How to paint kitchen cupboards and benchtops?
Click photo to enlarge
Painting your kitchen cupboards and benchtops is great for a kitchen renovation on a budget, and quicker than demolition and install. We’ve found the result looks great and is hard wearing in a tenanted property using the procedures and products below.
- Remove the cupboard doors by unscrewing from the hinges. Mark the doors so you know which ones go back where and keep all the screws in a zip lock bag just in case they go missing.
- Scrape off any loose paint and brush off any loose material. If your cupboard shelves have any old stick on covering (like in this photo), rip it out before you move down to the next step.
- Wash down the inside of the cupboards and shelves with sugar soap following the instructions on the bottle and allow to dry (24 hours should be enough but check before painting). Sugar soap removes the grime, grease and dust to give you a clean surface to paint on.
- Inside the cupboards and on the shelves, paint with a primer using a paintbrush and/or mini foam roller and allow to dry (following the primer instructions). Water based primer is great because it dries fairly quickly and easy to clean up with water.
- Paint on 2 coats your chosen colour and allow to dry. We’ve found white gloss (water based) is great. The white gives a clean, fresh look and the gloss is easy to clean. From experience, if you use matt paint on a high use area like kitchen cupboards, dirt and dust stick to it and it looks unclean quickly.
- And voila, the cupboards and shelves are done!
- Now for the doors. Wash the doors down using sugar soap following the instructions on the bottle and allow to dry.
- We found it easier to screw the doors back on and then paint so you can paint all sides of the door in one go.
- We’ve painted over dated laminex doors with excellent results starting with ESP – follow the instructions for application and drying time. ESP prepares the surface to allow paint to stick. Otherwise with glossy finishes like laminate, paint can flake and peel off.
- Once the ESP is ready, paint on a single coat of White Knight Tile and Laminate Primer. Using a small foam roller makes the job quicker and you can use a paintbrush for the fiddly bits. Allow to dry and paint on 2 coats of White Knight Laminate Paint. You can choose from a wide range of colours in the White Knight colour range but we tend to stick to an off white because it looks clean and fresh.
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Click photo to enlarge
After all the cupboard doors are dry you can move onto the benchtops.
- Wipe down the benchtop with sugar soap, allow to dry then prepare with ESP. When this is ready, apply (with a small foam roller and paintbrush for the edges) White Knight Tile and Laminate Primer. Allow for drying then apply 2 coats of White Knight Laminate Paint, again in the colour of your choice. The final step is finishing with 2 coats of White Knight Benchtop Clear (see instructions on pack for application) and using a small foam roller gives an even application. This final step gives is a clear finish that dries hard – you just need to wait the required time listed on the instructions to give the maximum strength to the finish.
- And you’re done!!
In summary here is the order of painting
Timber surface
Sugar soap -> Priming -> 2 coats of paint
Laminate (door) surface
Sugar soap -> ESP -> Laminate primer -> 2 coats of laminate paint
Laminate (benchtop) surface
Sugar soap -> ESP -> Laminate primer -> 2 coats of laminate paint -> 2 coats of benchtop clear
If you have any other suggestions or ideas, please let me know.
I read your post about painting laminated benchtops. Thank-you…that was really clear and detailed. Did the painted benchtops wear well? I’m interested to know how painted benchtops in a kitchen would do? Were there many chips and scratches?
We have rented out the unit for over 2 years now and the most recent inspection was back at Dec last year, we found out there are chips on the edge but the bench top surface is still in good condition. We think the product is pretty hardy given that we have rough tenants.
I just saw all your helpful information relating to painting laminex. I’m wanting to paint only my laminex benchtops (which is quite big). However, I’m worried that maybe it wont be durable as leaving the benchtop as is. I think that painting it might make it look nice, but not be hard wearing for a benchtop that gets a good workout! Your thoughts???
Lucy, we found painting the bench top is a good solution for short term. Say three years… Then the paint around the corners are chipping off.
Another option is replace the laminex only.
Yes I think I might look into replacing laminex instead of paint.
You mentioned in your article how to paint kitchens, preparing with ESP. What is ESP.
It is called Easy Surface Prep, it prepare the surface so that primer can stick on it.
More information at
http://www.floodaustralia.net/products/paint_additives/ESP.php