Repainting kitchen cabinets

[Bob C]

I'm considering repainting my rather dark kitchen unit doors to brighten up my kitchen. They're a dark wood, quite heavily varnished and with a strong grain.

I'm planning on taking each door off its hinges, sanding and painting them, then remounting them once they've fully dried. Are there any particular precautions I should take when repainting them beyond lightly sanding them? And in addition (you can tell I'm no expert at this), do I need a particular type of paint?

Many thanks.

[hoopla]

Bob, be carefull. The existing surface material must be removed full and make sure you dry the doors properly before painting. You wil need the correct wood primer to bond with the material too. The pain should also be able to resist water splashed onto it.

Are you sure you can't treat the wood you have - It seems a shame t paint over that natural wood ?

And

-- hoopla

[Bob C]

Hi Andy,

Thanks very much for the words of caution. If you're right that I have to take the doors back to bare wood, then I would hesitate at this stage to move forwards - the original idea was that this was a relatively simple job which could be done mostly by myself and on a budget. Adding something like what you're suggesting causes me to wonder whether it's worth doing at all.

The doors themselves are, from what I can see, solid wood, dark varnished fairly heavily and, as there are units both above and below the worktops, the overall effect is of a very dark kitchen. I had originally thought that a freshly painted ceiling and units, a new light and new floor tiles would have the effect of a fairly significant makeover.

Hmm.

[Stuart Noble]

"> Thanks very much for the words of caution. If you're right that I have to

varnished

worktops,

You can do this without too much preparation if you use a liquid, solvent based gloss paint. Make sure the first coat is very thin and well rubbed into the surface. It should just look slightly duller than what you started with when dry. From then on, you can use an oil based undercoat to get a flat white surface, and finish off with gloss, eggshell, or whatever, but keep it oil based throughout. Water based paints don't look good and aren't tough enough. A smelly job, with 24 hours between coats, but not difficult and not expensive.

[Kaiser]

I have done this very successfully on kitchen unit doors at our previous house by giving them a good sanding and painting with Crown Solo satin finish paint. I was looking around in Homebase for a special paint to do this, an elderly gent was standing nearby and asked me what I was attempting. When I explained, he told me to sand the doors well and paint them with Crown Solo. I took his advice and the doors were still in good condition three years later when I sold the property.

[Pete C]

Hi,

If they can be stripped thoroughly then a limewash effect paint or stain might be worth considering, Sadolin may do something in that line.

For painting over a dark varnish a neutral undercoat before the topcoat should work, the manufacturer of the paint you choose will be able to advise.

Would be well worth experimenting on some similar scrap wood before doing the real thing, might even be worth getting them sprayed with the right gear or paying someone to do it.

cheers, Pete.