How to paint kitchen cabinets?

[tommo217]

Hi, I would like to paint my laminate kitchen cabinets. I have some zinsser bin and dulux aquanamel left over from painting doors. Would this be suitable for kitchen cabinets?

I have seen the dulux renovation range for cabinets, is there much of a difference between aquanamel and the renovation range?

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @tommo217. It's sensational to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about painting cupboard doors.

The Dulux Renovation cabinet paint is specifically designed to endure the rigours experienced by kitchen cabinetry. The self-levelling properties allow you to achieve a smooth and highly durable finish that is resistant to scratches, chips and scuff marks. In saying that, Dulux Aquanamel is also a hard-wearing paint and could be used as a substitute. Before these specialty paints became available, enamel paints were the only option. However, enamel paints designed for other surfaces of the home, like doors and architraves, don't carry the technological advancements of the newer cabinet paints.

Although Zinnser B-I-N is a suitable primer for Formica (similar to laminate/melamine), it's not explicitly designed for that purpose. I'd be more comfortable with you using the Renovation primer, which will allow you to achieve the maximum adhesion on this hard to paint surface.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[glenmore]

We painted our kitchen cabinets and it worked out very well. 

We used a specific primer (I’d have to check the brand) and Dulux aqua enamel paint coloured to the shade we wanted.

The big difference between this project and others we have done previously was that we took the doors off and sprayed them flat rather than trying to get a flat finish with brushes and rollers.

The first few doors weren’t as good a finish - we didn’t dilute the paint enough for the sprayer so the paint was a bit thick, but your have to really look at it. 

My main tip is to do the prep properly

1) remove the doors and handles, 2) fill and sand the handle holes if you are using a different style of handle attachment. 
3) lay the doors flat on two wood horses

4) do the least conspicuous doors first as you will get better on a steep learning curve!!! 

5) use a sprayer - the finish is much better than brush or rolller. You can get a paint sprayer for about $100 and as long as you clean it well, it should last and will you will make painting jobs much quicker!!! 

[dowd_hardware]

I'm spraying my cabinets doors at the moment. I used a duramax plastic primer. 2 coats of that and then spray with your top coat of the color you want