Painting cabinets?

[OPIE]

Anyone have any experience painting interior cabinets? The ones on our "new" 1983 t1550 are pretty beat and dark. There are some some small holes from hooks and stuff, plus places where stickers used to be. I was wondering if I could sand them lightly and fill the holes, then use a light colored paint or stain.

Any suggestions?

[pwb01]

One suggestion. Fill the holes. We used spackle instead of wood filler. Spackle works well for paint but not stain. Sand everything smooth then use a good qualtiy primer tinted to somwhat match your finish coat. Places like Depot or Lowes will tint primer. You'll get a much better finish with only one finish coat. Primer will prepare the surface for paint and cover up the old finish so you will be able to use a light color over a dark. We just finished our kitchen cabinets in that way.

[Tweety]

I painted our dark oak kitchen cabinets in the house one year. It is a bear of a job. Here's the procedure we used. Remove all doors and drawer fronts. Strip those and any REAL wood cabinets to remove any poly and grease buildup. Sand. Prime twice. Paint 3 times. If I were to do it again I would choose something besides pure white for the paint. I think that had alot to do with the number of coats it took.
Pam

[pwb01]

Aren't we lucky that we have campers with cabinets of the quality wood that we can refinish or paint them. Imagine painting paper faced paneling or thin plastic/fiberglass sheets.

I camped at Caroga Lake, NY last weekend next to a '74 Sunline that was so well taken care of it looked new. The cabinets were refinished a couple of times along the way and looked like new wood.

[OPIE]

I was talking to a co-worker about this and he brought me some pictures of his kitchen. He sanded the dark stained cabinets and doors then used a clear poly tinted white. It looks great. Kinda like a white-washed effect, but you can still see all the detail and graining in the wood. I'm thinking I may try that method. If it doesn't work, I can always paint over it.

[Sunline Fan]

I think that would look great if it turns out. I just think the white paint would be too bright in there, so the whitewash might be just right.

Jon