I’ve received a lot of questions over the past few months about how my painted laminate cabinets have held up. I decided that this post is long overdue being that it’s been well over a year since my first ‘painting laminate cabinets with no prep work has been published. So pull your sleeves up and sit down, I’m going to lay out the good, bad and ugly when it comes to a review of how I painted cabinets my laminate cabinets.
Let me first recap the two posts that I will be reviewing and share a before picture.
Most of you probably don’t realize that I’ve written two posts with two different techniques on how I painted my laminate cabinets.
My first post, which you can view HERE, included painting the cabinets with primer, then milk paint and then the top coat. This technique was a lot more expensive and time consuming than my other technique.
My second post, which you can view HERE, included no prep, no primer, and just painting the laminate cabinets with a poly acrylic Ace Hardware paint and a top coat. This technique was obviously much cheaper and less time consuming.
So which technique has held up better? Take one guess…
The first technique I used with the primer and milk paint has held up like a champ. Unfortunately I can’t say the same of the second technique, although it hasn’t been terrible. Most of you are probably thinking, duh, adding primer is a no brainer. Well, that’s what I thought too before I started to paint my cabinets. The first technique I used with the primer held up so well, that I thought, maybe the primer isn’t necessary. I’ve done A LOT of research on how to paint laminate cabinets, and 6 times out of 10, the blogger or writer did not use primer. So my justification was “ok, if the majority of bloggers who have done this before DID NOT use primer, and their cabinets look great, then maybe I’ll be ok without it.”
To understand how to paint laminate cabinets, you need to understand a little about laminate.
Here is the problem; the outer part of laminate cabinets (most of the time this is a product called melamine, which is a form of plastic) are created from a thin film. This film is bonded to the exterior surface of the pressed wood and it’s created to be resistant to anything bonding to it. So you can see why primer is very important when trying to paint over the “film,” which is practically plastic.
If you have real wood cabinets, and you sand them a little to create a rough surface for the paint to stick to, you might be able to get away without using primer. But for real laminate cabinets, don’t even think about not using primer.
If I had really thought this through the second time I painted my cabinets, I would have used primer. I should have stuck with my gut and done the job right like I did the first time, even though it would have taken more time.
Honestly, my cabinets have been OK without the primer, but not perfect. Let me share a few pictures.
Pictured above are a few of the areas that have already “chipped” off. As you can see the child lock has rubbed the paint off of one of the cabinets. The other cabinet is frequently used so my guess is a fingernail scratched that paint off.
Of all my painted gray cabinets, those are the only two areas that have scraped off so far. Although this is very minor and can be touched up, it is still a pain knowing that the paint will peel at the nick of a fingernail.
On the other hand, my white painted cabinets on the island are virtually indestructible.
My kids are in and out of these cabinets daily because this is where I keep their utensils. I wipe them down about every other day with a clorox wipe. I can scrape them with my fingernail and the paint or top coat doesn’t budge. If I didn’t know better, I would have never know they were painted. Seriously, the bond of paint to the cabinets is that strong.
So what do they look like today?
They look practically the same as the day I painted them.
I’ve also been asked the question of “which paint bonded better, milk paint or the poly acrylic paint?”
I do believe the milk paint bonded a little better. But, that’s a hard question because I painted the milk paint on to primer, not the cabinets themselves. I was pleased with how well the poly acrylic bonded directly to the cabinet though.
I’ll recap my experience below:
Method: Primer, milk paint and top coat.
Pros
- bonded very well
- has held up beautifully
- no scrapes or scratch marks at all
Cons
- expensive – the kitchen Island used almost one quart of milk paint (costs almost $40 per quart)
- time consuming
Method: Poly Acrylic paint and top coat.
Pros
- quick and easy technique
- bonded fairly well to the cabinets
- cheap- I painted two coats (some areas three coats) to all my cabinets (minus the kitchen island) and only used 3/4 a gallon.
Cons
- paint will scrape off fairly easily
- requires frequent touch up maintenance
There it is, my full year in review of the painted laminate cabinets with no prep work.
If I could do it over my choice would be to prime, use the poly acrylic paint (the milk paint will break the bank) and at least two coats of the top coat. For specific products used, please refer to my original posts linked in the beginning of this post.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you’ve found this article helpful and if you did, I would love for you to pin the image below.
Lindsey**
I wish the couple who lived in our home before it spent a little more time with your technique when painting our cabinets. It looks like yours held up pretty great!
