Avoid These Mistakes When Spray Painting Your Kitchen Cabinets

Transforming kitchen cabinets through paint can be one of the easiest ways to instantly impact the look and feel of the room, particularly if you are stuck with outdated wood cabinets that you can't afford to replace. Spray painting makes the job much swifter and easier than painting with a brush or roller, but it can often be fraught with missteps. TikTokker @painted_af recently shared some tips on how to get the very best paint job from a sprayer when working with cabinetry, including advice on both speed and consistency that make a huge difference in the finished paint job. 

@painted_af also asked users about their tried and true advice for painting with a sprayer, with others sharing their advice and experience with using a sprayer on their cabinets. If you like the speed of spray painting but worry about drips, uneven coverage, or making a mess, there are a few steps to take to ensure that your paint job will be swift and flawless every time you pick up the sprayer. 

While the sprayer offers a speed not permitted by rollers and brushes, this can lead to sloppiness and rushing that can definitely show up in the finished paint job. @painted_af advises to go slow, mentioning in the comments to make sure you prepare the surface by sanding with a 180 grit sander and hand sanding any corners or crevices it does not reach. When applying paint, use the same spray pattern as you move along the surface for even coverage with a 50/50 overlap between strokes. They also advise using a 308 or 310 FF (fine finish) tip on the sprayer. 

Commenters offered several other helpful suggestions on the post, including making sure that you hold your hand completely stationary and not bend your wrist, which can lead to variations in the distance between the nozzle and the surface. Another user suggests you can eliminate splatters and drips by continuously keeping your finger on the trigger as you apply each section. If you are using the sprayer for the first time, you may also want to refine your spray technique by practicing on a piece of cardboard before turning to the cabinets themselves.