kitchen | Crestwood Painting

Does Unfinished Cabinetry Pay?

Vanity unfinished paint stain — Unfinished cabinetry has some downsides to be aware of.

A family called to meet and talk about interior painting – the entire house. They had hired a “friend” that had been “recommended” as a “good painter” that “needed some help”. This painter was not up to the task and had managed to create chaos throughout the home.

Here’s what caught my eye: there were two bathrooms with a vanity in each – both unfinished. They had planned to paint the cabinets themselves. This sort of thing starts with the best of intentions – a nice cabinet for a very attractive price. This is okay, but only if:

You actually do the work yourself
You can accept a less-than-perfect DIY finish

Stain or Paint?

On balance, staining unfinished vanities is easier than painting. Staining eliminates sanding primer and caulking joints. Stain also helps blend normal surface wear and tear – you’re less likely to notice varnish wear off; you’ll very quickly see that wear in a painted surface. Finally, the average homeowner is more likely to achieve satisfactory results when staining and varnishing whereas painting cabinetry requires more deliberate skill.

Purchasers of unfinished cabinetry may not realize the labor that goes into making their purchase look beautiful:

Remove hinges (and re-install when everything is dry)
Remove drawer glides (and re-install when everything is dry)
Find a place to do the work (because every bathroom is too small)
Proper prep
- Ease sharp factory edges with a bit of sanding
- Vacuum to remove all dust
- Prime, let dry, sand primer smooth, vacuum again
- Caulk joints (when painting)
Apply paint or stain
Second coat needed?
Apply varnish over stain

Drawer Boxes

Usually drawer boxes are sealed with a coat or two of varnish. This requires first staining the drawer fronts, dry time and varnish over all. Unless you’re painting – then varnish the drawer box first, then paint drawer fronts. Of course, re-install drawer glides when everything is dry.

Now carry the all components back to the bathroom and install drawer glides and hinges without nicking anything. Remember to clean up the (basement? garage?) work area.

Bottom Line

You’re always better to take advantage of a cabinet manufacturer’s factory-perfect finishing process. You’ll never achieve a similar level of finish on your own and the cost of paying a professional to come in and do it will not yield the expected savings.

What’s it cost to paint or stain bathroom vanities? Generally, $100 per lineal foot is a good guide. So, a 5′ vanity will be about $500 and a 3′ vanity will be around $350. This assumes there is other work being done and, of course, your mileage may vary depending on the painter you call.

Touch-up Paint vs Fingernail Polish

A homeowner asked about touch-up painting for trim and kitchen cabinets – this explanation really clicked for her.

Nails usually follow a three step process:

Base coat
Color coat
Top coat (2X)
(Optional) Chip

When a chip happens there’s really no easy way to make that nail look like all the rest, is there?
She had no more questions.

You’ll notice how similar nail polish lingo is to painting lingo. Same process, really – primer, paint and, in the case of kitchen cabinets, very often a clear coat on top of everything.

Sure, you can apply paint to cover a chip, but it won’t look the same without a lot of extra work. Now, if you’re selling a house that might be OK – but keep this trick in mind when you’re buying, too. What at first appears to be a well-painted home may really be nothing more than clever touch-up work. That’s something that you’re likely to not see until you’ve lived in the house for a bit.

If you’ve got touch up painting questions, give us a call. We’re happy to help and there’s usually no chipped nails in answering questions.

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Updated Golden Oak - this young couple was delighted with the transformation. — Updated Golden Oak – this young couple was delighted with the transformation.

Golden Oak cabinets are so last century. But re-staining or painting kitchen cabinets is not as straight-forward as painting your living room. Here’s what to look for:

Material – there are trade-offs. Solvent-based (oil) materials have some advantages, but they have terrible odor. Not just your average terrible, but industrial strength, move out-of-your-house-for-three-days kind of terrible. A latex product solves the odor issue and the right product will solve the durability issue.
Application – there are some DIY kits available that say the product can be brushed on, but most professionals wouldn’t even think of brushing kitchen cabinets. Cabinets require a silky-smooth, even layer of paint – the kind of finish that can only be achieved with a sprayer, a practiced hand and a keen eye.

A close view of dated, dark and dingy cabinetry before painting. The previous homeowner was a heavy smoker – major cleaning was required.
Durability – This is a balance between finish hardness, flexibility and adhesion. Too hard and the finish will chip under the heavy use common to kitchens. Poor adhesion means it’s even more likely to chip because it doesn’t stick very well. Flexibility means the finish has more “give” when dinged but at a certain point adhesion comes into question. Proper material selection is critical – you don’t want to learn six months later that there was a better choice available.
Blocking – A finish with good blocking properties will allow you to put a can of soup on the shelf and remove it a month later without leaving an impression or removing paint. Latex products have typically not had very good blocking properties, but there are niche materials available that block as well as oil-based paints.
Hardware – there’s no problem to replace existing hinges or door pulls provided the hole spacing is the same. If there are holes to fill (say you change from a door pull to a knob), you might consider texture. The hole will be filled and then sanded smooth; that repair will not match the texture of the surrounding wood. Usually not a deal-breaker, but a small detail that might affect your expectations.
Interiors – Melamine cabinet interiors are almost always masked to protect from paint; wood or composite materials are often painted, depending on age, condition and homeowner preference. Masking takes more time to make sure that paint goes only where it should.
Grain-filling – Oak is considered an open grain wood and maple is a closed grain (and therefore very smooth) wood; other species may have knots. If the texture of open grain or knotty wood doesn’t appeal to you the grain can be filled and sanded for a smoother appearance. This option involves a bit more time but it’s a practical way to minimize wood texture. A caution, though – it’s reasonable to expect a “disguise” of the wood grain rather than a complete conversion to piano-smooth.

If you’d like to discuss the options available for your kitchen cabinets or bathroom vanity, please call Crestwood Painting today!

Choose the Right Paint Sheen

Paint sheen crestwood interior — Sheen describes the amount of light reflected.

Everybody knows about color; not many know about sheen. But it is just as important when choosing paints. So here we go!

Sheen is another way to say “light reflectance”. Kitchen cabinets are usually higher-gloss surfaces and so reflect more light that most ceilings (flat sheen).

One is not better than the other – but there are trade-offs and considerations in choosing which sheen is best for a particular application.

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