Are you in need of cabinet painting or refinishing and live in the Indianapolis, IN metropolitan area? When you walk into a room in your home and look at your cabinets, does a feeling of disgust slowly start to creep in? If you’ve answered yes to these questions, then you’ve come to the right place! Whether you are homeowner looking to update, or a business owner in need of professional cabinet refinishing, Physics Painting is your one stop shop.
Here at Physics Painting, we specialize in professional cabinet painting in Indianapolis, IN and would love to help bring your cabinet set to life! When you think to yourself, “I need to paint my cabinets, but don’t know where to start,” we want Physics Painting to be your answer.
Painting your cabinets might seem like a simple task, but there are actually several things to consider before embarking on a project such as this. Below, we’ve listed the top ten things to take into account before painting your cabinets yourself, or having them painted by a professional.
Common Cabinet Painting Concerns:
1. Painting Stained Cabinets
As stained cabinets are becoming more outdated, there’s been a recent push to cover that stain with a couple coats of paint. It’s a great way to update your kitchen and bring a room back to life. One thing to make sure when you paint stained cabinets is use an oil-based primer or an appropriate water-based product to lock in that stain. Otherwise, that stain will want to seep through and ruin your finished product.
2. Painting New Cabinets
If you are getting brand new cabinets, you may run into the situation where the company installing them does not finish them for you. If this is the case, then you will need to hire a professional company to do this for you, and Physics Painting is here to help. Also, this process requires a little less work since there’s not a previous stain you need to lock in, but it will still require some priming to prepare the surface correctly.
3. Repainting Previously Painted Cabinets
When is comes to painting cabinets, this is the least labor-intensive situation, at least as long as the paint is in good condition. If the previous coating is not chipping off, then all you have to do is clean the surface, and the previous coating will serve as the primer for the new paint. If there are some spots chipping/peeling/blistering/etc., then you will need to scrape whatever is loose and spot prime accordingly.
4. Best Paint for Cabinet Painting
There’s a lot of debate in the painting world as to which paint is best to refinish cabinets with, but some professional advice might help clear this up. There are basically to camps when it comes to cabinet coatings: paints and lacquers. Water and oil-based paints are ideal for homeowners looking to do it themselves since they are easier to work with and can be applied with a brush or roller. In the professional world though, lacquers take the cake. They are by far the most durable and provide the best finish. There’s a reason why professional cabinet shops strictly use lacquers for all of their work.
With that being said, there are a few draw backs. Lacquers almost always have to be sprayed, so this requires a professional’s touch to produce the desired finish. Also, they are usually full of harmful vapors, which is why they are used more in well-ventilated and government approved spray shops. They do make water-based versions, though, that compare in durability and circumvent the VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) issues. It is undeniable though; if you want the best product, you want to use a lacquer.
5. Cabinet Painting Process
As long as you use a proven system, there are several ways to paint a set of cabinets. Each one will offer different benefits (finish, efficiency, longevity), but there are certain things that you want to make sure you, or the company you’re using, do during your cabinet painting process. For starters, make sure that everything is removed from your the cabinets. The last thing you want is to have pigment or paint residue all over the contents in your cabinets. Secondly, if your cabinets are stained, make sure an oil-based primer is being used. These are guaranteed to lock in any stain if applied properly, so this eliminates the risk of stretching out the project if the stain does bleed through the top coat. If a professional you’ve hired is using a water-based product, I would possibly find someone else or proceed with caution.
Thirdly, if anything is being sprayed inside the house, make sure that the entire room is sealed off using plastic, the vents are shut, and the air to the house is turned off. All paints have extremely small particles that have a habit of circulating easily throughout the ventilation system. This is where brush painting the boxes and spraying the doors in a shop come into play. Other than that, the only limit to painting cabinets is your imagination. If you would like to read about our process on cabinet painting in Indianapolis, IN in depth, you can read about it further on our website.
6. Cabinet Door & Drawer Hardware
Cabinet door and drawer hardware is one thing that can really make your cabinet set pop. There are certain styles and colors that go well together, so some quick research would greatly benefit you and your project. For example, our company loves to use stainless steel hardware with white cabinets. It’s a great amount of contrast and offers a very clean look. There are also soft-closing hinges you can purchase and bumpers to place on the backs of doors and drawers to add a professional touch.
