7 Things To Do When You’re Painting Or Staining Your Kitchen Cabinets in San Diego, CA

Your kitchen cabinets are important to the kitchen — they possibly make the difference between being a kitchen where people want to spend time and avoid.

When you decide to change the look of your kitchen, you might want entirely replace your kitchen cabinets, but if your budget doesn’t quite reach that far, you might want to consider painting or to stain them instead.

There are many ways to paint or stain your kitchen cabinets, but there are some methods that are just less effective than others.

With that in mind, let us look at seven things to do when you’re painting or staining your kitchen cabinets in San Diego, CA.

1. Sanding Is Important Before Painting

Before you start the painting process, you’re going to want to properly sand the cabinets as well as the doors to the cabinets.

The sanding process will ensure that when you paint the cabinets, the primer, as well as the paint, will go on much more smoothly.

2. Colors Are Not Limited To Just One

You might be thinking that when you’re painting cabinets, you pretty much have to stick to just one color, and that’s it.

That’s not the case at all, however — you can do more than one color if you want, and even do one color and have a second color as a sort of accent to that color.

Think creatively, and you’ll be able to get all sorts of good looks for your kitchen cabinets.

3. Make Sure You Remove The Cabinet Doors Before Painting The Cabinets

Some people allow their cabinet doors to hang while they are painting the kitchen cabinets, but this is a bit of an error for a number of reasons.

One of the issues with doing this is that you will not be able to properly paint your cabinet doors, which should be painted while they are laying flat — the best way to paint them.

The other big issue is that you will have a harder time painting or staining if the doors are hanging on the cabinets.

4. Stained Cabinets Look Pretty But Are Harder To Clean

Though you are going to achieve a nice natural look when you have stained cabinets, you’re also going to have cabinets that are a bit harder to clean.

Another interesting tidbit to remember about stained cabinets is that they tend not to last as long, finish wise, as painted cabinets.

5. Primer Is A Must When You Are Painting Cabinets

As smooth as you might think your cabinets are, you should prime your cabinets with a coat of primer prior to painting them.

Primer is important for kitchen cabinets as paint stays on primer far better than it does on bare wood, even wood that has been properly sanded.

The other thing is that primer makes the surface of your kitchen cabinets even smoother, which is undoubtedly an important part of painting your kitchen cabinets.

6. Do Not Try To Stain Moist Cabinets

The word moist is one of the least liked words as far as words go, but you must remember that after you clean your cabinets thoroughly, you’re going to need to allow time for them to dry.

If your kitchen cabinets are even remotely not dry (we didn’t say the word that time), the stain will not take — you can even use a lint-free cloth to ensure that your cabinets are properly dry.

7. Stir Before You Stain

Though we might want to believe that our cans of stain solution come ready for us to use, the truth is that often there is the color at the bottom of the can — stir it properly and your staining will come out much better.