Has anyone used them? Thoughts?

[Susie]

I painted mine maybe 5 years ago, and they are holding up well. I did it myself and was absolutely over the top about surface preparation though. It took me a couple months' worth of weekends. I also used high gloss paint instead of semi gloss (which I'd have preferred the look of) for durability. I have a few spots I need to touch up now, but they're really doing quite well. I wouldn't trust a place like Lowe's or HD to do the kind of prep that it takes to make it last.

It hurts my heart to think about painting actual cherry cabinets though. I only painted mine because they are crappy quality -- honey oak faces and doors, laminate ends, and laminate shelves. Painting cabinets is also not something I would finance, even interest-free.

ETA:  I just checked my (now-defunct) house blog.  Apparently my cabinets have been painted for 7 years.  Everything else stands.

[dr.girlfriend]

FYI, I would get at least one other quote. HD had a free "we'll estimate refacing your cabinets" thing, and their estimate was CUH-RAY-ZEE...I think it was about 4 times what all-new IKEA cabinets cost in the end, lol.

[spankswife]

Aug 6, 2017 15:30:51 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

FYI, I would get at least one other quote. HD had a free "we'll estimate refacing your cabinets" thing, and their estimate was CUH-RAY-ZEE...I think it was about 4 times what all-new IKEA cabinets cost in the end, lol.

Whoa! Thanks, good to know!

[dr.girlfriend]

Also, I think there's some special cabinet paint you can get that they spray on and then it takes a long time to dry but dries to a super-hard enamel surface. I remember the Benjamin Moore guy telling me about it but can't remember if I actually used it for something.

[calico]

I DIY'ed the cabinet in our master bathroom about 6 or 7 years ago. Took about 3-4 weeks, but it still looks very nice. However, that cabinet gets less wear/tear than a kitchen would.

[lys]

Do not finance painting of cabinets!
I would not use Lowes or HD painters -

IF you decide to paint the cabinets check with your local Benjamin Moore dealer for a recommendation for a painter ---- and use the BM Advance paint - perfect for cabinets.

But --your cabinets sound lovely as they are. Can you change the wall color or floor in the kitchen to get more of a look you like while leaving the cabinets alone?

[teeah22]

I don't see the issue with interest-free financing, so long as you pay it off in before the interest kicks in.

We had ours done professionally about 2.5 years ago. There's a couple spots with chips but nothing major. I'm glad we did it, they were in perfect shape like yours but I hated the orangey color. Do what makes you happy.

Oh and it was not cheap but I used a higher-end local company. They use some special top coat to resist chipping and sprayed everything, and they were done in two days.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I diy'ed ours when we bought, so mine are 4.5 years old at this point. I used SW oil-based enamel paint and a tinted primer, and I've been happy with the finish, otherwise. Most of the scratches on them occurred right when we reinstalled the doors - R was not careful. And apparently I'm super lazy because I still haven't done that touch up. They are otherwise holding up well.

I've also painted the bathroom cabinets using just plain old duration in a semi-gloss and adhesion primer. Those are also holding up well.

[calico]

I keep seeing blogs saying that the BM cabinet paint sucks. Anyone have experience that says otherwise?

[tres3]

My old house we painted the cabinets. We paid our painter to do it. It was 2K and probably a 5 day project. Most of it was actually "prep". He set up a clean room in our garage and sprayed all the cabinets. You really want to spray and not "paint" them for a good finish. He used an oil based paint that smelled awful. Thankfully we were on vacation most of the time he was working on them.

[thatgirl2478]

We haven't had ours painted for long - so I can't tell you about durability. We used Bullseye 123 plus Primer with Benjamin Moore's Satin Impervo paint. Impervo is recommended for trim, which usually takes a lot of abuse and wiping, so far I've been happy with it.

The biggest PITA is prep, you sand A LOT. You can paint, but there will be a texture left behind, even with the nicest brush and smoothest roller.

I've heard from a lot of people who hire out the cabinet painting, that it's as expensive to paint as it is to buy new cabinets. Of course, when you paint you don't have to demolish the kitchen and everything in it, so there is a convenience factor.