7. Kitchen Cabinet Painting
Painting your kitchen cabinets is one of the most popular things you can do right now to update your home. It’s very economical and can be a quick way to reinvest in your home or business. Because of this, we’ve broken it down into several categories to help hit on most of the trends and concerns people have when thinking about painting their kitchen cabinets.
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Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets White
White kitchen cabinets are in right now, there’s no doubt about that. This is by far one of the most requested projects we get right now, and it’s one that we specialize in. A white kitchen cabinet set really brightens up the room and gives your kitchen a more modern/luxurious look. Pair the color with the right set of hardware and you’re on your way to making all of your neighbors jealous.
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Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets Black
This is another great, but less popular, way to update your home. The look is not for everyone, but it can add a nice touch to the overall feel of your home if you pair it well with the right wall colors. It can also offer a good amount of color contrast, especially if it’s paired with bright white baseboards and crown molding.
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Best Paint To Paint Kitchen Cabinets
For this, the answer given in the previous section about cabinet paint applies to this as well. If you want to do it yourself, think about using a water-based, or maybe even an oil-based paint. If you want it done by a professional, try to hire a company that’s experienced in spraying lacquers.
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Refinishing Old Kitchen Cabinets
Painting does fall under the refinishing category, but there are other ways to refinish your old kitchen cabinets as well. You could have them sanded down, stained the same or different color, and finished with a clear coat. Our company also offers a rejuvenation option if you would like a more economical way to brighten up that old stain. This is a great choice when the clear finish has mostly been rubbed away and the color has faded. We first clean the cabinets, then reapply the stain using the old color, and then seal it in with a couple coats of a clear finish. This eliminates the cost and mess of sanding down your entire set of kitchen cabinets.
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Spraying Kitchen Cabinets
If you want the best finish, then we recommend hiring a professional cabinet refinishing/painting company that’s experienced in spraying, specifically lacquers. If you order a set of brand new cabinets, they’re not going to be brushing and rolling water-based paint on them in their shop.
One piece of advice is to ask the company you’re hiring about what kind of sprayer technology their using. Not all sprayers operate the same, and certain ones provide a much better finish than others. Our company uses an HVLP (High Volume, Low Pressure) sprayer combined with a lacquer system to give our customers the best product. We have the paint manufacturers and sprayer engineers to back us up, and the results speak for themselves. We have cabinet painting in Indianapolis, IN down to a science!
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Refacing Kitchen Cabinets
One final step you can take to put your kitchen cabinet set over the top is to have them refaced by getting new doors and drawer fronts. This is the closest you will get to having new cabinets without actually ripping out the old boxes and buying a brand new set. This option on average will save you between $1,500 and $2,500, and with the right company, like Physics Painting, you won’t know the difference between having this done and buying a brand new set of cabinets.
8. Best Kitchen Door Paint
Our recommendation for the best kitchen door paint is the same as our recommendation for the best kitchen and overall cabinet paint: lacquer. If you find a professional that’s experienced with this kind of coating and is using the right sprayer system, hire them. I can promise you that you won’t be disappointed.
9. Refacing Cabinets
The rationale for doing this is the same as it would be if you were just refacing your kitchen cabinets. For starters, it’s an amazing way to give your cabinet set an updated look without paying the entire updated price. It does leave you with the same boxes you had before, but once you paint them, you won’t be able to tell the difference between 20 year old cabinet boxes and brand new ones. It also eliminates the hassle and mess of ripping out your old set and putting in a new one. There’s less work being done in your home, which means less time for you to stress during the project. Hire a group of professionals like Physics Painting and you won’t be disappointed!
10. Spraying Cabinets
It will cost a little extra, but if you have the money, then we suggest hiring a professional painting/refinishing company to spray your cabinet set. As long as they know what they’re doing, the end product will be worth every penny spent. They’ll be able to use a lacquer, which will provide a much longer lasting finish and extend the life of your investment. The finish will also be unmatched by a company that just uses brushes and rollers. Just a word of caution though; make sure that the company properly contains all of the particles if they are going to spray in your home or business. Plastic off doorways, close vents, and keep the air off while spraying. if you need cabinet painting in Indianapolis, IN, then we are the company for you.
We here at Physics Painting hope this article provides you with some confidence in going forward with your cabinet painting project. If after reading this article you feel that you would like to hire a professional to do the painting of your cabinet set and live in the Indianapolis, IN area, please feel free to contact us to set up an appointment by clicking here. As previously mentioned, this is one area of work that we specialize in and would love to help you as much as we can through this process!