My NO FEAR way to paint your kitchen cabinets and get a professional finish

I am not afraid of paint. In fact, I am a little obsessed with paint.  But when it comes to kitchen cabinets it is a different story... or so I thought.

Because I was obsessed with getting the most professional finish I went through the whole process with detail:

Doing the splits while sanding creates the smoothest surface :)

1. Remove cabinets and ALL HARDWARE! Don't get lazy and think "oh, I'll leave that on and paint around it"... no no, take it all off!
2. Sand and clean before priming!  I found the cleaning was even more important than the sanding.  I washed the cabinets with oxy clean and warm water with a damp rag.  
3. Prime
4. Sand Again. Clean again. I know, you just want to get it done, but don't skip this step!  You need to sand and clean thoroughly before painting.  Just keep reminding yourself you want this to look gooooooood :)
5. Paint 2-3 coats.  Let dry 24 hours between each coat.

Now onto HOW we painted because that is really where it counts:

We taped and wrapped the drawers

We hung the doors in the garage with wire.

Hanging the cabinets was my husband's idea.  We don't have much time around here to paint, so hanging them seemed like the fastest way to go about it (this way we didn't have to wait for 1 side to dry before doing the next and bla bla bla.. yada yada yada).  But, we couldn't get to the cabinets for almost 2 weeks, so there they hung.  After 2 weeks of hanging with all that weight, the wire broke and they all fell down!  We finally realized that we needed 3 rows of wire and paint them within 3 days and that did the job (but I was scared the whole time...).

Now onto painting- I read on different blogs that spraying cabinets was the way to go.  Professionals spray them, so should I, right?  I spent weeks researching spray rentals. 

1. Rent a sprayer.  $65/day from any paint store.  However, none would rent to oil based paint.  With 3 wild children, the only paint I was going was oil based (more durable, harder and lasts longer).  
2. Have your paint put into aerosol spray cans (via Sherwin Williams).  This seemed great at first, I could just throw away the can and not have to deal with icky mineral spirits for cleaning..... but it was VERY expensive! $8/can.  Each can wasn't even a quart!  Bad idea.
3. Rent an air compressor ($28/day) and purchase a spray paint attachment ($20-40).  This one I got from Holly . 

My husband hating every minute of the spraying

 We went with #3.  Cheap, easy and seemed like it would do the job.  But it wasn't as easy as it sounded.  The sprayer was so slow that my husband actually complained.  He is not a complainer.  He hated it.  In the end, the spraying didn't get into all the wood grain, it took way too long, and it just looked cheap.  We scrapped the sprayer and went to rolling them (something I KNOW I am good at!). 

Rolling the cabinets worked SOOOO well for us!!  I thought 'why did I mess with that sprayer and have anxiety attacks over HOW to paint them?  I should have just stuck with what I was good at- rolling and painting by hand.'  Less hassle, less anxiety.  The NO FEAR way to paint is definitely rolling.

My 3 painting buddies

Reasons Rolling Worked:

1. We used a high quality oil based paint (Sherwin Williams oil based in semi-gloss) and added Penetrol to the paint to make brush strokes and roller streaks disappear (really, they disappear like magic) . A tip I picked up from Censational Girl. I swear by Penetrol, I love you Penetrol!
2. I am good at painting.  Stick with something you are comfortable with and know how to work with it.
3. Our cabinets had deep wood grains that required a brush full of paint to fill the grain so it was a better option than spraying and made the best finish.
4. I used the 3 rollers pictured above.  A 2 inch foam roller, a 4 inch foam roller, and a high end, soft bristle brush.  I love all 3.  They are my 3 painting pals.

I am loving our island! STUNNING :)

A coat of Primer and 2 coats of paint later we were done- Hallelujah!  We both thought we would never have our kitchen the same again.... well, it isn't the same, it is amazing!!!  Weeks of hard labor were all worth it when I saw the change.  It looks like new cabinetry, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Now onto our countertops, backsplash and I still have to paint the walls... we are getting there!