Whether you're installing brand new kitchen cabinets or refurbishing your existing ones, it's important to be aware of the many factors that can prematurely wear them down and age them quickly. Always keep in mind that newly painted and refinished cabinets take approximately 30 days to FULLY cure.
Giving your kitchen cabinets time to cure
"Thinner layers of paint are better than thick layers (less is more) and make sure you let the paint dry fully between coats. Paint needs to cure for quite some time, often up to 28 days."
Wait 24 hours (or several days, if you can) after applying the final coat before reinstalling the doors and drawers. This will give the paint time to dry and cure to a hard, enamel-like finish.
We'd recommend 5-7 days. Whatever the environment, we'd recommend waiting 5-10 days before you put any objects directly against your walls or hang any paintings. If your paint is not fully cured, it might stick to these surfaces or peel off.
Depending on the paint type, it can take 1-2 weeks to dry completely. However, drying doesn't mean curing. Curing is the process of hardening paint on the cabinet surface, while drying is vaporizing the solvent chemicals. So, curing might take around one month to be completed.
High humidity doesn't allow the paint to evaporate adequately. There is too much moisture in the air, and as a result, the solvent has a hard time leaving the paint – and you get stickiness.
You can apply additional heat to the cabinet painting to speed up the curing process. Also, putting multiple layers of thin paint will help it cure faster. Make sure that there is enough air circulation.
Until the paint has fully bonded, the surface may be susceptible to scratches or chips, and the paint has a chance of peeling off. During curing, the water in the paint mix evaporates, while other chemicals will react to cause the paint to bond with the surface.
Facilitate the movement of high velocity air over the painted surface. Just like wet clothes that dry quickly when it's windy outside, paint/industrial coatings also cure faster when subjected to high velocity air. The process of drying paint requires that the solvents evaporate.
While paints dry to the touch/re-coat within a matter of hours, most paints do not fully cure for up to 30 days.
Generally speaking, 2-3 coats total do the trick (primer first, then paint), so long as you keep in mind the quality of paint you're using, the condition of your cabinets, and how the color in question might interact with the existing color of your cabinets.
If you want to protect your cabinets and extend their lifespan, sealing them is recommended. However, if you prefer the look and feel of unsealed cabinets, it's not necessary.
Paint the cabinet boxes
If you're using roughly the same shade as the existing color, two coats ought to do the job. You might even get away with one. Painting over a dark finish with a light color is tougher and could require three coats. Break out a new brush for each coat.
Complete the Job by Sealing Your Cabinets
To prolong the lifespan of your cabinet paint job, then, finish the job by sealing your cabinets with a transparent top-coat. These sealing options include varnishes composed of polyurethane, polycrylic, spar urethane, nitrocellulose, waterborne acrylic, and more.
Painting over existing paint can make the new cabinet doors too thick, which can cause issues with closing and opening. And if you don't clean the original cabinets, the oils can botch the new paint job. That mean's you'll need to remove all hardware, take cabinet doors off of their hinges, sand, prime, and then paint.
Each paint formula is different, but as a general rule, for most oil-based paints, the ideal temperature to apply should be between 40 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. For latex-based paints, it's 50 to 85 degrees, although some more innovative paints are formulated to dry at lower temperatures, even as low as 35°F.
If you've ever questioned, can you use a fan to dry paint? The answer is yes. A fan can help get the air flowing in your painting space. You can use an overhead or freestanding fan to get your paint to dry faster.
It is difficult to fix a painted surface that has not yet cured but that has been rained on. The water forms rivulets down the painted surface, affecting both the paint color and its texture. The best way to fix this is to wait until the paint has fully dried.
Professional painters know to avoid rain, but completing a project in direct sunlight can be equally ineffective. While rain prevents paint from drying, sun has the opposite effect – it dries too quickly. In either case, poor adhesion results.
Paints typically dry darker, particularly oil, acrylic, and latex paints. However, that doesn't mean it will look different than what's on the paint swatch. If you mix the paint properly, it should look the same as the color you picked out once it dries.
In the most ideal of conditions, it will take roughly 2 weeks for your latex paint to cure enough that you can safely wash it. In conditions that are less than ideal, it might take up to a month for your painted surface to fully cure.
When paint remains tacky to the touch and refuses to dry, the issue often lies with quality of the paint. But the problem may also be linked to your painting environment (in terms of humidity and temperature) or application issues like failing to prepare the surface properly or not letting the paint dry between coats.
Cabinet Rescue Melamine Laminate Cabinet Paint
It's one of the fastest drying paints available in this category as you only have to wait two hours before applying a second coat—meaning you can get your whole kitchen refurb done in a day. The paint is mildew resistant and easy to clean with soap and water.