Cabinet Painting in Charlotte, NC

Why cabinets are their own job

Cabinet painting is not "painting, but on cabinets." Kitchen cabinets carry years of cooking grease that ordinary cleaning doesn't remove, and paint will not bond to it. They also get touched constantly, so a brushed-on finish that shows strokes will look worn within a year.

Done properly it's a process: degrease, sand or deglaze, prime with a bonding primer, then spray. Spraying is what produces the smooth, even, factory-looking surface — you cannot brush your way there.

What the process looks like

• Label and remove doors, drawer fronts and hardware, so everything goes back exactly where it came from.
• Degrease thoroughly — the step that decides whether the finish lasts five years or peels in one.
• Sand or deglaze every surface so the primer has something to grip.
• Mask the kitchen — counters, appliances, floors and openings.
• Bonding primer, then two finish coats, sprayed, with cure time between.
• Rehang and adjust doors, reinstall hardware, walk it with you.

Be realistic about a few things

Painted cabinets look excellent and save a great deal of money, but they are paint. They can chip at high-contact edges, and the grain of oak will still read faintly through a solid color unless it's grain-filled first. If a perfectly uniform, grainless surface is what you're picturing, say so at the estimate and we'll talk about what that actually takes.

Cabinets also need cure time. They'll be usable quickly but the finish keeps hardening for a couple of weeks — being gentle with them early is worth it.