Outdoor kitchen cabinets face weather changes and dampness many times. As they’re commonly used outside, the user needs to provide them with a security shield to prevent unwanted quality changes.
If you’re going to paint outdoor cabinets, you should take care of some necessary points and tips.
Yes, you can paint your outdoor kitchen cabinets. Doing this creates a secure layer on the surface. Color makes wood and iron body weather-resistant. However, you can also use stain, sealant, or oil if the goal is to protect cabinets from UV rays and dampness.
We’ve described easy-to-follow tips for painting outdoor kitchen cabinets. Let’s learn!
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How to Paint Outdoor Kitchen Cabinets?
The main thing that decides the method is the paint form. If you decide to use liquid paint you will need a paintbrush, but if spray paint is your choice, a brush is not required.
The following are steps to paint outdoor kitchen cabinets:
- Choose a quality paint: companies can provide different quality in their products to set the price differently. Go with high-quality wood paint if cabinets are wood made, use spray paint for iron or steel-made cabins.
Semi-gloss, gloss, and latex paint are best for kitchen cabinets. However, you can choose your favorite paint from home improvement stores.
- Prepare cabinets surface: don’t apply paint directly after cleaning the surface. Preparation includes scrubbing and checking. A fine-grit (200) sandpaper is suitable for scrubbing wood.
Start scrubbing all the surface area and keep checking if any area is left from scrubbing or not. Don’t scrub sandpaper too hard on the surface. Take a piece of cloth and use it to clean away dust and scrub waste from the cabinets.
- Check damages or holes: Sometimes, cabinets have cracks or damage on them. You should definitely check the condition of the wood. If there is a crack in the surface, use putty to fill the hole or damaged area. You can search for this item as a wood paint putty online and offline.
After Applying the putty, let it dry until it gets solid dry. Touch it to know the putty is dried. When we apply putty it has a liquid form, but after getting dry, it turns into a solid form. Make putty even with the surface by rubbing sandpaper on it. At the end of this step, keep the cabinets clean to move forward to another step.
- Apply the first coat of paint as premier: If you have liquid paint, use a brush for it. Keep the first coat of paint thin whether you’re using spray or liquid form.
Consider applying equal coat thickness, don’t overspread paint on any area of cabinets. The thin coat will take 4 to 8 hours to dry, let the cabinets dry.
- Sand the cabinets: use steel wool or sandpaper to sand the cabinets. This step is not required in metal cabinets. When we don’t have experience with painting, we commonly spread paint while painting which is a mistake. Remove excessive paint with thinner or sandpaper. Clean the surface before the second coat appliance.
- Finish the process with the last coat: as we know, stain requires at least three coats when we use it on wood. In the case of paint, two coats are enough. Follow the same producer but apply a thick coat this time. Don’t touch cabinets until they get dry. Let the cabinets dry for at least 2 to 4 days before use.
What Kitchen Cabinets cannot be Painted?
Designs in cabinetry are changing and developing in this modern world. We can say that we have more variety of kitchen cabinets than years before. However, the material used in the manufacturing of a cabin decides whether the cabin can be painted or not.
Stainless steel, Hard Maple & Oak kitchen cabinets cannot be painted since they don’t rust and are water-resistance. This material-made cabinetry is famous for outdoor kitchen use.
Generally, we apply an additional color layer to those materials which tend to be rusted or damaged with the weather.
Before preparing your cabinet for additional paint, you should check the surface. Laminated wooden surfaces are not a good choice to paint because paint cannot last long on lamination.
The bond between lamination and paint stays weaker and color starts to fall after some time.
However, if your kitchen cabinets have some parts made of stainless steel but the majority of the cabin is made of wood or iron, you can paint it aside from stainless steel parts.
Always consider dismantling shiny stainless steel made handles or parts from wood doors before applying any coat of paint.
Covering the handles with newspaper or cloth can help you to paint other parts without spreading paint on stainless steel parts, but it may not be easy for you if you are coloring cabinetry for the first time.
Can you Spray Paint Cabinets Outside?
Spray paint cabinets outside is possible, you can do it yourself. Just take care of some points such as paint shouldn’t spread over other items, don’t paint it over the lawn, and color quality should be excellent. Protect the surface from having excessive paint thickness somewhere.
Always prepare cabinets for coating before doing anything. If you’re outside and want to spray paint your cabinets, check whether the climate is good or not.
If it’s raining today, don’t paint anything outside. It should be a sunny day to get better results in painting something outdoors. Sun rays cannot affect the quality of the coat but rain can.
Choose a good day for this work. If using spray paint, make sure it’s not too much air outside.
Outdoor air can disturb the spray pressure and flow, and can waste the paint. Considering these things is most important.
Spray paint is easy to apply on cabinets, an even better option for beginners. Rust develops commonly in Outdoor things made of iron. If the paint is applied on the surface, there is no possibility of rust there.
What Kind of Paint Do You Use for Outdoor Kitchen Wood Cabinets?
Semi-transparent stain, latex, gross, semi-gross, and waterproof paint are the best kind of paints you can use for outdoor kitchen wood cabinets.
Experts recommend repainting cabinets or other wood-made items once after a five-year period.
Don’t use normal paint. Use a special wood paint and to know which one is suitable, ask the home improvement storekeeper about your requirements. It’s easier to find this type of paint, it just takes some time and effort in research.
If you don’t want to change the color of your cabinets but still want to paint them with a great protector, stain them. Use oil-based semi-transparent. It will shine the wood without making it too red.
Conclusion
You can use latex, gross, or semi-gloss color for your outdoor kitchen cabinets. Make Sure the paint is waterproof as it can protect the surface from UV rays and moisturize. If the kitchen cabinetry is made of stainless steel, it cannot be a good choice to paint it.