Should You Spray or Brush-Paint Cabinets? Here's What the Pros Recommend

Painting cabinetry is a popular DIY project for updating a home's interior. Whether you opt for white, black, blue, or green, painting cabinets allows for any kitchen or bathroom color scheme. However, it isn't always a simple task.

Using a brush or roller to hand-paint each door, drawer, and box (the part attached to the walls) is no doubt a timely task, sometimes with errors involved. To save time, DIYers might skip the brush or roller altogether, instead choosing to use a paint sprayer with plenty of prep to cover the floor, ceiling, appliances, and more. To find out which method for painting cabinets is truly the best for the sake of time and quality, we talked to industry pros.

Pros of Brush or Roller Painting

The traditional DIY method for painting cabinets involves using a brush or roller, as neither requires much knowledge or skills in professional painting. Any DIYer can use this method, especially since limited supplies are needed. No professional equipment is necessary, just sandpaper, primer, enamel paint, and your brush or roller—making this method more affordable as well. There's also minimal mess with this method, as you'll be in complete control of the application. Nick Slavik, professional painter and Purdy partner, says that while he typically opts for a paint sprayer, brush painting can better fill in the wood's pores.

Cons of Brush or Roller Painting

Time is one of the biggest reasons homeowners dread painting cabinetry. Between the prepping, sanding, and cleaning, painting by hand can take days. Slavik notes that in his professional business, it takes about 70 hours total to prep, prime, and professionally hand-finish one set of cabinets with 40 doors and drawers (the average kitchen amount).

Another con of hand-painting is potential brush marks or roller stipple. There is also less color coverage when compared to spray painting.

Pros of Spraying Cabinets

Dennis Fiorilli, director of product excellence at Sherwin-Williams, says spraying cabinetry is the best way to achieve a factory-like finish. Slavik agrees and says painting an entire set of cabinets with a sprayer takes only a few hours with a sprayer, saving days of work. There is also better color coverage when using a sprayer rather than a brush or roller.

Cons of Paint Sprayers

While the total time to paint an entire set of cabinets is cut down drastically with a sprayer, the time spent prepping the space increases. All of the appliances, floors, and ceiling—anywhere you don't want the paint to go—have to be covered with plastic and taped down when using a sprayer. All hardware also needs to be removed (though this holds true for brush or roller painting as well).

Additionally, the sprayer might not get into every pore of the wood, so the cabinets may need to be touched up with a brush afterward. There will also be more odor and fumes from a sprayer rather than with hand-painting from a tray or can of paint.

The Final Verdict

Both Slavik and Fiorilli agree—using a paint sprayer is the best way to achieve the most professional cabinet finish as well as save time. That doesn't mean that a brush or roller should never be used though. Alec Willard, another Purdy professional painter, recommends using a 2-inch bristle brush when painting the small, inside planes of the cabinet base, then finishing the area with a 3/8-inch mini roller.

The Recommended Process

Prep the Site

The first thing to do before painting cabinets is to get your job site in order. Pros usually take cabinet doors and drawers off and take them to their shop, but your yard or garage will work just as well. Remove all hardware and label all pieces to ensure an easy reassembly process.

Make sure both the indoor and outdoor locations have good ventilation before you start to work. For the indoor site (kitchen or bathroom), cover the floor, countertops, and even the ceiling with builders' paper or rosin paper. Both kinds of paper are available in large rolls from big-box stores and paint stores. If spraying cabinets, cover each opening left from the removed door or drawer with masking tape and plastic. This step isn't necessary if brushing or rolling the cabinet bases.

Prep Cabinets

"There is no substitute for good prep. Many products offer 'no sanding' or 'no priming,' but take it from a pro with 31 years of experience: do the prep. We have a simple system called SVT—sand, vacuum, and tack rag," Slavik says.

To sand cabinets, use medium-grit sanding sponges or a random orbital sander with 220-grit sandpaper to abrade the surface. Then use a vacuum with a brush attachment to remove the bulk of the sawdust. Lastly, use a damp microfiber tack cloth to remove the leftover fine dust so that only a clean surface remains.

Prime Cabinets

Next, it's time to prime. Fiorilli says to use a binding primer for slick surfaces and a stain blocker to seal stains or tannins. After using a sprayer to apply primer on all base cabinets on site and the doors and drawers outside, the pros suggest repeating the SVT process one more time before applying your cabinet paint color.

Paint and Reassemble

After all of the prep and priming work is complete, it's finally time to paint your cabinets the color of your choice. Enamel paint is best for cabinetry rather than wall paint as it is more durable and provides a longer-lasting finish. To be safe, wait 24 hours between your first and second coat of paint. Let 48 hours pass after the second coat before returning all the doors, drawers, and hardware.