How to Paint Oak Kitchen Cabinets Black
One day you walk into your kitchen and decide it is a disaster, but ripping out the entire kitchen is prohibitively expensive, so you decide to give your old oak cabinets a face-lift. You can do it yourself at a cost you can afford and it will change the whole look of the room you spend most of your time in. The project takes elbow grease and several hours, but the results will be spectacular. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Murphy's Oil to clean the furniture
- Rags
- Rubber gloves
- Paint mask
- Disposable foam brushes
- Medium and fine grit sandpaper
- Tack cloth
- Masking tape
- Drill
- Scraper
- Steel wool
- Zip Strip
- Grey primer
- Black paint
- Fine nap roller
- Varnish
Instructions
-
-
1
Place a piece of masking tape on the back of each cabinet door and one inside the cabinet. Work clockwise and number each cabinet door and cabinet so you can reunite them after they are finished. Remove the doors and leave the hinges and screws inside the cabinets.
-
2
Put on rubber gloves and use Murphy's Oil to clean the doors and cabinets. When they are clean and thoroughly dry, put the gloves back on, don the paint mask and carefully open the Zip Strip (Reference #1). Use a disposable foam brush to paste on the stripper. Work in one direction and be careful not to splash it on yourself. When it bubbles after about 20 minutes, use a scraper to remove the old varnish and stain. Steel wool also powers off stubborn bits. Reapply if necessary.
-
-
3
Allow the cupboards and doors to dry for at least 24 hours. Sand the doors and cabinets with medium and then fine grit sandpaper. Wipe down with the tack cloth to remove dust particles.
-
4
Use the roller to apply a coat of grey primer. Oak is a wood with a lot of grain, and the primer will help to cover it so the black paint will go on without shadows. Let the primer dry thoroughly. You may apply a second coat if you want. If necessary, sand down any raised grain and reapply the primer.
-
5
Use a clean roller to apply the black paint on each cabinet and door front. Use two or three coats, drying thoroughly between each coat. Use two coats of varnish to finish, drying thoroughly between coats. These doors and cabinets will be tender for several weeks, so take care not to nick the finish.
-
6
Reunite the door fronts with their original cabinets. You may be interested in new hardware (Resource #2). With just a little more effort you can find a great color for the walls (Resource #3) and then your kitchen will shine.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Be sure your work area is well-ventilated when you work with stripper. Use a paint mast and rubber gloves.
