Cabinet Painting Plan

The kitchen

Date

Doors

Door W

Door H

Drawers

Drawer W

Drawer H

Face frames

TOTAL AREA

Coverage from the TIN

Coats

GALLONS

Primer

Product

Colour

Figures and rules

Cabinet enamel coverage

350-400 sq ft/gal (SW Emerald Urethane)

At

4 mils wet, 1.2 mils dry

⚠ Doors

BOTH faces

⚠ Drawer fronts

ONE face — the back is inside

Door area

W x H / 144 x 2, per door

Gallons

total area x coats / coverage

Typical 20-door kitchen

156 sq ft — 0.89 gal for 2 coats

Doors' share of the area

about 80%

Touch dry

1 hour at 77F

Recoat

4 hours at 77F

⚠ Reassembly

much longer than recoat

Spraying

buy MORE — overspray and gun losses

Label every piece as it comes off

The order that works

• Photograph the kitchen before anything comes off
• Number every door and drawer front, and bag its hardware with the number
• DEGREASE — before any sanding, or you sand grease into the grain
• Rinse and let dry fully
• Fill damage, sand smooth, dust off
• Grain filler ONLY if you want oak pores gone
• Prime — stain-blocking if there are knots, cedar or redwood
• Coat 1 both sides, respecting the recoat time
• Coat 2 both sides
• Leave far longer than the recoat time before rehanging
• Rehang using the numbers and the bagged hardware

Doors two faces, drawer fronts one

A door is seen from both sides every time it opens. A drawer front's back sits inside the box where nobody will ever see it. On a typical kitchen the doors' second face alone is 62 sq ft — this one distinction is most of the arithmetic.

The paint is not the cost

One gallon covers a twenty-door kitchen. The job is twenty-eight pieces to remove, label, degrease, sand, prime, coat twice per side, and dry without touching. Drying space is the real constraint — count the pieces before you promise yourself a weekend.

Grease first, always

Cooking grease is invisible and paint will not stick to it. No primer fixes it. Degrease and rinse BEFORE sanding — sanding first drives it into the grain and seals it under the finish.