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If your kitchen cabinets are dark, dingy, or bland, you may want to lighten them up or give them a new look with new paint which provides an instant makeover. Paint does not adhere to laminate and melamine surfaces on cabinets, so you won’t want to paint these types of kitchen cabinets.

1. Use a short (4- or 6-inch) foam roller for painting. This will allow you to cover the face frames with only one stroke and it will quickly paint the wider doors. Satin enamel paint is a good choice because it covers the surfaces well and it’s easy to clean up. It’s good for kitchen cabinet surfaces because it’s washable.

2. Before you begin, take off the screws, knobs, pulls, and hinges. If you are going to reuse some of them, set these aside. Pull the drawers out after they are emptied. Cleanse all surfaces thoroughly with TSP (trisodium phosphate). Use fresh water to rinse the surfaces completely and let them dry. If there are any holes, fill them with wood putty and let them dry. Use 150-grit open-coat sandpaper to sand all the surfaces. Use a vacuum to clean dust and sanding residue.

3. Use masking tape on all adjacent surfaces and protect counters and floors with drop cloths or similar articles. The parts of the cabinets should be painted in this order: first the face frames, then the inside surfaces of the doors, next the drawer fronts, and finally the fronts of the doors. If you need additional coats of paint, be sure to let the first coat dry overnight. After the paint is dry, again lightly sand all the surfaces, using 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper. Vacuum the residue completely and then apply the next coat of paint.

4. After the painted surfaces are dry, you can reattach the doors and reinstall the drawers. Lay out the hinge locations. At the locations, drill holes into a jig and through the doors. When you are finished, install the pulls.