Spray Painting Kitchen Cabinets Like A Pro

Spray painting kitchen cupboards is a great way to bring new life back to tired kitchen. Kitchens endure a hard life of intense service with meal preparation, family gatherings, and the rough and tumble of daily living.

That’s why kitchen cupboards can quickly become battered and lose their appeal. Respraying kitchen cabinetry can be an easy and cheaper alternative to replacing kitchen cupboards.

Why Respray a Kitchen

Replacing an old kitchen with a new one can be hideously expensive. It’s also a very time-consuming chore that will create a large amount of chaos and dust in your home and significant interruption in your daily lives.

Modern paint sprayers make the job of re-spraying kitchen cabinets so much easier.

It’s far less time consuming than using a brush, provides an infinitely superior finish and allows you to have complete control of colour and finish choice. And of course, it’s much cheaper than getting a new kitchen

Which is Best – Spray or Brush

Both spray painting and brush painting have their advantages and it’s important to sort out the reality from the myths.

Painting by Sprayer

Advantages of spray painting:

• Usually gives an infinitely superior finish
• Much faster application
• Ideal for heavier or fast drying coats
• Fast easy cleanup

Disadvantages of spray painting:

• Equipment costs
• Time protecting surfaces not to be painted

Painting by Brush

Advantages of brush painting:

• Less need for protecting surfaces not to be painted
• Cheaper equipment

Disadvantages of brush painting:

• Tiring, especially in awkward positions
• Very slow compared with airless spray painting
• Quality finish requires professional expertise
• Brush strokes are inevitable
• Cleanup can be messy and time consuming
• Consistency of paint application can be challenging
• Not suitable for heavy duty coatings

Spraying Cabinets with HVLP Sprayers

The development of HVLP spray gun systems has revolutionised the art of spray painting kitchen cabinets.

Now almost anyone can bring their tired old kitchen cupboards back to new life and completely alter the feel and ambiance of their kitchen.

HVLP sprayers allow you to spray a finely controlled, even coat across any surface with minimal overspray. This offers a highly cost-effective paint delivery (80 to 90% paint transfer efficiency) along with consistent depth of coverage.

It’s all thanks to the way an HVLP sprayer uses large volumes of air to propel the paint into the gun but then uses a low pressure to atomise the paint and coat the surface.

Suction guns and gravity guns are commonly used for re-spraying kitchen cupboards. Suction guns suck paint from a cup below the gun.

This requires quite a lot of pressure although you still have enormously refined control of the pressure at the nozzle. Suction guns offer a great freedom of manoeuvrability.

Gravity guns only require a minimal air pressure because paint is fed to the gun via gravity from a cup on top of the gun.

This very low air pressure allows a high degree of precision control with minimal overspray. But the low pressures involved may not work so well with the more viscous coatings.

Which is the Best HVLP Spray Gun?

The choice of which is the best gun will depend on a number of factors including:

• Your budget
• Size of the project
• Level of expertise
• Coating choice

The QTech-5 HVLP suction gun package is a great choice for where you need a higher level of performance.

The suction cup has a generous 1L capacity. Ergonomic gun design makes for a much less tiring project and gives you the fine control you need.

Choose the Right Nozzles Size

It’s important to choose the right nozzle size for the project.

Typically, with HVLP guns (suction or gravity) a 1.5 mm nozzle is standard. But any nozzle between 1.0mm and 1.5mm will be ideal for fine controlled work.

The QTech guns come with 1.5mm nozzles as standard. Faster drying coatings may require a larger nozzle size such as 1.8mm.

What’s the Best Spray Paint to Use on Kitchen Cupboards?

The ideal paint to use for your kitchen cupboards will depend on the material the cabinets are made out of and the look you want to achieve. Your options here are almost endless and include:

• Water based paints
• Timber preservatives
• Emulsions
• Solvent based paints
• Oil based enamels
• 2 Pack Paint

It is vitally important to read and follow the paint manufacturer’s guidelines on how best to mix and apply any paint.  Textured and low sheen finishes are ideal for kitchen cupboards because they hide scratches more easily than a glossy finish.

Spray Painting Kitchen Cupboards – The Best Way

Preparation is pivotal to the success of your kitchen cupboard respray project.

Cabinet Doors

• Unscrew cabinet doors and remove any drawers.
• Unscrew handles, hinges and other fixtures.
• Place them in labelled bags so you know where to put them during reassembly.

Masking UP

Mask all areas in the kitchen that you don’t want to be painted using sheet plastic and masking tape.

Take your time over this because you’ll be amazed where overspray can end up and you may not notice until it’s too late.

Prepare Surfaces

• Sand and clean all the cabinet surfaces.
• Repair any damage or holes.
• Take particular care that any greasy surfaces are free from grease.
• Be very fussy about removing dust from the surfaces as it will affect the final result.

Priming

• Apply the appropriate primer to the cabinets and doors. A good primer is vital for a good result overall.

How to Spray Paint Kitchen Cupboards with Spray Gun

Wear protective overalls, goggles and a respirator.

The fumes of most paints and two pack paints especially are highly toxic.

Make sure you mix paint in accordance with the instructions on the tin. Spray a test patch on some unwanted timber to check pressure and nozzle size.

As with any spray painting, smooth even strokes are the key to a consistent high quality finish. Keep the gun a steady 30cms above the surface to be painted. Avoid releasing the trigger after each sweep.

It may be an idea to set up a separate spray booth in the garage using plastic sheeting where you can spray the cabinet doors and drawers without being concerned about overspray getting onto the cabinetry, especially if you’re using a different colour.

Be very careful with allowing the appropriate drying time.

Some coatings such as two pack paints are extremely slow to dry and any premature handling will spoil the finish. Apply additional coatings as required. When dry reinstall the doors, hinges and handles.

Now you can enjoy your stunning new kitchen for many more years to come.