diy or professional cabinet painting?
Painting is a black and white thing. People either love it or hate it. There is rarely any gray area or middle ground. So, when it comes to DIY or hire, you need to really look at the time, expense, and possible headache of each one. I recently hand painted a set of doors for some people so I’m fresh off of knowing what it takes to do that. I’ll break down the procedures of each and then you can decide for yourself which route is best. Let’s start with DIY.
If you do a project you’ll need to gather all the materials. You’ll need: Sanding sponges (medium grit), rags, tape/paper (for splatters), brushes, mini-rollers/frames, caulk, wood filler, putty knife, and paint bucket/liner. All of these things can be found at your local paint store. We shop PPG for most of our gear and they are pretty easy stores to find. For paint you have a few options, but the best we have used is C2 Cabinet and Trim and for primer BIN Shellac. For brushes, 2” flat will do the trick and a 4.5” mini roller (foam or mohair) will get these looking good.
Start by removing the doors and drawer fronts. You will want to label them. If you don’t, you’ll forget where they went thus creating quite the nightmare for yourself when it’s time to reinstall. Put a piece of tape with a number (starting at one) on the door and a corresponding piece of tape inside the frame. Keep all your hardware inside the frame it came out of. If those get mixed up, it can create a headache as well. Take your doors and drawer fronts out of the kitchen and to the place you’ll be painting. I’m assuming this will be a garage or basement type area. Grab your sanding sponge and scuff up the frames. As long as they are dulled down and cleaned (soap and water or krud kutter) that’s all you’ll need. Caulk the spaces on the frame you would like smooth and then fill/sand the nail holes. Once everything is sanded and wiped off, grab your primer. Warning, if you’ve never used Shellac, it’s a pretty potent product. It’s alcohol based, so it smells like you’re in a bar. I’d recommend good ventilation such as an open window and fan. If you’re in an enclosed space you might feel sick. Shellac primer lays down very well. This means it doesn’t have brush marks or roller stipple. It is extremely watery so if you go too fast rolling and brushing you’ll have a ton of splatters. Once you’re finished, give it a light sand and then you’re on to the top coat. C2 is an amazing paint. One thing to know is that it dries quick, so you have to be quick with the brush. The best way to use this paint is to brush it on and leave it. Don’t work it back and forth. It will tack up and look nasty. Brush any areas you can’t roll first and then roll up as close as you can to those areas. Two coats should be good though sometimes a third is needed. When I painted frames by hand it usually took me 12-15 hours to finish a set of frames so if it takes you some time don’t be surprised.
Now move on to the doors. You’re going to do the same procedure with the doors as the frames. Sand, clean, and wipe down each door. Once they are clean you can start the same painting process but it will be a little more involved. Paint the backs first and NOT the sides. If you have any “rollover” from the sides it would be best on the back of the door and not the front. Once you’ve coated your doors, take some push pins and push them into the corners where the panel meets the frame of the door. This will allow you to flip the door and keep the painted surface elevated. This will protect the paint and give you room to roll the edges. You should budget about 45-50 minutes per door for sanding and coating both sides. Now all you need to do is reinstall everything and you’re back in business. All in all, this could take about a week or more to complete. You can definitely speed up the process as well if you have a sprayer. I got started with a handheld Wagner so you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to make it look good.
Let’s chat about having them done professionally. The biggest difference you’ll notice is the factory, sprayed finish. RollTheLex sprays both the frames and the doors for a beautiful finish that’s better than the ones you can find at Home Depot or Lowe’s. We ask customers to remove everything from the cabinets and the kitchen. We will come in, remove the doors, mask off all openings and surface areas, and follow the same procedure outlined above. It will probably go quicker because of the tools we use. Spraying the frames only takes a few hours so you’re only locked out of your kitchen for about two days. We spray the doors/drawers offsite and then reinstall in about half a day. The average cost for a kitchen cabinet set is $3,500 - $4,000 which includes the paint and it takes us about a week.
So, there you have the difference in DIY vs. Professional Spray cabinets. If you need to save the money or want to try your hand at it, then DIY might be the way to go. If you’re just dying to have that amazing finish and don’t have the time, then hire that project out. I hope this helps and happy painting!
