Kitchen Cabinet Painting in Fort Worth, TX

Kitchen cabinets near the range, the trash pull-out and the sink carry a film of cooking oil and hand grease that you can't always see. Sanding over that film just pushes the grease into the wood pores, and primer won't bond to it. We wash every door, drawer front and face frame with a dedicated degreaser, rinse with clean water and let everything dry fully. Only then do we scuff sand with 180 to 220 grit, which dulls the old finish enough for primer to grip without cutting through veneer edges. Finally the surfaces are vacuumed and wiped with a tack cloth. Skipping any part of that sequence is the most common reason painted cabinets peel at the handle area within a year.

Factory cabinet finishes are slick catalyzed lacquers or conversion varnishes, and ordinary wall primers simply sit on top of them. We use a bonding primer made for glossy surfaces, often a shellac-based primer when the cabinets are stained oak or cherry, because shellac also blocks the tannins that can turn a white finish yellowish pink. For the topcoat we spray a waterborne alkyd or urethane-modified acrylic enamel, such as Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane or Benjamin Moore Advance. These level out like an oil paint but clean up with water and don't yellow the way traditional oil does. We apply two finish coats, typically aiming for a total dry film of about 3 to 4 mils over primer. Satin and semi-gloss are the usual sheens, since they wipe clean without looking plastic.

• Shellac-based primer for stained oak, cherry and maple
• Adhesion primer for slick factory lacquer finishes
• Waterborne alkyd or urethane acrylic enamel topcoat
• Satin or semi-gloss for wipeability

A huge share of Fort Worth kitchens built from the 1980s through the early 2000s have red or white oak cabinets with deep open grain. Paint doesn't hide that grain, it highlights it. Some homeowners like the texture, and we leave it. If you want a smooth, modern painted look, we apply a grain filler or a high-build primer to the door faces, sand it back, and repeat where needed. It adds labor, so it's priced as a separate line, but it's the difference between painted oak and a finish that looks like factory painted maple.

Doors and drawer fronts are labeled, removed and taken to a dedicated spray setup, either a protected garage space or our shop, depending on the job. Cabinet boxes stay in place and are brushed and rolled, or sprayed after we mask the entire kitchen in plastic. Countertops, backsplash, floors and appliances are covered. Most kitchens are usable for basic cooking in the evenings during the box painting phase, and we let you know which day the sink area will be off limits. Doors come back after they've cured enough to handle, typically after several days, and we rehang them, adjust hinges and reinstall hardware, whether that's your original pulls or new ones you've chosen.

Cabinet enamels are dry to handle within hours, but they keep hardening for weeks. Most reach a usable hardness in about a week and full cure in three to four weeks. During that period, close doors gently, avoid harsh cleaners, and don't put rubber bumpers back until we've given the go-ahead. After cure, a mild soap and soft cloth is all they need. Keeping a small jar of touch-up enamel handy makes fixing a chip quick.