Paint kitchen cabinets in two-tone
Add interest to your kitchen with two-tone painted cabinets. Painted in a dark and light shade the contrast these cabinets are also given an antique effect.
Preparation
Kitchen cabinets tend to build up grease - no matter how often you clean them. Before painting, sealing or varnishing, cabinets must be thoroughly cleaned to remove all traces of grease and grime. Cleen Green and warm water is an easy way to clean them, or Sugar Soap and water. Use an old toothbrush to get into detailed areas. Be sure to rinse well after cleaning and allow to dry.
1. Unscrew hinges from the cabinet doors and pull out the drawers. The hinges can be kept on the face frame if you are planning to paint over them. Larger cabinets and drawers that are difficult to remove may be kept in their original position. Number or name the backside of each cabinet door and drawer so you’ll know where they go when it’s time to put them back in place.
2. Cover work areas, tape off walls, ceiling and inside shelf of cabinets. Newspaper and masking tape provides more coverage. Tape off the centre panels on the cabinet doors.
3. Lightly sand cabinets and drawer fronts with 220-grit sandpaper. This helps the paint adhere to the surface. Wipe off the dust.
4. If your cabinets have dents that need to be filled, touch up wood filler; allow to dry and then sand.
5. Apply masking tape to the edge of centre panels to protect.
6. Using a foam roller, apply your base coat on all drawers, frames, fronts and backs of doors. Do not paint the centre panels.
7. Allow the paint to dry and then accent any trim areas with a slightly darker colour paint using an artist’s brush.
DIY Tip:
Paint in direction of the grain with a high quality paint brush. Let paint dry. Apply a second coat if necessary.
8. Once the base coats and any trimmed areas are fully dry, you can remove the masking tape around the centre panels, apply masking tape to the surrounding areas and paint the centre panels in a lighter colour.
DIY Tip:
If you want to create an antique or aged effect, mix scumble glaze into the dark or light paint.
On the dark sections, apply the base coat as explained above and then lightly brush on a darker colour - working from the edges in and brushing ever so gently to blend.
On the light sections - apply the paint and again, lightly brush on the darker colour.
9. Install knobs or handles to cabinets and drawers. This step is optional but highly recommended to keep cabinets clean of fingerprints and dirt. Use a stencil to pencil in screw holes for accurate and fast installation.
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