Painted Finish on Cabinets

Tuesday, 15 Nov, 2016, 9:12 PM

Painted Finish on Cabinets
Painted finish on cabinets are in! What do you need to know before you take the plunge into making your kitchen painted?

dream-kitchens-Nina-Hackel — Nina Hackel Dream Kitchens

Currently, grey and white kitchens are particularly in fashion and are in every magazine. However, paint and wood always has had a difficult dance. Wood expands and contracts with the changes of humidity in a room. However, paint has not flexibility and will crack with changes of humidity. That means all of your joints in your doors and drawers can end up with a line where the joint comes together.
In addition to paint not being flexible, you have the problem of people kicking the paint. Paint will chip when it is kicked or brushed with a sharp object. When you have a stain the color is through the wood so that you do not see a scratch. However, with paint it is on the surface and the paint will come off.
Lastly for those people who like the look of inset cabinets, which have the doors inside a frame. The wood of a door or drawer can expand and touch the frame and then crack or chip. This happens all the time. It is extremely important with inset doors to make sure you purchase the right product as it is destined to crack and chip if you are not careful.
How do you have a beautiful painted finish on cabinets that looks nice for a long time? One way is to have a MDF (Medium Density Fiber) door instead of wood doors. As noted, Medium density fiber is a type of pressboard that has an air pocket in the material. When there are changes of humidity the MDF has space to expand within these air pockets and thus has less likelihood of cracking the paint at the joint. MDF doors will look nicer in the long run, however, will still have the problem of chipping when you kick or scratch the doors or panel.
The best solution is to use a polyester finish in the paint. I have this in my highest-end cabinet. The polyester paint makes the paint flexible and can move when the wood moves for the expansion and contraction of the wood with humidity. In addition the polyester finish is tightly woven together and extremely hard to scratch or kick the paint off the door or panel. It is a fantastic new breakthrough in kitchens. I have never seen a finish like this and it has just come to the U.S. this year. I have even tried to scratch the paint off with granite and all I saw was a dented white painted door. Excellent.
Paint is in. However, it is tricky to get a paint that looks good in the future. Ask questions and be sure to either get an MDF door or this new polyester like finish for paint.