We’ve now painted oak cabinets about three different times so I thought I would share some time-saving tips and tricks to painting oak cabinets that will also help your newly painted cabinets last. There are hundreds of cabinet painting tutorials out there and I’m not convinced that one way is the best but I can share what’s worked for us. The first home we owned we painted our oak cabinets white, by hand, with foam rollers and it was a long slog. This go around we opted to try spraying them and it was a total time saver! If you are interested in painting your cabinets check out these quick tips for painting cabinets without showing the grain below.
Big thanks to HomeRight for sponsoring this post! My positive opinion of their high quality, time saving equipment is totally my own. For your convenience, this post includes affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, Making Home Base may receive a small commission on anything you purchase. Check out my disclosure policy for more information.
Clean the surface of the cabinets really well
It’s important to clean the cabinets thoroughly before you begin. Our cabinets were filthy and filled with gunk. Gross! We used a product called Murphy’s Oil to clean the cabinets.
Pick a paint with good coverage
What’s the best paint for kitchen cabinets? That’s a great question – I chose Behr Marquee because i love the formula and have used it on all of our walls so I knew that it had great coverage. I tried out a few colors and I ended up selecting a paint color called Still Gray by Behr and had it mixed into the Marquee line formula. Picking a good paint is a huge time saver and potentially money saver. Since our paint had great coverage, we didn’t have to prime the cabinets, and they still only needed two coats of paint.
Don’t skip sanding
I know it’s tempting to pick an option that allows you to skip sanding and just paint over the cabinets but it was a crucial step to getting the paint to bond well to the cabinets. We sanded all of the cabinets really well with an electric sander, then used our shop vac to remove any dust and debris from the cabinets. The initial sand is to just get any varnish off the cabinets and get to the wood.
Fill in the wood grain
One of the biggest questions I get asked in relation to the cabinets is if we have any grain showing. Oak cabinets are notorious for showing wood grain even after being painting so we did take some extra steps to ensure that you would see minimal grain. We used a product called DAP Drydex spackling to fill the wood grain.
To apply it, we took a spackling knife and ran it all the way down the length of the cabinet door, filling in every little crack, then removing any excess. Then, we ran the knife the width of the cabinet, again removing any excess. We allowed the Drydex to dry, then gave it another good sand until the cabinets were completely smooth. After sanding – we vacuumed up all the dust and debris before beginning the painting process.
Use a sprayer for a smooth finish
Since we couldn’t avoid sanding the cabinets it was a relief to know that the actual painting process would be a breeze. When we painted the cabinets in our first home we hand painted them and there was a lot more to paint that time around. It was an exhausted and long process so I knew I wanted to avoid it, if possible.
We opted to paint the cabinets using a sprayer with the HomeRight Spray Shelter so we could take the cabinet doors outside and spray them in the open air. The shelter is great for a project like this because you can spray in open air but still protect your surroundings. The best thing about painting cabinets with a sprayer is the smooth finish you get. No brushstrokes – totally smooth.
There is a bit of a learning curve with the sprayer, we followed the directions to our HomeRight Finish Max Sprayer because you have to get the flow just right. We practiced by first painting the interior side of the cabinets and then once we were confident with the sprayer, we sprayed the outside. It took two coats of the Behr Marquee paint for full coverage – no primer.
Don’t forget a top coat
I have a little secret. We totally forgot to add a top coat on our cabinets. A top coat is important to avoid any damage to the paint. It also makes the cabinets easier to clean. When we painted our cabinets we had multiple other projects going on. It was also right around the holidays, so we wanted to just get the cabinets back up as soon as possible. A year and a half later, we just added a top coat. I will say, I was incredibly impressed with how the paint held up on it’s own. We haven’t gotten a single dent or scratch in the paint, an it’s not impossible to clean. For a top coat, we ended up applying this polycrylic. It’s one that has a true clear finish while some others tend to turn a bit yellow after time.
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Krist says
December 8, 2015 at 8:28 amOh my goodness Chelsea, what a difference! The grey looks so perfect with those countertops and you gotta LOVE the smooth finish that only a sprayer can give! Looks fab my friend!
Chelsea says
December 8, 2015 at 10:07 amThank you!! When we painted cabinets once we before we probably went through 100 foam brushes and it took us DAYS. This took us hours and the smooth finish is even better!
Rachel Paxton says
December 8, 2015 at 8:37 amWhat?!?! How are you doing all this? You must be superwoman. The kitchen looks amazing, Chelsea! Love love love it.
Chelsea says
December 8, 2015 at 10:08 amI’m a crazy woman, totally different 😉 Thank you!! xoxo
[email protected] Stroll Thru Life says
December 8, 2015 at 8:41 amWow, it looks amazing. You guys have really been working hard and it shows. Love that large opening too, perfect.
Chelsea says
December 8, 2015 at 10:08 amThanks, Marty! That opening completely changes the feel of the kitchen – we don’t feel so closed off anymore! It’s great!
Erica says
December 8, 2015 at 9:20 amI really need to look into that sprayer because painting our kitchen cabinets really overwhelms me! We’ve lived in our house for 16 months, and the kitchen (which was originally our first priority) has turned into our last due to just simply feeling overwhelmed by the time it will take. Thanks for sharing such a detailed post. Everything looks gorgeous, and I love love love that bowl sink!
