Your best bet is probably an
A survey of four woodworkers and four home-improvement editors in “The Family Handyman” yielded the unanimous answer that a random orbital sander works best for finishing cabinets.
Follow the directions on the liquid sander or liquid deglosser you're using. Dip the scouring pad in the liquid sander and gently scrub the cabinets in the direction of the grain. Wipe off all of the liquid sander with a wet rag. Wipe the cabinets again with a clean rag.
In general, it's best to sand with the grain of the wood, especially for the final grits. But to remove deep scratches and stains, it's OK to angle across the grain, up to about 45 degrees for the initial sanding. This goes contrary to popular opinion, but it's a good method to remove material quickly.
Start with coarse 80-grit sandpaper in a manual hand sander or power sander. Using enough pressure to remove the paint but not so much that it damages the wood. Move to medium 150-grit abrasive and finish with fine 220-grit, brushing away dust from the surface each time you change paper.
Sand your cabinets
You can sand by hand if you like, but your arms will probably get pretty tired. Painted cabinets should get a thorough sanding with 120-grit paper, but no matter the finish, do a final pass with 220-grit.
Proper cleaning, deglossing, and using good-quality cabinet paint are key to painting cabinets without sanding. What happens if you don't sand cabinets before painting? If you don't sand cabinets before painting, at worst the paint will chip or peel. At best, the paint will remain solid and durable for years.
You should sand cabinets before beginning your how to paint kitchen cabinet project to give the new paint a good surface to grip. But you don't need to sand to bare wood.
For kitchen cabinet stripping, sanding, and painting typically costs $5 to $10 per square foot. Depending on the existing condition of the cabinets and the degree of the damage, paint stripping, sanding, and adding putty will add a labor cost of $2 to $3 per square foot to your total cost.
The risk you run with not sanding is that your new paint job will chip almost immediately after it's dried. For most experts, like Dan McRorie of Fitzwater Interiors, creating a smooth, even surface is the single most important part of the project—even if you're going from a stain to a color.
Clean– lastly, after sanding, you'll give your cabinets one final cleaning. No need to degrease, just a good wipe down to ensure you have removed all the dust and small particles. If you're working outside, I love to use my leaf blower for this, followed by wiping with a tack cloth.
It's almost always better to strip than to sand. To begin with, except in cases where the old finish is flaking off, it's a lot more work to sand than to strip using a paint-and-varnish remover.
The Golden Rule of Sanding
The golden rule for choosing your sequence is to never skip more than 1 grit. For example, if you start with P80, and need to finish at P240, rather than using every grit from P80 – P220, you can do P80 – P120 – P180 – P240.
It's important to note liquid sandpaper does not remove material the way traditional sanding does. It won't fix gouges or scratches, and it won't erase the color from stained wood. It lets new paint and stain adhere. Period.
You don't have to remove the cabinet doors to repaint them, so leave them on their hinges if you're not going to replace them. However, it is easier to paint the cabinet's façade with the doors off. You can paint the hinges to match the cabinets or mask them with painter's tape to keep them as they are.
Liquid sandpaper is easier to use than traditional. It only takes half an hour or at least 15 minutes to finish removing the top coat.