Painting a pine kitchen

[crmay]

Hi,

I'm considering painting a pine kitchen and would like anyones comments/feedback/experiences with the procedure.

I haven't yet purchased the kitchen cabinets, basically still exploring the options. The final goal is to have glossy white cabinets in a hard wearing finish. Cabinets of this style purchased from a showroom are way beyond my budget and as a result I've been exploring alternatives. One of the options is to purchase a timber kitchen and spray it myself. I have access to a large compressor and finishing gun, in addition to some experience spraying cars, and just recently some BIR cabinet doors (enamel). A couple of oak kitchen cabinet sets have been available, though i think it would be ashame to spoil a good hardwood finish. I feel no remorse for pine.

The cabinets are basic melamine with pine door/drawer fronts. The pine appears to be varnished. I first plan to remove the doors, clean them and give them a light sanding with a random orbital sander (approx 400) then sanding the routed grooves by hand. I'll fill any scratches or dents with builders bog, sand smooth, then seal the surface spraying a product similar to the following:

This product is supposed to seal the timber and somehow assist in raising the grain to enable the surface to be buffed to a flat solid state. I think this is the critical stage because I don't want the grain to show through at all and would like the finish to be consistent for quite a few years. I've heard that timber will expand/contract during different seasons and as pine is a softwood, i imagine it would be more suseptable to this than hardwood? Could this be a potential problem?

I'd sand again using 400 grit disk, then i was contemplating using an automotive high-fill primer? I'm guessing this should stick quite well to the prevous product and provide a good basis for an automotive finish. I'd probably use a wet 400 grit paper and block sand until the surface was flat and free of "orange peal", then towel dry.

I'm still trying to decide wheather to use a 2 pac finish or an acrylic/thinners based paint. I've rolled timber floors using a two part finish, though I've never sprayed using it. In saying that, the reason for selecting the automotive finish is due to the discolouration "yellowing" of house paints when exposed to UV... this isn't supposed to happen to automotive paints.

Finally, I would probably take the doors to an automotive detailer to have then cut and polished!

If anyone has done something similar to this, I'm very keen to hear your comments/suggestions.

Cheers

[CathyLee]

I used zinssers on my pine window trim with 2 coats semigloss and i am starting to see some knot stains coming through. Just installed this summer.

CathyLee

myself.

consistent

discolouration

[m Ransley]

Find out what finish is on the cabinets, incompatibility of finishes can ruin a job. Wood flexes and expands cars don`t. Use a finish for wood not cars. Benjamin Moore makes Enamel Underbody a sandable wood primer the same for maybe 40 years, but if the doors are sealed thats a different issue, and they make top wood paint that is sprayable. Its wood-pine, buffing it out will reveal all defects.

[nospambob]