need help with finishing order with kitchen cabinets

[jeff piatt]

my question relates to finishing order. kitchen cabinet build, customer wants white pained exterior with natural wood interior. what are the steps to finishing cabinets? mainly need insight as to whether to clear the inside of the cabinets and then mask it off to color the outside or do that in reverse order or what? we finish with precat gf and are trying to wrap our minds around which should come first and don't want to make it any more difficult than we already are. thanks in advance.

[Tony Joyce]

Speaking from my experiences, I've done it both ways.
I find I get a better job doing the interior first and exterior last.

[roger wiegand]

I just agreed to make a bathroom vanity for a friend that needs to fit an oddly shaped space in a very old house, so I too am thinking about this. I don't normally paint things, and I've only just acquired a spray gun so am anxious to give it a go. (Somehow I think paint stripping will be in my future before this is done!). Anyway, I was making the boxes from prefinished maple ply, I was planning to finish the panels for the doors first, then the face frame and door frames, masking off places that need to be glued, then assemble the doors and attach the face frame to the cabinet. I'm guessing the doors might want a final coat after assembly, but also want to avoid gluing the panels in place with the finish lest they can't move with seasonal changes. With a brush I could easily paint the rails and stiles without slopping paint where I don't want it, not sure how to accomplish that when spraying. Don't know how to resolve that. Heck I'm not even sure how you best go about spraying a piece that needs to be covered on all six sides.

I will be watching this thread for clues!

[jeff piatt]

can you tell me how you finished the inside? did you mask the outside and then finish inside and then allow the inside to dry and cure prior to moving to the outside finish?

[Tony Joyce]

I get the cabinets assembled with backs loose. I finish the interior, at this point I'm not concerned with overspray of the exterior.
I let my interior cure overnight. Temporarily attach the the backs in. Tape the sides and floor even with the back edge of the face frame. I use corrugated cardboard to fill the holes.
Sand (face frames & finished ends,Etc.)any over spray and prime, color coat, & clear coat, sanding in between coats. Done. Customer sets drawers and hangs doors, permanently attaches the backs. Doors & Drawer fronts are sprayed flat. Drawer fronts are attached to cleared drawer boxes. Doors are predrilled for hinges.

I'm doing a set(kitchen cabinets) now where the customer used prefinished plywood interior. I'm doing exterior. Should go a little faster.
My regular customer thinks I do a better on the interior than prefinished.

I should probably note I'm not building cabinets(A luxury afforded by retirement) at this time just finishing other peoples boxes.
Faster and fewer problems for me.
I'm using the same methods I would use if I were building them.

[Jim Becker]

If I don't use pre-finished for the interiors from the supplier, I'd prefinish the components on the interior side prior to assembly. There's almost nothing as thankless as spraying into a box. For the exteriors, I like to use separate end panels when they are going to be exposed. I usually do face frame cabinets, so those get pre-finished before installing on the cabinets and often span more than one box. If not, I'll tape off and insert a scrap panel so that the fronts can be sprayed without buggering the clear interiors.

[John TenEyck]

With painted doors I use MDF for the panels and glue them into the frame, so there's no need to worry about seasonal movement. That means I can spray the entire door after assembly and fitting to the cabinet.

John