Common Mistakes to Watch Out for When Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Painting one’s kitchen cabinets is one of those classic ventures which it seems like every home décor and DIY enthusiast considers doing at some point or another – and for good reason. Your kitchen is one of the most versatile parts of your home from a décor standpoint. If the soul of good interior decorating is a marriage of form and function, few rooms exemplify that ethos to a greater or more dramatic effect than your kitchen.

On the one hand, it’s where you cook and have meals with your family.

On the other hand, it’s also a stylistic centerpiece of your home.

You thus want to paint your kitchen cabinets in such a way as to capture all of that – and all while avoiding these all-too-common mistakes.

Underestimating the Time Investment

One of the biggest mistakes people make when painting their kitchen cabinets is thinking it will be as quick and easy as adding a fresh coat of paint. Not at all. In fact, you have many steps you’ll need to go through, from cleaning the wood and adding primer to adding multiple coats of paint to performing cleanup work. Painting your kitchen cabinets will take time, so don’t sell the time investment needed short.

Rushing the Job

On the other hand, you don’t want to rush the job, either. When faced with the prospect of a project running longer than expected, it can be all too tempting to try and rush things. You must resist the urge to do so, because the more you rush, the greater your chances of making mistakes, which will take even more time to correct.

Not Cleaning the Wood before Painting

One of the most common mistakes people make when painting any surface is forgetting to clean the surface. Given all the other steps involved, this can seem unnecessary. 

Some people make the mistake of thinking that since they are painting over a surface they will simply “cover up” the stains in question. However, that simply isn’t true. Stains and dirt can show through paint, and once you have painted over them, they can be notoriously tricky to get rid of.

Not Sanding

In addition to the wood being clean, it also has to be as smooth and free of flaws as possible before you begin painting. You therefore want to make sure to sand down any rough edges and check the surface of each cabinet for imperfections which can be sanded away. That said, you also want to make sure that you don’t overdo it with sanding and sand things down to the point where there’s a gap in the doors when they close.

Not Using Primer

Last but certainly not least, you always need to remember to add primer to a surface before you begin painting. Too many amateur painters make the mistake of thinking that they can skip that step and go directly into painting their kitchen cabinets. Not priming your cabinets means the paint surface will be rougher, thereby making it harder to paint in the smooth, easy manner necessary for good painting.

Take care to avoid these mistakes, and keep your kitchen cabinet painting experience a positive one.