DIY Kitchen Makeover - Painting Your Cabinets and Drawers

Repainting the fronts of your cabinets and drawers is an inexpensive way to make a dramatic difference in the looks of your kitchen. Here's how to do it yourself...

Before you repaint your cabinets and drawers you will need to remove the existing hardware. All of your cabinet handles and drawer pulls should be screwed in from the back side. Look on the inside of your cabinet doors and your drawers for the heads of those screws. Once you unscrew them, the handles and knobs will just fall off in your hand. Be sure to save the handles, knobs and screws so that you will be able to put them back on later.

In order to make your new paint adhere well to your cabinet fronts and drawer fronts, you will need to remove any dirt or oily reside that has built up on your cabinets and drawers. Airborne kitchen vapors are often greasy and carry food particles which have built up over time without you really noticing. Go ahead and give your drawer fronts and cabinet doors a good scrubbing with hot soapy water to remove those particles and grease.

Once your cabinet and drawer fronts are clean and dry, you will need to rough up the surface a bit to help your new paint take hold. Using sand paper, or a sand-paper block, lightly sand the surface of your drawer fronts and cabinets. Then, wipe away the dust from the sanding with a clean dry cloth.

You can paint your drawer fronts and kitchen cabinets with a paint brush or a paint roller; whichever is more comfortable for you. Open your drawers and cabinets slightly to keep from accidentally slopping paint onto the rest of the cabinet area. Make sure that you cover the surfaces evenly and thoroughly with paint. If you are using a light color paint you may need to let it dry, and then add a second coat.

Once your paint has had a chance to dry completely, you will reinstall your hardware. You may wish to take this opportunity to wash your drawer pulls and cabinet handles in hot soapy water before you put them back on. Make sure you dry them well so that the water droplets don't damage your nice fresh paint. Screw the hardware back onto each drawer front and cabinet front and your project is complete.

Painting your kitchen cabinets and drawers is a quick and easy way to give your kitchen an inexpensive face lift.

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