So, you love everything about your kitchen except for the dark cherry cabinets. You might be wanting to them in white color if you want. Some people paint the cherry cabinets quite a few times. Just like maple, cherry has a smooth profile and closed grain that looks incredibly nice when painted, and transforming red cabinets to white will brighten up the whole kitchen.
Things You Need to Know Before Painting Your Cherry Wood Cabinets
While cherry wood cabinets are smooth as maple, there are a few notable differences that you should be aware of when you are preparing to paint them.
The wood surface has small clusters of pin knots. These smaller knots are random and hard to see until you prime the wood white. These natural imperfections are easy to handle with a little sanding and pacing.
The second factor you should be aware of when you prime the cherry wood kitchen cabinets is tannin bleed. Like mahogany and oak, cherry is within tannin. This is a natural oil seeping out of the tiny wood knots and pores.
This is the reason it is crucial to prime correctly when you paint cherry kitchen cabinets. This ensures you don’t up with hideous red swirls all across the frames and doors.
What is the Best Primer and Paint for Your Cherry Cabinets?
Before you step into the prepping and painting, you will have to go over various coating options and what you use when you paint cherry wood wholesale kitchen cabinet sets. You can use acrylic enamel but white pre-catalyzed lacquer can improve the durability of the cabinets.
Use a high-build lacquer and spray it on the cabinet to prime it. Make sure that you have a well-ventilated space when you are spraying primer on the cabinets. For hardness and chemical resistance, pre-cat lacquer is incredible and will give you a glassy finish.
Choose Self-Level Acrylic Alkyd Enamel
A good choice for rolling and brushing cherry cabinets or spraying is acrylic alkyd and acrylic enamel.
You should keep in mind that your discount kitchen cabinet endures a lot of abuse. Water-based enamel might be washable but you have to be gentler in terms of wiping the cabinets and exposing the paints to chemicals. This is the reason you should use lacquer.
When you paint your cherry cabinets with enamel, it is crucial that you choose products that level up to give you a smoother finish on the cabinet doors. It is always better to go for high-quality acrylic alkyd enamel on the cabinets. It tends to dry harder and also level out nicely when sprayed and brushed.
Choose a Solvent-Based Primer
Cherry wood tends to discharge wood tannin, which is reddish in color. It can bleed into the white paint and ruin it if you don’t use a seal coat. The best way to stop the red tanning from bleeding into the paint is to use one to two coats of solvent-based primer, like shellac primer or oil primer.
Make sure that you are not using latex primer on the stained cherry wood cabinets.
Prepare the Cabinets for Painting
The painting preparation is the same as any other wood cabinet. To start, remove and label the drawer fronts and doors, and then move on to cleaning, sanding, patching the damage, and spraying the primer.
Prime and Paint the Cherry Cabinets
Apply two coats of primer and then two coats of paint. Make sure that you apply two coats since it helps you cover the cherry wood better. A third coat might be required when you brush and roll as the coverage is not as good as using a sprayer. Spraying will lay down a more even and thicker coat.
If you have ventilated space, it is better for spray painting.