OUR PROCESS
A step by step look into the process of transforming your kitchen cabinets
At Whitney Cabinet, we want your kitchen to look as beautiful as you do, so we always spray our finishes, for a smooth look free of brush strokes or roller marks. This is a big reason why painting cabinets isn’t always a great option for a DIY project. Without professional spray equipment, it’s almost impossible to get the smooth, “factory finish” look of new cabinets.
DISASSEMBLE
We disassemble your kitchen by removing the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. We remove all the hardware such as drawer pulls and door handles, then we pop off or remove the cabinet doors and take off the hinges. Each individual door hinge gets labeled, so we can put each one back in the right place when we reassemble.
MASKING
We mask off your kitchen to get ready to spray the base cabinets. We cover everything that won’t get painted – countertops, backsplash, appliances, floors – with either masking paper or plastic. If we’re not painting the insides of your cabinets, we tape paper or plastic over the openings where your doors and drawers go, protecting the insides from any overspray. And we’ll “tent off” your kitchen with vapor-barrier plastic, to contain any dust or odors while we’re spraying.
PREPARATION
Every surface that we’re going to paint gets cleaned, degreased, and “scuffed”. (Scuffing is a quick, light sanding to remove the top glossiness of the existing finish.) This helps the primer bond to your cabinets, and is a critical step! If there are any light repairs that need to be done, such as dings or deep scratches in your cabinets, we address them after priming, when they’re easier to see.
PRIME
Here’s where you’ll start to see a difference! Regardless of the final color chosen, your kitchen cabinets will now look white after priming. It’s always exciting seeing the transformation start to happen!
SURFACE REVIEW, SAND, PRIME
Everything we’ve primed gets inspected, including the cabinet bases and both sides of the doors and drawer fronts. We fill dings and sand out rough spots, taking extra care on the “fronts”, or visible sides of your cabinetry.
We sand and then typically apply a second primer layer. By the time we’ve fixed any small imperfections and sanded the primer layers, your cabinets will feel smooth as butter!
FINISH COLOR APPLIED
Once the final color goes on, you can really start to envision how beautiful your kitchen will be. Since your cabinets are already fully prepped, primed, and sanded smooth, painting cabinets in the final color goes surprisingly fast.
DOORS AT SHOP
The doors are worked on offsite in our shop while the work in the in the kitchen is being completed.
REASSEMBLE FINISHED DOORS
Ta-da!!! At last you can see your finished kitchen. We take down all the paper and plastic, remove all our equipment, and clean up the whole area. It's now time for our favorite part, "The Reveal"!!
Want to see how we can transform your kitchen? Just schedule a free in-home estimate. Painting cabinets is our specialty, and we’d love to show you how beautiful your cabinets can look!