How to paint kitchen cupboards properly

The whole job from degreasing to the weeks it takes paint to harden, which primer goes on which door, and why most DIY paint jobs fail.

Updated 28 October 2026 · The Kitchen Resprayer

The short answer

Take the doors off and label them, degrease, sand to a key, prime with the right primer for your doors, then lay on thin coats and let each one dry overnight.

Most failures come from skipping the preparation, and from using the doors before the paint has hardened. Touch dry can take an hour; fully hard can take weeks.

Is it a DIY job?

It is, if you're patient with the preparation. Of 11 traders Which? asked, 64% said painting kitchen cabinets needs intermediate or advanced DIY skill, and 73% had been called out to fix DIY paint jobs, usually because the preparation was poor. Which? says preparation takes almost as long as the painting, if not longer.

Of 48 Which? members who painted their own, 77% were satisfied. The commonest problem was peeling, chipping or wear, reported by 31%.

	Standard paints	Professional-grade paints
Materials for about 10 units (Which?, November 2025)	£160 to £170	£320 to £330
How long it takes (Which?)	A few days to more than a week	A few days to more than a week

Which?'s figures include degreaser, primer, top coat and other supplies, about 5 litres each of primer and top coat. Sprayer hire or purchase is not included.

Step by step

1. Empty, remove and label

Take off the doors, drawer fronts, handles and hinges. Number every door and its cabinet, and bag the hardware with a matching label. Fill old handle holes and drill new ones now if the handles are changing. Lay dust sheets and open the windows.

2. Degrease properly

Use sugar soap or a degreaser, not washing-up liquid: ordinary soap won't shift years of cooking grease, and water-based paint won't stick over it. Work hardest round the handles and on the drawer fronts, rinse with clean water and let it all dry completely.

3. Sand to a key

You want grip, not smoothness. Which? uses 120 grit: roughen painted wood, sand varnished wood back to bare, and take laminate from satin to matt without going through it. Do laminate by hand; one DIYer's power sander went straight through to the chipboard.

4. Fill and dust off

Fill nicks and dents with wood filler, sand it flush, then remove every bit of dust before you prime.

5. Prime

Match the primer to the door (table below). Prime both sides, edges included. If you are going from dark to light, use more primer to get back to a neutral base.

6. Thin coats, sanded between

Two thin top coats is typical. Let each coat dry overnight and give it a light sand with fine paper (around 240 grit) before the next. Wet paint over damp paint goes lumpy, and overworking it leaves a patchy sheen.

7. Let it harden before you use it

Rehang the doors once they're dry, then go gently for the first weeks: no masking tape on the new paint, no harsh cleaning, and wipe off splashes straight away.

Which primer for which door

Your doors	Prep	Primer type
Painted wood or painted MDF	Degrease, sand to a key, feather any peeling edges	Water-based primer; spot-prime bare or filled patches
Bare or varnished pine (softwood)	Degrease, sand off the varnish	Water-based primer, with a stain-blocking primer on the knots
Bare or varnished oak (hardwood)	Degrease, sand off the varnish	Shellac or stain-blocking primer over the whole door, to stop tannin spots
Laminate or melamine	Degrease, sand matt by hand, don't cut through	Shellac primer or a water-based adhesion primer
MDF edges	Sand the edges lightly, wear a dust mask	A full primer coat; sand raised fibres between coats
Vinyl or foil wrap	Strip it completely first, or don't paint	Respray or new doors instead
Laminate that is already peeling	Paint won't fix it	See what paint can't fix

From Which?, Farrow & Ball and the primer makers' data sheets listed at the foot of this page. Read the tin of whatever you buy.

Paint, sheen and how to put it on

Water-based

The usual choice for cupboards. Easy to clean up, and one maker says its water-based furniture paint does not turn yellow. Which? says every trader it spoke to recommends professional-grade paint, as it lasts better and often needs fewer coats.

Solvent-based (oil)

Slow to recoat (16 to 24 hours on one satinwood's data sheet), strong smelling, and that sheet says white solvent-based paints will all discolour over time, faster where there is little daylight. It also says not to spray it.

Sheen

Satin or eggshell is the usual pick. One DIY blogger avoids matt because it shows fingerprints, chalk paint because it isn't tough enough, and gloss because it shows every flaw.

Brush, roller or sprayer

A sprayer is smoothest and fastest but costs more. A short-pile roller with a brush for the edges is the middle ground. A brush alone can leave marks on big flat doors.

Two-pack (2K)

This is the "truck paint" professionals spray. It contains isocyanates, which HSE calls one of the main causes of occupational asthma in the UK, and HSE says to spray it only with extraction and air-fed breathing apparatus. It is not a kitchen-table DIY paint.

