Using auto painting shop to paint your kitchen cabinets

[baking2000]

Has anyone heard of anything like this? Can you take kitchen cabinets to an auto paint shop and have them paint your cabinets? This is a serious question!

[Joseph Meehan]

The materials they work with would not be the best for doing kitchen cabinets. The equipment may not be the best either. In any case I suggest that you find a shop that does cabinets.

[Maker of Rules]

Cool! You'll end up with metallic ocean mist over midnight ebony-- with pin stripes.

[Li]

If your kitchen cabinets were metal, this would work great. I've had lamps, antique metal beds refinished this way and it lasts forever. The processes they use are not recommended for wooden objects.

[John Grabowski]

I saw a decorator's kitchen who had her kitchen cabinets painted by a friend at an auto body shop using car paint. They looked very rich compared to the original "builder's special" look that they originally had.

[Ralph Mowery]

They should look beter as the car paint is around $ 100 to $ 200 per gallon vers the $ 20 or so for house paint.

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[Joseph Meehan]

Unfortunately more money does not always mean more quality, especially if the product is not stable for the use.

I am not saying it would not work well, but rather that I personally would have my doubts.

[m Ransley]

An auto shop would do a good job, but you want a product that stands up to oils and abrasions, maybe auto paint is not the best, contact 3m, Dupont, for their product advise. See if Sherwin Williams has automobile paints, best is ask a manufacturer that makes both. Now if it is wood, you need paint that expands and contracts, paint for specificly wood cabinets that hold up to oils and hands, auto paint may be to hard and crack and look bad in a year.

[J. Clarke]

For some reason I'm thinking that polyurethane clearcoat would be a superb finish for kitchen cabinets--using an automotive shop addresses the big objection to using a 2K polyurethane, which is the specialized equipment required to do it without wasting a huge amount of expensive coating.

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[yourname]

there are specific places for cabinets, my neighbor at work is one such, familiar with the paints and processes.

Biggest issue is that all auto paints are gloss, while most home finishes are some matte etc, which is actually a trickty little deal[paint is naturally glossy and needs additives to be 'flat'

[chuckster]

Automotive paint is for cars. (period) It is very brittle and will chip if used on wood. I refinish pinball playfields and some guys perfer automotive clear because it dries real quick and has a deep finish, however, it will get spider web stress cracks and chip, if not properly done and mixed. I use water based poly with superior results, but it takes days for this stuff to dry before I can sand it, but this stuff is durable. With all the types of paint on the market I am sure you can find a paint that will suit your needs. I am not a "paint guru" but polys and epoxies are super strong, durable and work well on wood. If you have metal cabinets you can find a real professional painter/metal refinisher to do a spray on electro static paint job that will look better than factory. I have seen them refinish lab cabinets that look like a factory finish and they do them in place, with zip over spray.

J. Clarke wrote:

[Jimmie D]

I know of only one time of someone using automotive paint on kitchen cabinets and it turned out great. I know they are at least 25 years old and look great still. There was an extreme amout of work in preping the cabinets. Mutiple coats of sealers, hardeners, primers and endless hours of sanding. Painting a car was less work. Glad i dont live with it, I would be tired of the red and black Chinese motiff by now.