I used to have bright white melamine cabinets. Pretty, but boring! I needed to add some color to make it more inviting, so I decided to paint them a nice Chicago Gray. A soft, cool gray with a slight blue hue to it. But you can’t paint over melamine, right? Well, here’s how I did it!
• Sanding melamine is basically sanding plastic, so I had to skip that step. I did rough everything up with a 220 sanding pad by hand, however.
• To help adhesion, I cleaned the cabinets thoroughly with mineral spirits and #00 steel wool. I wanted to rough them up and remove all the dirt.
• Then I made sure to label each door and drawer with blue tape, matching numbers with blue tape numbers on their spots on the frame so I didn’t end up with hardware that just didn’t sit right or drawers and doors I couldn’t line back up. It seems like you can figure it out when taking them off, but I highly recommend labeling. It saves a lot of time in the end!
• Next, I removed the cabinet doors and drawers and set them up over plastic sheeting in my work room (a garage would work, or anywhere you’ve covered with plastic).
• I sprayed each side of the doors with two coats of primer. This saved a lot of time! I just had to let each side dry, so it took a day or two. The drawers I painted by hand with two coats of primer because I was only doing the front pieces.
• Next, I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Chicago Gray for the main coats. I rolled three coats on with a small roller I bought at the hardware store. They have rollers specifically for cabinets, but I didn’t realize this and used the “best” quality roller pads. The choice left me with a slightly bumpy finish, but I actually like it. It added texture.
• While the cabinets were drying, I painted the cabinet frames with two coats of my color using a paint brush. This allowed more control than a roller but no real texture. I rolled on the last coat, carefully avoiding any interior spaces. I taped off the walls and ceilings and used a brush in the corners to leave clean lines. I recommend removing blue tape while the last coat is still wet so it doesn’t rip off dried paint later.
• After the last coat had dried everywhere, I used Wipe-On Polyurethane as a topcoat. I didn’t wax at all, because no topcoat would stick after wax. It’s really not helpful for high traffic cabinetry.
• Three coats of Wipe-On Polyurethane and some extra drying time later, when I was totally sure everything was set, I reattached the doors and put the drawers back in.
• Two months later, my paint job is holding up perfectly and I’m able to wipe splatters right off!
Here are my Before and After pictures!
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