Cabinet Painting for Charlotte Kitchens

Cabinets get a water-based enamel, not wall paint. Wall paint stays soft and prints under a fingertip; a cabinet enamel cures to a hard film that takes fingernails, dish towels and cleaning spray. Water-based enamels also keep their color instead of ambering the way old oil finishes did on white kitchens. We spray them so the film flows out flat, without brush texture on a door you touch every day.

Primer choice follows the substrate. Slick factory finishes, laminate and thermofoil need a bonding primer, because enamel over an unsanded, unprimed sheen peels at the door edges where hands land. Stained oak, pine and older cherry get a stain-blocking primer so tannin does not bleed a yellow shadow through white enamel. Dents, chipped edges and old hardware holes get filled with a hard wood filler and sanded flush, since enamel shows every dip it crosses.

Sheen on cabinets usually lands at satin. Satin wipes clean around a range and holds up to a wet rag, while flat finishes hold grease and grabbing marks. Semi-gloss reads brighter and cleans a little easier, but it shows waves in an old door face. Two full coats do the real work: even color across doors and boxes, the old stain fully covered, and a surface you can wash instead of touch up.