Talk me through painting kitchen units...

[FollowingAmirage]

So we have a cream shaker style kitchen which is few years old and mostly ok and I just fancy a change of colour! The cabinets are melamine...

Can someone please talk me through the process? Do you pain both sides of the doors/drawers...I am assuming the inside can stay white? What primer/paint brand? And does the pain last or will you eventually need to repaint/replace the doors? image to attached to show the units we have (the walls will be painted a jasmine white colour...)

I Repainted mine early last year using Wilkos cupboard paint I used the duck egg one
www.wilko.com/en-uk/decorating-diy/paint-woodcare/interior-paint-woodcare/furniture-paint/furniture-cupboard-paint/c/kitchen-cupboard-paint
I did not do the inside of the cupboard/ or draws , I was pleased with the result but I messed up the first one and had to do it again because I did not clean it well enough, I ended up using hot soapy water then stardrops twice.
Be warned the VOC is very high you will need to keep your doors and windows open or preferably do it outside .

I also bought some this
www.wilko.com/en-uk/d-c-fix-marmi-grey-self-adhesive-film-45cm-x-2m/p/0309593,
I know sticky back plastic sounds a bit naff but it worked really well ,
before I decorated, I have brow cupboard doors and very dark blue worktops , the new combo made my very small kitchen look much bigger and brighter

If you're on FB join the Frenchic paint fan page. Everyone is painting their kitchens with the Al Fresco Frenchic paint range. Some brilliant transformations.

Just had a look at the Frenchic paint fan page. Some of the transformations are amazing! Now I also want to paint the front door and an old bureau I have!

@FollowingAmirage I did this recently!

Stand still in my house and you'll be 'hornblower' too.

Oh wow, this is exactly the colour I want in the kitchen! I am assuming you also have to sand, prime and seal at the end?

@FollowingAmirage wash down with sugar soap, lightly sand then paint. No priming or sealing required. The colour is part of the 'lazy' range but if you want to paint high traffic areas I think they suggest using the Al Fresco range of colours.

So, here is the kitchen now. We had a kitchen/diner knock through and repurposed the cabinets etc. But as you can see, with white walls and light flooring it all looks a bit dull (many be it will look better once we have the furniture in there?). So the idea is to have the units a Navy blue (as we have some blue in the tiles). What do you think?

Sorry, nothing to add; I'm just here to see the transformation!

@FollowingAmirage yes, I think that would work. The navy goes well with wood work tops too. The tiles are lovely 😊

Ok, will get few navy blue taster pots of paint... 😅

Wilko cupboard paint is excellent. Seconding that suggestion.

We first tried the Annie Sloan chalk paint - easy enough to apply, but it's a kitchen - the doors quickly got oil stained and it looked terrible. Plus expensive paint. We won't be trying that again.

There are some people like PP who do have success, but - not in a kitchen I would say.

Love the navy blue though! We only painted fronts.

@30under I don’t seem to find a navy blue in wilko cupboard paint? Which one did you use please...def staying away from Annie S chalk paint. I tried it once and didn’t last at all in a bedroom, so don’t think it will be suitable for kitchens. I am also ordering some Frenchic taster paint to try...

I’d be very wary of doing this, because in my experience having done it, it looks fanstaric when just done them it chips really easily so a couple of years down the line and you end up with a mess that needs replacing.

The only way I’d advocate doing it is having it done professionally and spray painted as it’s then thin and doesn’t chip.

Sorry I should add that’s for a kitchen only, other units seem to fair better.

Oh sorry - we used grey (yes, I know). I was commenting on pp's beautiful 'hornblower' chest of drawers!

I wouldn't take any shortcuts if you're going to paint kitchen cupboards as they need wiping down and can get a bit greasy.
I prepped mine with Zinsser primer, which isn't cheap but goes on quickly with a small roller and dries in minutes. Followed by two coats of oil based Little Greene paint. They stayed perfect for three years until I recently replaced my kitchen.

ohhhh … you have my kitchen too. The plastic coating is coming off in places so I am thinking of pulling it off and painting onto that.

@Bluntness100, thanks will look into that too. I guess part of the reason I asked is because I want to do it properly for it to last few more years. the current melamine/plastic coating in the cupboards is perfect and takes lots of scrubbing and will hate to change all of this just because the colour is not quite right for the space. Obviously, I would still need sth scrubbable in the kitchen (esp with 3 messy boys!). Any idea on costs of getting this done professionally? Or perhaps just replacing the doors/fronts?

So I would make a map, start on one edge and take the doors/drawers off and mark them up either in the hinge hole or on the bottom of the door. Take all the furniture (handles and stuff off)

Degrease with some Virosol or sugar soap, make sure their good and clean. Then rub them gently with a 240 grit sanding pad try and get in all the nooks and crannies. Then tac cloth or blow them off.

First coat of Caparol HaftPrimer, let that dry, rub down, fill up any dings or dents, rub down, tac off, and then a 2nd coat of the undercoat and then leave it for 24hrs.

Another pad and tac off, then on with a topcoat, either Scuff-X or Helmi. Let that dry for a decent while before another pad, tac and then a final final coat.

Brush and rolled i'd use a Fussy Blokes 5mm nap mini roller and a Staalmester brush. But theres no reason i wouldn't spray it.

I would do the inside of the glass faced units at minimum, maybe even a complementary colour.

@SNDDecorating thanks so much! The kind of detailed instruction that I need!

I painted mine in navy and would not recommend. A year on there are quite a few chips in it that need repainting. I have just bought some replacement doors from b&q which we are fitting next week. They do a navy blue. It has cost us about £900 for a fairly large kitchen so obviously more expensive that painting but hopefully a lot more durable.

I bought a secondhand kitchen on eBay which was wooden. Repainted it blue, but used a spray paint gun that was bought off of amazon. I did a couple of coats of zinssener, then about three coats of watered down paint. It’s held up well and I love it! still need to varnish it though

I’ve repainted most of my furniture (open plan house) and varnished it which has held up well against two babies and now toddlers.

Good luck!

I have a wardrobe that needs painting so am place marking this thread for the tips ;-)

I was considering painting mine, but won’t now having read about chips after couple years!
I have painted bedside table (not quite such a big job!) in Little Greene eggshell and that looks fab.