Between finishing our 260+ page book manuscript (deadline Jan 4 — yikes!) and hosting family for the holidays, we’ve also been deep into priming our kitchen cabinets. Can I get a “holla!”? Or, more likely, a “you’re crazy.” Either way, we’re making steady progress and learning a lot about prepping and priming cabinets for paint.
Our house guests have been wonderfully patient, which has made the push manageable. It’s satisfying to see visible progress every day, even when the work is messy and the kitchen is out of commission for a while.
Primer is forgiving in appearance — that’s one of its advantages. It’s meant to be a tacky, uniform underlayer that helps paint adhere and perform over time, so you don’t need perfection at this stage. The key is to apply thin, even coats: avoid drips and heavy buildup. If you keep your application smooth and follow the manufacturer’s recommended drying times, you’ll set yourself up for a long-lasting, attractive finish when you topcoat.
For wood cabinets, especially ones that were previously stained and exposed to kitchen grease, using a stain-blocking primer is important. We selected Zinsser Smart Prime, a high-quality, low-VOC primer recommended to us by professional cabinet painters. One helpful trait of this product is that it stays open long enough to allow working it into grooves and smoothing brush or roller marks without it drying on you immediately. It’s also durable, which is essential if you want the painted finish to hold up for many years.
Our go-to tools for a smooth primer application are a small foam roller and a 2″ angled brush for corners and detail work. The foam roller helps lay the primer down evenly on flat surfaces, while the angled brush makes it easier to get crisp, clean edges without dragging on the surrounding areas. Proper tool choice cuts down on sanding and touch-ups later.
There are several additional primer steps worth mentioning, such as light sanding between coats where necessary, cleaning grease and residue before priming, and using tack cloths to remove dust. We’ll share a full step-by-step breakdown soon, including a video that shows our exact technique. For now, know that patience during priming — thin coats, adequate drying time, and careful edging — pays off when you move on to painting.
Once painting is complete and our guests head home, we’re looking forward to finishing touches: the final topcoats, letting everything fully cure, and then installing new hardware. We get oddly excited about new cabinet pulls and hinges — it’s the little details that transform a kitchen and make all the work feel worth it. While the kitchen has been out of commission, we’ve been offering snacks and drinks everywhere else in the house and doing our best to stay organized around the chaos.
Seeing the transformation unfold is incredibly motivating. Even the small moments — smoothing a panel, watching primer dry to an even, uniform surface, or stepping back to admire a freshly primed island — make the whole renovation feel like a worthwhile project. Progress, no matter how incremental, is something to celebrate.
Wahoo — progress!
Psst – we wrote a kitchen post all about how we prepped our cabinets for paint and another about how we picked hinges and a cabinet color; check those posts for more detailed prep and decision-making tips.
Psssssst – we picked this week’s giveaway winner. Check our recent posts to see who won!