# Painting oak cabinets



## ogre (Oct 25, 2007)

Is there a way to paint oak so the grain does not show through so much? I hate the look of painted oak and I have a customer that wants me to paint some oak cabinets.
Thanks Mike


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## woodtradesman (Sep 22, 2008)

You may hate it but what about your client? have you asked your client if they like the grainy look?


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

use a grain filler. try ml campbell.


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## johnpaint (Sep 20, 2008)

Well maybe if you don't have a lot of them, but your looking at a lot of work.What about sanding sealer first, or a very high build auto primer sprayed on and sanded down? This will work if you want to spend the time,but time is money. If your charging 50.00 per hour it gets kind of expensive in a short time.


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## johnpaint (Sep 20, 2008)

One thing that might work is red filler.Pretty stinky stuff after a while.


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## woodtradesman (Sep 22, 2008)

I was gonna suggest grain filler too but I didn't because it would't be time efficient for a cabinet re-paint.


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## Last Craftsman (Dec 5, 2008)

If the holes arent all clogged already, it's not a bad look to leave the holes, and paint thin coats so they dont clog up.

Here is the problem with filling oak:

It isn't just the holes that are depressions, the entire area around the the grain holes are little valleys as well.

Filling those out flush without some of them showing up is very difficult.

And it's not just the large flat part in the middle you need to make look flush, its any raised panels, curves and bevels.

If you intentionally try NOT to fill the grain, everything looks uniform, and has a very natural and authentic wood pattern which preserves some of the wood look, and doesn't look like fake wood because all the grain is real and not repeating.

I think it is a nice look, and it modernizes and freshens up the cabinets without making them look plastic.

the key is tro spray a couple thin coats on so that grain doesn't get filled from brushing/rolling and brushing.

The goal is uniformity.

Good luck achieving uniformity with grain filler. Any areas that have curves or bevels basically require re-sculpting the shape back in after filler is applied everywhere.

If uniformity is what you are after, it's probably cheaper to buy new cabinet faces.

Everytime I have seen it tried, some parts of the cabinets look different than others, and you can see the areas where the spackle are, kind of like a bad bondo job on a car.

Unless the cabinet faces are 100% flat with square edges, it is quite difficult to make oak look "right" using grain filler.

It's best to work with the limitations of the wood.

Unless someone knows of a procedure that makes this easy, which is definately possible, because I never pursued one.

If anyone knows of a way that makes this easy and look uniform, I would be interested as well to know what it is.


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

i never said it was easy. he asked how to fill grain on oak. you use grain filler. if he is looking for a cheap, easy and fast way, i wouldnt use this either.


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## WisePainter (Dec 27, 2008)

Forget the spackling and filling.
Cancel from Kwal is a super dee dooper sanding sealer that builds high to fill grain and sands easier than balsa wood it also dries quickly. Even my SW rep is jealous of it and wishes they would formulate a product to compete.

If you have a Kwal near you?


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## Last Craftsman (Dec 5, 2008)

high fibre said:


> i never said it was easy. he asked how to fill grain on oak. you use grain filler. if he is looking for a cheap, easy and fast way, i wouldnt use this either.


 
I wasnt targeting your post about grain filler. I Could have said good luck with any kind of filler. Meaning spackle, grain filler, etc.

I was more telling Ogre good luck with trying to flush out the cabinets as a procedure regardless of what type of material he uses.

I wasn't trying to target grain filler, or your post specifically.


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## welovepainting (May 13, 2007)

My post is somewhat delinquent however I have found automotive polyester spray-able bondo (U-Pol) works good for this. Gets the inlays, details, and rounded parts easily, hides the grain. Takes multiple steps, looks like smooth maple when done right, and it's still less than new cabinets if they're high quality cabinets something like Kraftmaid.


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## Scotiadawg (Dec 5, 2011)

Last Craftsman said:


> If the holes arent all clogged already, it's not a bad look to leave the holes, and paint thin coats so they dont clog up.
> 
> Here is the problem with filling oak:
> 
> ...


Well said old bean!:thumbsup:


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## Dschadt (Aug 21, 2011)

I hope you gave a high quote on the job. Sounds extremely labor intensive if you want to cover up that oak.


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

Dschadt said:


> I hope you gave a high quote on the job. Sounds extremely labor intensive if you want to cover up that oak.


The thread started in 2009....so if hes trying to hide the grain on oak cabinets, whats the over/under on him still being on the job? :whistling2:


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## Susan (Nov 29, 2011)

I adjusted the variances for drawers and doors the following day. It helped with the final product, but you get the picture. Swedish putty, Stix, cabinet coat. And lots of cleaning. Grain filling oak is a lot like punishment.


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

Csheils said:


> I adjusted the variances for drawers and doors the following day. It helped with the final product, but you get the picture. Swedish putty, Stix, cabinet coat. And lots of cleaning. Grain filling oak is a lot like punishment.


Very nice, here in my neck of woods painted oak is big but no filling of gain that's why it's called painted oak. Nice work looks great.


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## TJ Paint (Jun 18, 2009)

Did you make money? How much did you charge? How long did it take?


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## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

TJ Paint said:


> Did you make money? How much did you charge? How long did it take?


A lot questions for a Sunday don't you think?


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## Susan (Nov 29, 2011)

Think,

Thanks. 

I'm in Worcester but that project was in Falmouth.

TJ,

About 110 hours from removal to reinstallation. Everyone was happy in the end. They were professionally cleaned before I arrived, but I knew I would have to clean them again on my own. What I did not take into consideration beforehand was that the cleaners were concerned with not marring the surface, which in my opinion prevented them from fully cleaning them. For 8 year old cabinets, they were pretty grody.

Lots of headaches that could have been avoided. Lots of headaches that could not have been, too. I painted the rest of the house before starting the cabinets, so it felt like I was on the road for longer than I was. I wound up taking all 30ish of them with me, and upon my return found that some of the carcasses for the back side of the island were removed and were not going to be replaced. So I had done a few extra doors. Bummer. The piece of stone for the island now over hung to create a breakfast bar, and needed some legs for support. They're not pictured, but thankfully they were not oak that needed filling.


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

Csheils said:


> Think,
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> ...


You drove from Worcester to Falmouth that's a ride ...


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## TJ Paint (Jun 18, 2009)

ReNt A PaInTeR said:


> A lot questions for a Sunday don't you think?


Sundays are for brooding.


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