Producing new kitchen cabinets
#11
I've built kitchen cabinets in the past with a stain and clear which was brushed on.

I have just bought a HVLP spray paint system in hopes of making the finish process go faster.

The new cabinets (a first for me) will be in the Euro-style (no face frame).  The carcasses will be built from 3/4" birch or maple plywood with the edges either having a strip of wood attached or edge banded.

I have no concerns about the construction of the carcasses.  

These cabinets are going to be painted white.  Normally I would clear coat the interior (no stain).  I cannot figure how to paint the exterior white and the interior natural (just clear coat). 

Or should I simply paint the exterior and interior white?
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#12
I would only paint the bottoms of the upper cabinets, not the sides.  On the end cabinets that are exposed make a separate panel, paint that, and then screw it on from inside the cabinet it covers.  Use white melamine edge banding on the edges of the boxes; no painting required.  Do that after you clear coat the interiors.  

If this is your first time spraying paint you are in for an interesting project.  Paint shows every little defect, much more so than clear coat.  

John
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#13
(04-24-2018, 12:51 PM)jteneyck Wrote: I would only paint the bottoms of the upper cabinets, not the sides.  On the end cabinets that are exposed make a separate panel, paint that, and then screw it on from inside the cabinet it covers.  Use white melamine edge banding on the edges of the boxes; no painting required.  Do that after you clear coat the interiors.  

If this is your first time spraying paint you are in for an interesting project.  Paint shows every little defect, much more so than clear coat.  

John

I really don't want to use melamine.  In my mind it is a cheap product.  

The commercial cabinets show painted outsides and clear interiors.  There must be an efficient way to do this.
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#14
Prefinished plywood for the interior surfaces. It's a very tough coating and will resist most scratching while being cut, not that much more expensive, and saves a ton of time.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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#15
(04-24-2018, 03:36 PM)fredhargis Wrote: Prefinished plywood for the interior surfaces. It's a very tough coating and will resist most scratching while being cut, not that much more expensive, and saves a ton of time.

I can do that.  One of the upscale lumber suppliers carries that stuff.  

But how do you paint the edges on the Euro-style cabinets without getting spray all over the interior?
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#16
(04-24-2018, 02:54 PM)Cooler Wrote: I really don't want to use melamine.  In my mind it is a cheap product.  

The commercial cabinets show painted outsides and clear interiors.  There must be an efficient way to do this.
Melamine edge banding is the efficient way.  You don't see the edges except when the doors are open anyway.  If you want to use solid wood or wood edge banding you will have to tape off the interior of the cabinets in order to spray those edges. 

Here's a paintable edge band but you are still going to have to mask off the inside of the cabinets in order to paint them.  
John
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#17
(04-24-2018, 05:51 PM)jteneyck Wrote: Here's a paintable edge band but you are still going to have to mask off the inside of the cabinets in order to paint them.  
John

There you go. A question for John...the separate end panel is always how I would do it, instead of finishing the carcase. But I've always built face frame cabinets. Is it possible to add an end panel to a frameless cabinet and it look right (the thickness of the panel on the end)?
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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#18
I worked out how to do it with a face frame.  

I paint the face frame prior to assembling to the carcass.   I then use wax paper and tape to mask the inside of the face frame and then attach the face frame to the cabinet.  I can then spray the exterior of the carcass and touch up the face frame as an assembly.

After it has dried I can remove the wax paper and the tape.  

But that does not work for frameless.
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#19
(04-25-2018, 05:36 AM)fredhargis Wrote: There you go. A question for John...the separate end panel is always how I would do it, instead of finishing the carcase. But I've always built face frame cabinets. Is it possible to add an end panel to a frameless cabinet and it look right (the thickness of the panel on the end)?

Fred, my kitchen is Euro style with attached end panels.  I did it that way because the boxes are Melamine and the end panels are wood.  There are at least a couple of ways to make the doors/drawer fronts work with this. 

One way is to just have the end panel stick out past the end of the door or drawer front.  That doesn't look all that good to me but the advantage is you can use common Euro hinges, assuming you have to hinge doors next to the end panel. 

Another way, and what I did, was to make the doors and drawer fronts overlay both the cabinet side and the end panel.  The finished look is as if there is no end panel.  This is easy to do with the drawer fronts, but the downside is with your choice of hinges.  I used Blum infinite overlay hinges because I didn't know of any other options at the time.  They work OK, but don't snap closed as well as typical Euro hinges and have a pretty wide reveal along the edge.  Since then I've learned that Blum makes side mounted Euro hinge that can have very large overlays, more than 40 mm which allows it to easily span two 3/4" thick panels.  They consume a lot of interior cabinet space, however, compared to normal hinges.  

Another option for full overlay doors is to cut out the cabinet side next to the end panel where the hinges will go so that you can use normal Euro hinges.  I did that on one cabinet with a bifold door where I had no other choice of hinge.  

I can post some photos if what I wrote is unclear.  

John
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#20
I think I followed it, good to know there is a workaround. Thanks.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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