No one is more meticulous than professional cabinet finishers so here are some pointers to consider before hiring or painting kitchen cabinets yourself.
The Cabinet Painter is a specialized Trade
Preparing and painting older cabinets already installed requires many more steps to staining and clear coating wood.
Results. What are you expecting the cabinets to look like then?
- DIY looking - good enough
- Professional looking - close to new as possible
- We don't rush, tell you this can be done in a cold or dirty garage. We have a spray painting shop and specialized equipment for cabinet refinishing
- We remove and label everything that can be logically removed from the kitchen itself but never remove the shells from the walls.
- We properly seal crowns, corners and wall openings for a reason. Painting wood apposed to staining wood - painting wood is far more meticulous and requires 3 hats to do it all properly. Cabinet builders stain and varnish wood and do not normally repaint existing cabinets. They understand staining and open grain, do not need to worry about dark cracks. They have little need to know about removing 20 years of grease and how to paint around walls, fridges, stoves, flooring etc. Cabinet painting is a specialized art. We are a combinations of wood finishers and house painters all in one.
- We fill and caulk cracks in proper order and let products cure between coats..
- We do not caulk or fill problematic or subjective cracks that can open up over time. Cabinets panels are made to move! (shrink and expand!) You just don't go stupid with caulking.
- We are excellent fine finishers AND home interior painters able to hand paint details to MATCH spray finishing. Your kitchen looks like NEW, not like some DIY repaint.
- We SAND varnish off for a reason.
- We DO NOT USE TSP, incompatible de-greasers for a very good reason.
- We use razor knives, vacuums to meticulously clean corners and debris out of cracks where grease builds up over years. You cannot rely on household cleaners alone to remove grease in corners, grain and cracks.
- VERY IMPORTANT - We hand rub fillers into the wood grain so the open grain looks amazing NOT DIY looking.
- We use a vacuum system for extracting dust
- We label everything so your kitchen goes back together perfectly
- We remove and re install new hardware
- We use the best primers and finish paints
- We help you with colours
- We protect and deliver freshly painted cabinets flawlessly so everything looks amazing at the end of the job.
- Our cabinets clean great and should last years.
Cabinet builders stain and varnish new wood, they normally do not repaint existing/ 20 year old cabinets that have grease etc embedded into cracks and corners where paint will without question, break away and look terrible a year later. They understand staining and open grain finishing, but do little about dark cracks as this is all part of how wood looks. Cabinet builders have little need to know things regarding removing 20 years of grease then how to get paint to stick to old varnishes, then get sprayed finish to match paint around the shells attached to preexisting walls, fridges, stoves, flooring etc. Cabinet painting is a specialized trade. They are a combinations of wood finishers and house painters who can fine finish all in one.