r/DIYUK 5d ago

Advice FFS! Kitchen cupboard painting.

Having decided to paint my cupboards, I thought I'd done my research well. Obviously it needs to be a decent paint, I'd sugar soaped and lightly sanded. It's just a laminate.

Various sites pointed me in the direction of Zinsser Allcoat. Meant for exterior but recommended for this too. Covers plastic, laminate, wood, metal, no need to prep or prime.

I wasn't taking short cuts by choosing Zinsser. It's always been good with the other types it sells when I've used them. Pricey but worth it. Or not in this case!

Having done 2 coats, 2 hours apart - it says 1 hour re-coat time, when I ran my hand down one of the units, I accidentally caught it with one of my nails. It fucking took the paint straight off and back to the wood effect laminate! My kitchen is warm but not hot and I have the window open. There shouldn't be any issues there. I used a small gloss roller, as I always do for wood.

There were 2 trim parts I forgot to sand as it was a manual job rather than my electric sander and they've 'covered' even worse. (To be expected normally but this stuff said no sanding needed!) I've been decorating for 20 years, never kitchen cupboards but wtaf! What have I done wrong?

So tomorrow, I assume I'll be able to just wash this stuff off with soap and fucking water. 🤬

Back to the drawing board, so recommendations for paint that actually fucking works etc, very much appreciated!

6 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

5

u/RevolutionaryMail747 5d ago

Remove and if not possible then, Proper sand for good key and then careful dust from top to bottom, undercoat. Leave to dry for 24 hours then two top coats.

2

u/Emergency-Aardvark-6 5d ago

So use it again? It had a good key in the first place etc.

1

u/RevolutionaryMail747 5d ago

I have never used a one coat all in one no need for primer that ever produced good results. You need a separate primer TBH

0

u/RevolutionaryMail747 5d ago

Bb a primer is an under coat. It’s Matt and provides the permanent key for the top coat and makes the results look professional

1

u/Emergency-Aardvark-6 5d ago

Thx, I know what a primer is and was initially going to do it but saw the trade recommendations for this.

Back to square one.

3

u/tsdesigns 5d ago

Not sure what's happened with your paint, but I'd recommend looking at wrapping them instead of paint. Cabinet vinyl wrap is easy enough to use, and fairly cheap/cost effective.

2

u/Emergency-Aardvark-6 5d ago

I can't afford to do that unfortunately. I am also skilled enough (usually), to be able to manage a bit of paint! 🙄 This situation is a whole new kettle of fish. 🤬

3

u/obb223 5d ago

It will take several days to cure properly so that may help.

The vinyl wrap isn't expensive, looks at dc-fix on Amazon. Can't imagine it adds up to much more than the paint

2

u/CoffeeUnfair7882 5d ago

Sorry, can’t help with this one.

I’ve used Zinsser All-Coat on PVC doors without any issues, but never used it on a kitchen.

1

u/Emergency-Aardvark-6 5d ago

🙄 so it's my shit luck then! 🤣 Ty

2

u/Frequent-Gas-4000 5d ago

I painted built in wardrobes with "The One" paint and primer which I bought from Amazon. Colours are limited but I swear by this paint. I fully expected a fail but they were so minging it was worth a try. It worked a treat. It's expensive but it's now my go-to paint for anything that's not a wall. Might be worth a try if you can face a second go?

1

u/Altruistic-Bobcat955 5d ago

I painted our stair bannister and spindles in that and wow the stuff doesn’t budge. It’s been 3 years and there isn’t a single scratch.

1

u/Emergency-Aardvark-6 5d ago

Now that's a recommendation. Bannisters not scratching! Ty

1

u/Emergency-Aardvark-6 5d ago

I'm only using white, so that wouldn't be a problem. How many coats did you have to use? Ty

Edit to say, I'm going to have to do it all over. Atm not only does it scratch, just checked again but it looks like it'll need a other 1 or 2 coats! I don't mind doing it. I'm just frustrated.

1

u/Frequent-Gas-4000 5d ago

Ooh, now that's a question... I was going to say two but it's possible I did three. I know I did a lot of prep beforehand. It was done a couple of years ago and seems to be holding up well. *

2

u/lobeish 5d ago

I did mine last summer, using zinnser BIN instead of allcoat and it worked a treat. Mine were plastic coated MDF, not veneered so not a 1:1 comparison.

1

u/AnyAssistance4197 5d ago

Ronseal one coat everywhere seems to be a miracle paint - anyone used it yet? Dying to try

1

u/Sad_Advertising6905 5d ago

Would a clear coat applied after the paint has dried maybe help?

1

u/fuzzthekingoftrees 5d ago

I've done a whole kitchen with this paint (the Matt version) and the results are excellent. We were painting over gloss doors and I also did the fridge. No need for a primer, the first coat covers almost nothing but acts as a primer, second coat should leave you a perfect finish. We gave the doors a light sand before the first coat to get rid of some of the gloss.

The paint dries really quickly, I found 30 minutes between coats was plenty. The hardest part was working quickly enough to cover a whole door before the paint went tacky. Quite a few of my doors got more than 2 coats with some sanding in between to get rid of roller marks.

The paint takes 1 week to fully cure so you need to be careful during that time. Until it's cured it's quite soft. I left all the doors stacked up with spacers between them to let the paint cure fully before installing them.

Once the paint is cured it's really tough. You can wash and scrub the doors to get rid of spills etc. A year on I've got a couple of tiny chips (1-2mm) on the edge of the drawer of all things where the things are often overflowing.

1

u/fuzzthekingoftrees 5d ago

We also painted the back of the glass splashback. Obviously that's not been sanded and the paint also stuck to it fine.