Michael Sweeney 
Changing the colour of your kitchen cabinets will do a world of good. And it’s not only a classic model but old, or a model made to fit the times, when it comes time to upgrade its colour, you can have an impact.
Start with scrubbing the cabinets using degreaser. Prime with Fresh Start high-hiding all-purpose primer, which dries super hard to give dramatic paint changes, to apply.
Best cabinet and trim paint – (for the cabinets and trim).
There are various kinds of paints for cabinets, the right one will be based on their material and the way they are used now. In the case of wood cabinets, oil-based paint is super opaque and doesn’t yellow over time and it dries very quickly in a kitchen.
But this kind of paint is fumy, and so it needs to be done in a well ventilated room. And other preparation work like sanding and priming needs to be done as well before using it.
Hybrid paint made from water can also be used to make cabinets easy to clean and give them a nice shine, because it doesn’t contain any harmful ingredients like oils. But they do need more coats. Before painting any water-based hybrid paints or oil-based substitutes, make sure all sand and dirt has been completely removed with degreasers, and that you have used a high-quality primer like Fresh Start which has the greatest hiding power, seals and blocks stains – professional painters prefer Fresh Start because it has maximum hiding power, seals and blocks stains over time!
Tools for painting cabinets
Take the necessary tools with you to start painting. Some brushes will be needed, like wide brushes for big flat surfaces and an angle brush to reach in corners and crevices. Furthermore, bring paint tray along with plastic sheeting or drop cloth for floors.
When you have your work area, open cabinets and remove the doors and hardware, clean the cabinets with liquid degreaser or trisodium phosphate (TSP), and sand where primer cannot stick – cabinet boxes etc.
After the filler has dried, sand the surface with a medium-grit sanding sponge or paper to achieve a ragged surface finish to get the primer and paint to adhere better. After this, rub everything down for about 5 minutes so they dry fully and then scrub and scrub again – this is the longest part!
Choosing the right paint
Kitchen cabinets are very vulnerable to heat, humidity, grease and a lot of activity – so they are perfect candidates for hard coats such as oil-based, acrylic and alkyd paints. Such hard-wearing paints are also wear resistant and last for longer than latex.
When your cabinet wood is unfinished, there may be no need to prime or sand prior to first coat of paint. But you’ll need good primer; a lot of primer these days is either a mix of acrylic-latex or all acrylic and high-end manufacturers have multiple versions.
Paint samples can be distorted by lighting which is another factor to consider when trying to determine how paint samples look in your room. Place them around the room to see how they react in daylight and artificial light; you’ll narrow down your options and will be able to better make a judgment call as to which option looks best in each room.
Choosing the right brush
The brush that you use matters in cabinet painting. It is best to use a good narrow brush with good narrow tips and medium or soft bristles that can be used with latex or alkyd paint.
Now, before you get down to the business of painting, just sand the cabinet doors and drawer edges to get the perfect surface on which your new coat of paint will apply to. It won’t change the grain of your wood grain but will enable primer to stick better and topcoat to match the rest of the cabinetry.
Then clean everything with degreaser and let all surfaces air dry before putting on a layer of primer. Some cabinets that are extremely stained will need a stain-blocking primer, to plug up any knots or other surface imperfections that might show in the topcoat, or just a normal acrylic or oil primer.
