The Common Painting Tool You Should Avoid When Refinishing Cabinets

An affordable DIY update to freshen up kitchens or bathrooms on a relatively low budget is by refinishing or repainting existing cabinets in those rooms. While it will take a fair bit of elbow grease, there are easy ways to paint your kitchen cabinets – and there are things you can do to make sure your painting experience goes off without a hitch. One of the major tips for easy cabinet painting and refinishing is to make sure you have all the right tools with you for seamless execution. And though it may seem like a logical choice, a paintbrush is the wrong tool for this particular DIY. Paintbrushes to repaint or refinish cabinets can cause very visible issues, including uneven paints strokes and even worse, shedding paintbrush bristles.

In this busy world, homeowners are understandably looking to find simple solutions for their home updates and mini-renovations, but that doesn't mean you need to compromise on quality of execution or materials. Instead of using the paintbrush (which yes, is very accessible, but not optimal), there are several other choices for the repainting and refinishing of your cabinets that will produce a much nicer and more aesthetic outcome. And the process will be easier on you too!

There are plenty of reasons why you should put down the paintbrush for a cabinet update. First, like we mentioned, painting with a brush makes it nearly impossible to obtain a smooth finish on your cabinet surfaces. Brush strokes will likely be visible, and you'll have to take more time — and more paint — to even the strokes out. Brushes can also shed their bristles or deposit chunks of old paint left on it from previous projects, especially if you use cheaper brushes that are not meant to handle large and repeated painting jobs, such as cabinets.

Brushes can also leave behind little lumps in the grooves around the front of cabinets or along the edges, since it's difficult to maintain precision. And speaking of precision, while it may feel like using a brush would be simpler or faster than any alternative, it actually can take you longer because of the precise techniques you'll need to use to clean up any brush mistakes. You have to use even brush strokes, going back over wet paint to feather out harsher lines and edges repeatedly. You'll have to do this process over and over if you want to avoid the obvious look of paint strokes. However, you also need to best gauge when to stop painting altogether since you don't want lumps from too much paint. It's more complicated than it may initially seem.

Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives to paintbrushes. Rollers are tools that make painting cabinets much easier because they provide a smoother finish on a faster timeline than brushes. The best roller depends on your painting project, and some rollers cater more toward certain tasks than others. Mohair rollers, for example, are an excellent choice for cabinet painting and refinishing because of its absorbency (no need to dip the roller so often), its adaptability to different paint or varnishes, and its easy-to-clean nature.

DIYers with more experience and courage can opt for a paint sprayer. Sprayers are the fastest method and provide the most consistent finish. However, there's more prep involved with this tool. You'll have to stage the cabinet doors outside or drape other parts of your kitchen that you don't want to accidentally spray. Plus, you'll need to wear a mask and clothes that you don't mind getting paint all over. While the results are cleaner, and the paint or refinish job itself takes less time, the prep and clean up is more intensive (and expensive).

The moral of the story is to be sure your tools are high-quality enough and appropriate for the task, regardless if you choose a roller, sprayer, or gamble with a brush. Study up on techniques so that you're prepared for anything this project throws at you. Done right, this DIY will be an fantastic home facelift.