I just moved into a house that has dark cabinets that have been varnished to death! How can I paint them?

Will I have to strip the varnish off or can I just prime them really well? Any paint technique suggestions? I want to knock this project out in one day.I just moved into a house that has dark cabinets that have been varnished to death! How can I paint them?
It will be more than a one day job to do it right. You will have to remove the hinges and knobs and drawer pulls, lightly sand the cabinets and use a good primer on it, which will take some time to dry properly, then apply two coats of paint, they make a special paint just for cabinets, check with Lowes, Home Depot or Menards for the paint.


If you really want the finish to hold up thin down some interior/exterior poly 2/3 poly to 1/3 mineral spirits and apply several coats. I use this poly on all of my furniture refinishing and get a really smooth top coat, remember to lightly sand between the first coat of poly and wipe with a tac cloth, when the second coat of poly dries go over it with 0000 steel wool and wipe with a tac cloth and put your final coat of poly on...


Good LuckI just moved into a house that has dark cabinets that have been varnished to death! How can I paint them?
you can give it a light sanding...then either use a good primer UNDERCOAT ..that will cover the dark finish so you can add a lighter color...a primer sealer won't do that trick.


Then. use a melamine paint...it acts as an extra primer and covers really well and gives it a very nice durable, washable finish. The longer it cures..the harder the finish. Sometimes you can get away with just the melamine paint as long as the surface is prepped..ie: sanded
If they are good quality cabinets I would use a paint stripper to take it down to bare wood again and then stain to your liking. Of course this involves more than a days worth of work but a kitchen is something you have to look at everyday so why not take an extra day or 2.


Would buying new cabinet doors be an option? The prices are quite reasonable on some and there are many styles to change the look altogether.
Go to Sherwin Williams, or another good paint store and get a bonding primer. Its made to go over previously painted and varnished surfaces.
Even though there are products on the market that allow you to sand lightly, prime then paint, I really am a fan of applying the elbow grease and making sure the bones of the object are prepared well before applying your paint.





That said, I believe the most sure-fire way of dealing with these is:





1. Remove the cupboards, hinges etc


2. A good sand back


3. Good quality primer


4. Good quality top coats: light sand between coats


5. Replace hinges


6. Rehang doors





For water based paint you can hire/buy an aircompressor and spray rather than hand brush or roll the cupboards. It provides an excellent finish and is less time consuming.





If you want to do the job justice be prepared to set aside the weekend - when you're dealing with remodelling something that has been done really well the first time, you want to make sure your efforts are done well too.





Good luck.