How to Paint Cabinets

When painting interior cabinetry and joinery, your chosen paint finish should be durable, hard-wearing and provide a beautiful finish. At Little Greene, we offer a range of water-based finishes that are incredibly easy-to-apply, helping you transform your cabinets in just a few simple coats.

Read our step-by-step guide to painting cabinets using our Intelligent Eggshell, Satin or Gloss finishes, available in all Little Greene colours.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Paint Cabinets

When painting cabinetry, preparation is key. Before you begin, make sure you have all the equipment you need. It’s important to take your time and complete all the necessary preparation steps to ensure the final transformation is a success.

Step 1: Gather Supplies

You will need:

• Screwdrivers
• Sugar soap
• Medium-grade sandpaper
• Intelligent All Surface Primer - tinted to your chosen colour
• Intelligent Eggshell, Satin or Gloss paint
• Good quality brushes and/or rollers

Step 2: Remove all Cabinet Doors, Drawer Fronts & Hardware

Although you can paint cabinetry in situ, you will find it much easier to complete your project if you remove the cabinets beforehand. By carefully unscrewing and removing the cabinet doors, you can freely paint all areas without having to do any tricky cutting in. It’s also helpful to remove the hardware or drawer fronts from each cabinet, but you could also use masking tape to protect these from the paint.

Step 3: Clean the Cabinetry

Cleaning and de-greasing the surface will ensure that there are no dust particles or anything else which will get caught in your new paint surface, spoiling both the final look of the project, and affecting the potential adhesion to the surface.

Step 4: Lightly Sand Surfaces

The next step would be to lightly sand the surface, creating a key. This enhances the adhesion of the paint. We would then recommend giving the surface another wipe, to remove any dust or debris created by the sanding.

Step 5: Apply Primer

Apply one coat of quick-drying Intelligent All Surface Primer (ASP), which is tinted to the colour of your chosen topcoat to ensure an efficient coverage and base layer for your surface.

Make sure you calculate how much Intelligent All Surface Primer you will need, along with whichever topcoat you choose. You can get an approximation of how much you’ll need by using our paint calculator, which features on each paint product page.

MDF is extremely porous and should be treated slightly differently during the preparation stage. We’d usually recommend rubbing the surface down and applying one diluted (by 10%) coat of Intelligent ASP (All Surface Primer). Following this, we would suggest lightly sanding the surface again, to avoid the grain showing through.

Step 6: Paint Your Cabinets

You can now paint your cabinets in your chosen Little Greene colour and finish. Our Intelligent paints are ideal for painting interior woodwork. They’re water-based, quick-drying and child-safe, which makes them suitable for use throughout the home.

Opt for Intelligent Satin, Intelligent Gloss or Intelligent Eggshell for a durable finish that is easy to apply. We recommend applying two coats of your chosen water-based finish, waiting 2-4 hours in between coats for the surface to dry.

With an elegant sheen of 30-35%, Intelligent Satin is a hard-wearing option to resist all the wear and tear of family life. Or for a more subtle low sheen of just 15%, choose Intelligent Eggshell.

Intelligent Gloss has classic high gloss sheen of 85% and is recommended for areas which need to be cleaned frequently, such as kitchens or bathrooms.

All our finishes are featured in our ‘Colours of England’ colour card in the ‘Finishes’ column, so you can accurately compare the finish itself and see how it affects the colour and appearance.

Step 7: Reinstall Cabinet Doors, Drawer Fronts & Hardware

Once you have applied two full coats and allowed the paint to dry for at least 2-4 hours, it’s time to reinstall your cabinets. Fix your cabinet doors back in place and replace all the hardware (or remove the masking tape). You should now have a beautifully updated piece of cabinetry that will stand the test of time!