Chelsea says
December 8, 2015 at 10:11 amI know what you mean! The sprayer makes a huge difference. It just took us a couple of hours to do the cabinets doors, then the next day we knocked out the cabinet bases. So basically a weekend project but we don’t have a huge kitchen. I definitely recommend going with really good quality paint. I love the Behr Marquee because it gets great coverage so we didn’t have to worry about priming. Huge time saver!
Sarah says
December 8, 2015 at 9:21 amAbsolutely gorgeous! I am loving the gray and white combo. You may have convinced me to try the sprayer on my cabinets too. You make it sound so easy and worth the work in the end!
Chelsea says
December 8, 2015 at 10:14 amThanks, Sarah! I love the power of paint! It was totally worth the work and way less labor intensive than I remember it being the last time we did this (hand painted with like a 100 foam brushes).
Krista says
December 8, 2015 at 10:22 amThey look amazing Chelsea!! I love the colour you chose and they look so smooth. And the quartz!!! Stunning!!
Jenna says
December 8, 2015 at 12:12 pmChelsea, the cabinets look amazing! Such a huge difference. I love the color you chose – could work with so many other accent colors. The whole transformation is just awesome! Way to kill it, girl!
Amy | Delineate Your Dwelling says
December 9, 2015 at 3:15 pmWhat a difference those cabinets made! I love the color you choose, too.
Jamie says
December 16, 2015 at 2:02 amI love your kitchen! You did a great job, Chelsea. I need that spray painter.
Hugs, Jamie
Alex says
December 18, 2015 at 5:26 amThe before photo looks eerily similar to my parents’ house in Miami. From the paint color, or cabinets, to appliances, to crappy galley style. Absolutely love the after photos!
Sarah Anderson says
April 11, 2016 at 2:31 pmSpeckling the kitchen cabinets before painting is an interesting idea. I’ve never thought to do that before. It probably helps keep the paint all smooth so there is no gaps or bubbles.
Chelsea says
April 11, 2016 at 8:47 pmHi Sarah, we added spackling avoid seeing the wood grain after the cabinets were painted. It leaves a really smooth finish.
Mary says
November 3, 2016 at 8:02 pmso how did you finish the outer parts of the cabinets…did you sand them all?
Chelsea says
November 3, 2016 at 10:31 pmHey Mary,
Yes – we used an electric sander and gave them all a quick sand just to roughen them up. We used a shopvac to vacuum up all of the dust. Then, we cleaned them really well and painted them up with a brush. You certainly could spray them but it would require you to tape off quite a bit.
Anna says
December 3, 2016 at 8:36 pmHow far into the cabinet bases did you paint?? All the way inside or just the frames? Looks amazing!
Chelsea says
December 4, 2016 at 8:02 pmHi Anna – do you mean did we paint the inside? No, we didn’t. We painted the outside of the cabinets and then just the lip of the cabinet that way when they are open you didn’t notice a color difference. Does that make sense? The cabinets on the inside were a raw wood anyway.
Kathleen M says
January 3, 2017 at 9:52 pmhow many hours and days did this take?
also,
You didn’t use the sprayer on the cabinet frame since no way to really protect surrounding surfaces, so how did you paint?
Kathleen M says
January 3, 2017 at 10:02 pmMatte finish or satin, gloss, etc?
P says
May 8, 2017 at 5:26 pmHow are the cabinets holding up? I am surprised you used murphys oil soap and did not prime them first or use some type of cabinet paint. Seems like latex paint would not adhere very well in the long haul. They look nice though.
P
Chelsea says
May 8, 2017 at 11:07 pmHey P, they actually have held up incredibly well – almost two years later they have absolutely zero flaws. 🙂
Janelle says
July 25, 2017 at 8:13 amYour polycrilic link doesn’t take me to the product? Could you relink or offer the product name? About to begin our project with Marquee paint this Thursday! Your wisdom is helping me finally jump into this long-awaited project!!!
Marychris says
August 8, 2017 at 3:15 pmI also couldn’t get the polycrylic information. Please advise. Thanks. Your kitchen looks great!
Chelsea says
August 8, 2017 at 4:39 pmHi Marychris, I recently updated this post and included the polyclic info – we used polyclric but didn’t apply until later because we had totally forgot. I link the stuff we used in this post under the “top coat” section.
Raja says
October 7, 2017 at 2:32 pmAwesome job. One question, did you have to thin the paint?
Chelsea says
October 7, 2017 at 4:59 pmWe did not thin the paint.
Corie says
October 9, 2017 at 2:19 pmI’m wondering if you sanded before the spakle (after cleaning) AND after the spakle…..or was it just after the spakle??
Also, I think someone else asked this question but I did t see a response. What type of the Marque paint did you use? Satin? Semi gloss??
Thanks
Chelsea says
October 10, 2017 at 9:54 pmLots of sanding! We sanded before spackle to remove the gloss on the cabinets, then spackled, then sanded again then painted! Great question on finish of the paint. It was semi gloss.
angie says
October 19, 2017 at 1:15 pmLooking for the name of the top coat. The link is not working. Thanks!
Chelsea says
October 30, 2017 at 9:12 pmHi Angie – it’s a Minwax product – try this affiliate link: http://rstyle.me/n/ctrdqs27yw
Jon says
July 1, 2018 at 4:39 pmWhat grit of sandpaper did you use before and after the spackling?
Tony says
October 18, 2019 at 6:27 pmHi! It’s been a few years now. Did the Polycrylic yellow the white paint at all? How has it held up? Thanks!
Chelsea says
October 21, 2019 at 12:53 amWe painted the cabs gray so no, there was no yellowing or any discoloration at all.