Looking to update kitchen cabinets and replacing and/or refacing is cost prohibitive. Which leaves painting. We have 26yr old oak cabinets that are still in great shape. However, my wife is tired of the grain. I’ve seen many who have used wood filler to cover the grain, but two of the painting companies we have gotten a quote from do not do that and advise against it saying that over time the wood will expand and contract and the filler will loosen causing the paint to come off. Hoping some of you woodworking experts out there can set the story straight. Thanks in advance!
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Replies
Thinking of Doing the same thing.
Would the existing lacquer need to be treated first?
Use a grain filler.
Check this video on William Ng's YouTube channel. The last part is about filling the grain.
I'm not sure but might be with an oil based grain filler you might only need to sand and not strip the finish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzu8aFHi5CE
I painted my 35 year old oak cabinets a few years back. I took the doors down, and the hardware off. I cleaned them to make sure there was no grease or grime, and sanded them lightly. Don't skimp on the prep work. They got a coat of Ben Moore Fresh Start primer, and two coats of Ben Moore Advance paint. It's amazing stuff for cabinets.
I rolled the paint on and backbrushed. The grain is all but gone, without filling. If you look in the right light, you can see that it's wood, and not MDF-- just the way I like it.
I wouldn't fill. And don't use regular latex, it's too soft. The Advance, or the similar alkyds latex from Sherwin Williams are the only paints I would use.
First before you go to the effort, and I do mean effort, to prepare and paint your cabinets, give your cabinets a thorough inspection with a skeptical eye. I can't tell you how often I've had clients tell me their 20 yr old builder grade ⅜" particle board cabinets were in good shape only to find out the rear seams were splitting or the face frames were separating, or stapled particle board drawers were splitting. Most cabinets installed in the last 20-30 years have a life span of 20-25 years give or take. They just don't build them the way they used to. Finding any of these conditions would give me pause to undertake such a project.
If they pass the inspection then realize that an in home painted cabinet will start to show nicks and scratches in 3-5 years maybe less if you have children anything like my youngest was.
If after that, you do decide to move ahead with painting them. I would not recommend traditional grain fillers as these products are designed to fill the pores of raw wood not wood that has been sealed and finished and likely to flake. There are filler primers on the market, design to fill small inperfections and uneven surfaces, that I have used with success using 2-3 coats sanding between each coat which can be time consuming. To the best of my knowledge these need to be sprayed, I've never tried brushing or rolling them. Since you don't seem to being doing the work yourself you are at the mercy of who you hire and what they are willing to do.
To echo an earlier recommendation never use ordinary household latex paint on kitchen cabinets, it simply won't hold up to the wear and tear.
Agree with esch5995, I would reconsider the "cost" of refacing. The effort to strip, grain fill, prime and then (preferably) epoxy-paint your oak cabinets would scare me into saving my pennies for a while.
Don't let me talk you out of it if this sort of work is fun for you. Many people love refinishing. I am not one of them. That doesn't make it wrong; just tedious, time and money consuming work ;-)
You could look up "filling pores" on Wood Magazine or Woodcraft.com. It works great but is sloppy as hell.
Mikaol
Query; do the doors come off?
Thank you all for your input. Very helpful indeed. And yes Mikaol, the doors do come off. My wife is not sure if she wants to see the grain or not so I painted a cabinet we won't be keeping to give her an idea. I plan on doing the side with filler and see how that turns out.
Nice. It always pays to experiment first.
My meager offering - the words paint and oak should never appear in the same sentence.
If you want perfectly flat cabinets with no grain, just buy new doors. You'll end up spending more energy trying to turn oak into "not oak" and end up with a *meh* result.
On the other hand, painted oak can look very nice, Mikaol notwithstanding. This is a set I built a couple of years ago. I think it looks great. It's painted green with a black glaze to fill the pores.
Pffft. Just realized this was from 4 months ago. Why do people add commentary to long dead threads? I'm going back to SMC
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