Painting Cherry Cabinets

[Gary J Belch]

Happy New Year to all SMC's. My youngest son and wife are redoing their kitchen in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Dad and LOML are traveling down middle of January. Here's a question he hit me with today. All their cabinets in kitchen are dark wood cherry. His number # 1 girl wants to brighten up the kitchen. New Appliance, granite counter tops have been ordered. Needs to cover the cherry cabinets with durable white finish. Whats the procedure for doing such a project?. Regular paint? or is there a special type of paint made for this purpose?. Any suggestions will be appreciated.:)

[Matt Meiser]

There's an Ask This Old House episode where they painted the cabinets with an acrylic paint then topcoated with water-based poly. At least on TV, it looked pretty good. It also looked like a LOT of work--cleaning, sanding, priming, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, topcoating, sanding, topcoating, reinstalling. How long you staying?

[Kelly Bowe]

I painted birch cabinets in our first house for the loml, I used ordinary house primer and used a melamine base paint for the top coat. Paint was $25/gallon in 1992. The paint is used to paint laminate counter tops and is very durable. It can be rolled but I sprayed the doors and drawers outside with an inexpensive paint gun and compressor and then rolled the face frames. The paint holds up really good. LOML is Italian descent and a great cook. Dried red gravy cleaned up with warm soap and water and did leave any stains. My contribution to her culinary perfection.

[Brian Peters]

I don't know if I feel comfortable advising you how to paint over cherry cabinetry??? :confused:

[Mark Boyette]

boy isn't that the truth!!




I don't know if I feel comfortable advising you how to paint over cherry cabinetry??? :confused:

[James Ogle]

I am with Brian on this. However I think that it is this months Family Handyman that has a good article on how to paint kitchen cabinets. They use one of the inexpensive HVLP guns you can get from a BORG. The downside is that painted kitchen cabinets look good for a short while but inevitably get chipped. A better option would be refacing the cabinets. Self stick veneer for the face frames and then new white thermafoil covered doors and drawer fronts. Lowes and HD both offer the materials for this. You would need to measure and order them.

You might also try just sanding the colored varnish off of the cabinets and putting a clear finish on them. I can't believe the people that think cherry is supposed to look like that ugly color that mass production turns out. There is probably a lot of light colored sapwood in the cabinets. SO that might make it bright enough.

[Brian Peters]

Well it shouldn't chip off if it adheres correctly. The finish is only as good as the prep work and the reason why many finishes fail over existing ones is because the underlaying coats of varnish or paint, lacquer etc.. aren't scuffed up enough and sanded. No doubt its going to be a ton of work to prep an inset profiled cope and stick door with a raised panel and all the cabinetry involved but everything has to be meticulously sanded for it to work.

I wouldn't paint over the cherry if it is quality cherry and in good condition. Cherry takes years to get its true luster and with some TLC I think it would add more value to strip sand and restain/lacquer it than to just scuff, prime and paint it. But who knows, I'm no "inferior decorator" ;).

[Chip Lindley]

Painting over any good hardwood is a sacrilege IMHO. The cherry will cry out to you for vindication with every nick and chip of the new paint. But, there is plenty of good advice from others here, if you plan on committing this Cardinal Sin!

[David Prince]

You could post this question in the project finishing threads to see what kind of answers you get. I have done similar to what you are asking, but I too would agree that painting cherry is like the 11 th commandment (I think :eek:)

but... If you want to, start by cleaning the finish with a degreaser type cleaner. Then, lightly sand to scuff the surface. Paint with a oil base primer. A short-nap roller would give you an even finish. Finish with two coats of an oil base enamel for maximum durability. (light sanding between coats to smooth it out)

[Tony Bilello]

More than likely, your cabinets are finished in clear lacquer. get a good dewaxer and cleaner and clean as best as reasinably possible. Spray with a vinyl sealer. Vinyl is a great sealer, by the way. Anyway, the next day, pick at and scrape the vinyl. It should scratch and scrape but should not peel. If it dont peel, go to Sherwin Williams and get Pre-Catalyzed lacquer in the color you want. They will mix it up for you.
One coat of vinyl sealer and 2 good coats of the Pre-Cat should be plenty enough.
This almost sounds too easy.

[Jim Becker]

The first thing you do is do a major crying dance if those cabinets are really made of cherry... ;)

That said, the most important step is cleaning them thoroughly...there is an amazing amount of grease and other dirt that ends up on kitchen cabinets, even away from cooking areas. It must be completely removed...typically a cleaner like TSP is used. The surface then needs to be abraded to get ride of the shine and provide some "tooth" for the new finish to adhere to.

As far as a finishing material, oil based enamel is typically what is applied if the cabinets need to remain in place. An alternative would be a 100% acrylic water borne product, such as Sherwin Williams Pro-Classic. Do not even think about using latex paint for this. Spraying is often difficult with boxes in-place, but these finishes brush out and flow nicely. The doors and drawers can be done somewhere else and can be sprayed or brushed/rolled at your option and depending upon your facilities.

While many cabinets are finished with lacquer, not all of them are. Factory finishes vary. I'd be concerned with applying lacquer over an existing finish without knowing exactly what is already on the cabinets...there is no guarantee of compatibility and it can be a real mess if there is a reaction.

[Britt Kelch]

Tru Value or ace Hardware have a kitchen cabinets paint. saw a demo on this paint. ca




be brushed,rolled or srayed. It actually makes the roller marks,and paint brush marks invisable. It is extremly tough .

[Phil Phelps]

Happy New Year to all SMC's. My youngest son and wife are redoing their kitchen in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Dad and LOML are traveling down middle of January. Here's a question he hit me with today. All their cabinets in kitchen are dark wood cherry. His number # 1 girl wants to brighten up the kitchen. New Appliance, granite counter tops have been ordered. Needs to cover the cherry cabinets with durable white finish. Whats the procedure for doing such a project?. Regular paint? or is there a special type of paint made for this purpose?. Any suggestions will be appreciated.:)

First of all, Gary, they live in an area that still allows the sale of lacquer and alkyd products. However, there are many of us who froze when we read the painting of cherry. I sincerely hope your son will contact a seasoned professional before he ever starts this project. I don't want to comment here but would glady help if you PM me.

[Scott Holmes]

Gary,

Convince you son and his wife to use light colored granite and light colored flooring...

I don't want to have to report your son for cruelilty and abuse of CHERRY wood.

[Neal Clayton]

tell his wife to stop watching the idiots on HGTV who paint everything they can find (including bricks and antiques with original finishes, etc.).

problem solved.

[Jason Roehl]

I'd be surprised if the cabinets are really cherry. The non-woodworking world likes to use the names of woods to refer to colors, no matter the inaccuracy. When I see DARK "cherry" cabinets, they are almost always maple with dark stains and/or toners applied.

That said, I agree with Neal, and I'm a painter. Cabinets tend to just plain not do well with non-factory paint jobs. The factory applied clear coats tend to be exceptionally smooth and it's difficult to get a good long-term bond, even with sanding and chemical de-glossing.

[Fred Preston]

IMHO a reface and replace would be just as cheap and much faster. A lot of prep work needs to be done before painting previously clear coated or stained cabinet doors. keep the cherry doors for your shop? my $0.02.