[dottyblue]

Aug 8, 2017 13:28:31 GMT -5 calico said:

I keep seeing blogs saying that the BM cabinet paint sucks. Anyone have experience that says otherwise?

What is the Benjamin Moore cabinet paint?

All the trim in my house is Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo and it gets horrible reviews online from users who have no clue how it works. The Benjamin Moore enamel paints need time to cure, simply drying is not enough. The curing process can sometimes take one to two weeks after the paint is dry and then the paint is five times as durable as normal wall paint. People don't understand this and expect it to be set after 24 hours.

Highly recommend Satin Impervo.

[tres3]

Aug 12, 2017 18:50:00 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

We haven't had ours painted for long - so I can't tell you about durability. We used Bullseye 123 plus Primer with Benjamin Moore's Satin Impervo paint. Impervo is recommended for trim, which usually takes a lot of abuse and wiping, so far I've been happy with it.

The biggest PITA is prep, you sand A LOT. You can paint, but there will be a texture left behind, even with the nicest brush and smoothest roller.

I've heard from a lot of people who hire out the cabinet painting, that it's as expensive to paint as it is to buy new cabinets. Of course, when you paint you don't have to demolish the kitchen and everything in it, so there is a convenience factor.

We used BM decorator's white for our cabinets. I'm not sure which type of paint our painter used but spraying the cabinets versus painting is what makes them look smooth. 

We had our painter do the kitchen cabinets but my husband sprayed our built in cabinets and doors. They looked so good, so it is something an amateur with attention to detail can do. 

[calico]

Aug 13, 2017 10:36:45 GMT -5 dottyblue said:

Aug 8, 2017 13:28:31 GMT -5 calico said:

I keep seeing blogs saying that the BM cabinet paint sucks. Anyone have experience that says otherwise?

What is the Benjamin Moore cabinet paint?

All the trim in my house is Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo and it gets horrible reviews online from users who have no clue how it works. The Benjamin Moore enamel paints need time to cure, simply drying is not enough. The curing process can sometimes take one to two weeks after the paint is dry and then the paint is five times as durable as normal wall paint. People don't understand this and expect it to be set after 24 hours.

Highly recommend Satin Impervo.

Um, I think it's BM Advance.

[dottyblue]

Aug 16, 2017 10:13:16 GMT -5 calico said:

Aug 13, 2017 10:36:45 GMT -5 dottyblue said:

What is the Benjamin Moore cabinet paint?

All the trim in my house is Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo and it gets horrible reviews online from users who have no clue how it works. The Benjamin Moore enamel paints need time to cure, simply drying is not enough. The curing process can sometimes take one to two weeks after the paint is dry and then the paint is five times as durable as normal wall paint. People don't understand this and expect it to be set after 24 hours.

Highly recommend Satin Impervo.

Um, I think it's BM Advance.

I just read up on this.  BM Advance is the water-based allkyd paint, where as the Satin Impervo I mentioned above is oil-based.  Both require around 30-60 days to "cure" and provide the most durable finish.  As long as you know what you are getting in to with curing times and know that you need 30-60 days before it has the full durability, it is an amazing paint. (drying time 4-6 hours and 16 hours before applying a second coat).
Save

[kellikans]

We painted our cabinets 5 years ago and they've held up great. There are a few chips here and there, but nothing major. I used an alkyd enamel paint from Ace Hardware specially made for cabinets and trim. The way you prep is key, and you need to use a good primer. We have a fairly large kitchen (I think I had to paint 36 doors), and it probably took me a few weeks working just about every day. One set of doors took me 5 days to do since I had limited space.

I think materials were a couple hundred bucks. It just took a lot of time.

[qubit]

Aug 8, 2017 13:28:31 GMT -5 calico said:

I keep seeing blogs saying that the BM cabinet paint sucks. Anyone have experience that says otherwise?

My H and I painted our oak cabinets white with BM Advanced paint. First, we sanded to bare wood then did 3 coats of primer and 4 coats of paint (with brush and roller). The process took months for our large kitchen, but it has held up beautifully for 3 years (with 2 little kids).