Touch dry is not the same as hard

This is the gap that catches most people out. A door can feel dry in an hour and still mark, chip or pull off on masking tape weeks later. Five products from four makers, each at the conditions the maker states:

Product type	Touch dry	Recoat	Usable	Fully hard
Shellac primer	15 minutes	45 minutes	Full adhesion in 1 to 3 days	n/a
Water-based adhesion primer	About 1 hour	Top coat after about 5 hours	Not stated	n/a
Water-based furniture paint	1 hour	16 hours	2 to 3 days	After one month
Water-based cupboard paint	1 hour	4 hours	Extra care for 7 days	7 days
Solvent-based satinwood	4 to 6 hours	16 to 24 hours	Not stated	Not stated

Each from that product's own data sheet, read 28 October 2026. Which? puts curing at about three weeks for professional paints.

One water-based paint maker also says that over an oil-based primer, final adhesion takes two weeks, and to keep masking tape off the surface until then.

Warm and dry, or it won't behave

Cold and damp slow everything down and can spoil the finish. Two water-based data sheets ask for at least 8C and humidity below 80%, with around 15C and 50 to 70% humidity easiest to work in. One water-based cupboard paint wants above 10C while it is going on and while it dries. One solvent-based satinwood says not below 5C. So a cold garage in winter is the wrong place to leave doors drying.

What goes wrong, and why

What you see	Usual cause	How to avoid it
Peeling	Grease left on, or no primer on a smooth surface	Degrease properly, sand to a key, prime
Chips round the handles	Used before it hardened	Go gently for the first weeks
Brush marks	Brush only on large flat doors	Roller for the flats, brush for the edges
Runs and drips	Doors painted on their hinges, coats too thick	Doors off and flat, thin coats
Lumpy finish	Wet paint over damp paint	Overnight between coats
Dark or yellow spots coming through	Tannin or knots not sealed	Stain-blocking primer on oak and knots
Old colour showing	Dark to light without enough primer	Extra primer back to a neutral base
Doors sticking to seals	Some seals react with water-based paints	Check the seals; Dulux Trade recommends EPDM
Paint lifting with tape	Tape on paint that hasn't bonded	No tape for two weeks
Whites turning yellow	Solvent-based paint, low light	Water-based paint for whites

Causes as given by Which?, Little House On The Corner, Frugal Mum, Farrow & Ball and the makers' data sheets listed below.

Old paint and lead

If your cupboards are old painted timber, the bottom layers could contain lead. UKHSA says UK paint could contain up to 50% lead until the 1950s, and that it was banned as an ingredient in 1992. It is only likely to be a problem when it is disturbed, which is exactly what sanding does.

Cambridge City Council's advice is not to dry sand: keep the surface damp and use waterproof abrasive paper, wear a P3 mask, and keep children and pregnant women away. If in doubt, get a professional decorator in. Most fitted kitchens with laminate or MDF doors are too new for this, but it matters on old timber.

When to hand it over

DIY is the wrong call if your doors are vinyl-wrapped or the laminate is already peeling, if you can't lay the doors flat somewhere warm for several days, or if your kitchen can't be treated gently for a few weeks while the paint hardens. A big change from dark to light is also slower and fiddlier than it looks.

That is when a sprayer earns their money, and the free photo quote below tells you what it would cost for your kitchen. For what firms charge and why, see how much a kitchen respray costs.

Where this comes from

All read 28 October 2026. Firms change their prices and terms; check the current position with them.

Common questions

Which? says painting without sanding won't last, especially on laminate. One shellac primer's data sheet says it can go over gloss without sanding, but the water-based paint and adhesion primer makers still say sand until the surface is matt. Sand anyway: it is the cheapest insurance in the whole job.

Which? says a sprayer gives the smoothest, fastest finish but costs more, a roller with a brush for the details is a good compromise, and a brush alone can leave marks on large flat doors. Spraying at home brings its own ventilation and masking work.

Time, and patience while it hardens. Which? says the job takes from a few days to more than a week, and professional paints about three weeks to cure. In its survey of 48 members who painted their own, the most common problem was peeling, chipping or wear, reported by 31%.

Which? does not recommend painting vinyl or plastic-wrapped doors unless the vinyl is stripped off completely, and says paint will not fix laminate that is already peeling or bubbling. Some factory lacquers don't take water-based paint either, so test a hidden panel first.

When a respray, new doors or a new kitchen makes more sense

Longer than it feels. One water-based furniture paint's data sheet says it reaches usable hardness in 2 to 3 days and final hardness after a month. Which? says about three weeks for professional paints. Rehang the doors once they are dry, then treat them gently.

Usually a primer and two thin top coats, sometimes more. The makers quoted on this page say one to two or two coats; one DIYer needed five or six in places. Thin coats with a light sand between each beat one thick coat every time.

Rather have it sprayed for you?

Send two photos of your kitchen and we'll price the respray from them. The quote costs you nothing.

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