By: Custom Cabinets

There is a growing trend in cabinet making to paint kitchen cabinets black. This is difficult to fathom because black is so absent of any color (obviously), but it actually adds a modern look to the room without having to redesign everything. The best way to make the room look modern is to paint the cabinets black. More importantly, it is incredibly inexpensive and can make old cabinets as good as new. Finally, the process of painting cabinets black is really quite simple. Follow these few steps and you’ll have the perfect black, modern looking cabinets.

• Sand the cabinets down. This is the first step when doing anything to cabinets because you need to get rid of all of the old stuff. You might clean the cabinets first with ammonia to get rid of any grime, but in the end, a good sanding gets rid of everything. After doing a rough sand, use a finer sand paper to get rid of any bumps and scratches in the wood. Go in a circular motion and make sure you get everything. You don’t want to have a messy looking cabinet because of laziness during this step. Clean the cabinets with soap and water to get rid of any saw dust.
• Apply painter’s tape around the corners of the cabinets, on the counter tops, above the cabinets so that you don’t get any of the paint on the walls or counters. You can get this tape in a huge roll at your local hardware store. Typically, it comes in blue and it ensures that you don’t make a mess, but it can also offer some very straight edges if you are ever painting walls and decide to add stripes of some sort.
• Paint the primer onto the cabinets. It is advised to use black or grey primer. We use primer because it seals very tightly to the cabinets, holds the paint nicely, but more importantly, protects the paint so that it doesn’t chip as easily. Use two coats of primer. After applying the first coat, let it dry for four hours, then apply the second coat, wait for four hours and then look at it. If the cabinets were black already, you don’t need to apply primer; however, if they were any other color, the primer ensures that the black paint is all you see.
• Add the black paint. This is the final step and is really a dummy step because you need to add the paint to have black cabinets. You can use a large brush, but when you get to the edges, use a smaller one so that you can get the exact areas of the cabinets. Use an up and down motion so you can limit the amount of bristle marks that appear in the paint once it dries. You’ll want to apply at least four coats of this to ensure that it is entirely black. This may take a few days, but it’ll pay off in the end.

Black cabinets are really contemporary and offer a modern look. It would be really expensive to replace all the counter tops and appliances to have a more modern day look. Because of this, it is advised to paint the cabinets black because this makes them look modern. However, if the room is already black, adding black cabinets would just make the room look too dark and depressing. With a black room, try and mix it up a little and throw in white cabinets. The black and white checker look really has an exceptional look to it that many people can appreciate.