YES! I’m sorry yours have not held up. Thanks for stopping by.
I have been thinking of painting my kitchen cabinets so this will help immensely. Thanks for sharing your posts.
You’ve encouraged me to jump in and paint something I haven’t wanted to tackle.
So glad! Thanks for stopping by Donna.
Wow they look great. I am so glad for the breakdown on the paints so i know! Glad to find your post at the homemaking link up
They really are beautiful!! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Wow what a transformation! It’s a shame the easier/cheaper method doesn’t last quite so well! x #SharingtheBlogLove
Great post. What kind of paintbrushes do you use?
regular paintbrushes, nothing fancy. For the last coat of paint I used a foam brush to minimize brush strokes.
Lindsey, I just painted the center panel of my kitchen cupboards. It lightened the room so much because I don’t have natural light in there. I went the time consuming way so I hope that it will last for years. Two coats of primer and final one of wall color paint. You can check it out here. https://smdgreetings.blogspot.ca/2017/10/kitchen-reno-reveal.html Thanks for the review. Have a great week. Sylvia D.
Oh awesome! I’m sure if you primed and then painted it will hold up well. I’m heading to check it out now.
This is a really great review, thanks! I’ve been wanting to paint our cabinets but my hubby isn’t so sure.
Yes, it can be done easily if you know the right way! Good luck.
I’m tackling my first wood painting job soon, we have a new deck with wooden rail. I will use primer! #ThatFridayLinky
So many bloggers write about their experiences painting cabinets, but not many actually follow-up on the experience. Thanks for sharing the truth not only about the process you used, but how it’s held up and thanks so much for sharing at the #happynowlinkup!
Your cabinets are beautiful! I would love to paint mine, but keep putting it off out of fear of messing them up and finding the time to do it. This was very helpful! Thank you for linking up to Party in Your PJ’s. I pinned to my DIY Projects board!
The cabinets look so fresh and I love how bright it makes the kitchen
These look brilliant. So interesting to see the results of both techniques here. I would love to give my kitchen a facelift but can’t afford to replace the lot. This looks like such a great way to improve your kitchen yourself. Thanks for sharing with #fortheloveofBLOG
Looks gorgeous! And thanks for linking up at Friday Frenzy Link Party! I hope you link up again next week 🙂 PINNED!
These are amazing! I love your honesty too. Thanks for joining us at the TO GRANDMA’S HOUSE WE GO – LINK PARTY #58 this week! Your project has been pinned. Would love for you to join us again this Wednesday! Cheers!
Thank you Sheri!
I’ve seen so many posts about Cabinet painting across blogland, it’s nice to see a follow up with the test of time. Thanks for sharing your project at #fridaysfurniturefix !
I agree, there are a TON of cabinet painting posts, but I hope this post will shed some light and truth on the pros and cons of different techniques. Thanks for stopping by.
I can’t believe how amazing they look. Great job. Thank you for sharing with #StayCLassyMama and hope to see you back next week
You have done a brilliant job with these even with the peeling paint issues! It all looks great! #stayclassymama
And there you have it. There are no shortcuts when it comes to kitchen cabinets. They are a high traffic area and need to be taken care of. Thanks for your honest review.
Thanks so much for sharing the result! pinned this for later;) Saw your post at the pin junkie party:)
Thank you so much for taking the time to post a follow-up! It’s great that you tried two methods and could compare. We are buying a new home that has 80’s melamine cabinets, and we’re researching our options. I hadn’t seen mentions of milk paint before! Your before pics look more like wood. I guess I just haven’t seen the darker ‘wood look’ melamine. Ours are those awful almond color with a wood look trim…so ‘mod’ in the 80s I guess.
I’m so glad you found my post. My melamine cabinets are fairly new, so that’s why they might look a little different than yours. Even though they are new, they are still cheap looking and the paint really transformed them. Good luck with your kitchen cabinets. Let me know if you have any questions.
I have white laminate cabinets that yellowed horribly over the years the boxes have stayed fine so I am planning to repaint the doors they are a mess need repairs in some places because the material the door is made of has blown out. Ugh. Once this is done what to you use to clean the cabinets that won’t damange the paint.
Hi Diane, I would suggest painting them and then adding at least 2 coats of a Polycrylic top coat. The old polyurethane top coats caused the yellowing, which is probably what you are seeing. Honestly, I wipe mine clean with a clorox wipe still (I have two kiddo who like to spread germs everywhere) and I have not seen any yellowing yet! I hope this helps.