Can You Use Exterior Paint on Kitchen Cabinets

Can You Use Exterior Paint on Kitchen Cabinets? Learn The Answers!

Your kitchen is a place at home where you prefer a delightful environment. After all, tons of your favorite snacks are placed here. You don’t want to take it out from a dull cabinet and miss enjoying the food.

There are several ways you can add value to your kitchen. But what matters most to the eye are the cabinets. Beautifully painted kitchen cabinets can be your source of good action.

Many people rush to interior paints for kitchen cabinets, which often leads to very poor results. Can you use exterior paint on kitchen cabinets? Is it possible? You should go for exterior paints for painting interior kitchen cabinets. Aside from offering colorful kitchen cabinets, exterior paints protect them from dust or moisture. You will get protective shields for long lasting cabinets and eye smooth colors as well. That’s two in one!

Benefits of an Exterior Kitchen Cabinets Paints

Kitchen cabinets are often subjected to rough usage. Whether you are slamming the doors or sliding bottles, these types of regular use will genuinely lead to cabinet decay. Again, we cannot simply avoid the fact of exterior kitchen cabinets being exposed to water/ oil/ heat or moisture.

Whether you are using a wood cabinet or mdf made exterior cabinets, you need to take good care of them for a durable and long lasting service.

Exterior paints are made in such ways that they can withstand these harsh uses. Exterior cabinet paint adheres to the cabinet surface and offers a strong hold to the related elements of your cabinet. Hence, resulting in a durable, prune to exposure and long life of the kitchen cabinets.

And yes, you can definitely use exterior paints for painting interior kitchen cabinets.

Risk when Using Exterior Paints

Exterior paints are made of chemicals. Chemicals that can easily blend with the nature of your cabinet surface for longer sustainability. Earlier exterior paints were oil based. But following the recent law for launching environment safe products, exterior paints are now made of acrylic.

These acrylic based exterior paints are way safer than the oil based ones. However, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) used in these paints are a serious health concern for the human body. Being exposed to these compounds directly for a long time can cause hazardous health issues like cancer or any other dangerous nervous failure.

It is highly suggested not to use these paints in a close environment or using a sprayer to apply these exterior paints.

Preparation & Pre-Work Before Start Painting

If you have finally decided to paint your kitchen cabinetry, some pre-work has to be done for the better and easier implementation of the exterior paints. Here is a list of to-do things you must do before finally putting the paints on.

Remove Doors and Hardwares: Anything that is placed inside the cabinets, you need to remove them to a safer place first. If the cabinet doors are flexible, you need to take them out and place them in an open place where proper airflow is available. And if the doors or other units are fixed in your cabinet, think of using a blower or any mini air fans.

Clean the Surface: This is very important as a clean surface will make it easier for the paint to blend in. Use a clean and soft cloth piece to remove the dust. Do not use any oil or any other chemicals as it will have a complex reaction with the elements of the paint and may mess up with the entire procedure of painting. If cleaned with water, let the units dry fully first

Sanding & Apply Primer: Using a primer on any surface, requires proper sanding. The goal of sanding is to smoothen the upper surface that has primer on it. Sanding helps to balance the adhesion offered by the primer.

Start Painting Your Cabinets: Once you are all done with the above three steps, start painting your kitchen cabinets to your heart’s content. But make sure to wear gloves and use a mask to avoid the particles getting into your system.

Using Exterior Paints Inside Kitchen Cabinets

Can you use exterior paints inside your kitchen cabinets? This has been the curious question of many who are painting their cabinets for the first time. Yes, you can definitely use exterior paints for painting interior kitchen cabinets.

However, exterior paints are delicate and soft in nature. Kitchen cabinets that have exterior paints applied on require a regular amount of airflow. If you paint inside kitchen cabinets, it will become hard and messy to maintain the dryness of the exterior paint. And gradually, you will lose the structure of the exterior paints.

Hence, although you can apply exterior paint on interior kitchen cabinets, it is wise not to use them for proper hygiene and maintenance.

What Happens If I Use Exterior Paint On Interior Cabinets

Using exterior paint on interior cabinets should result in no visible concern. You can hardly tell the difference in your interior cabinets. However, the level of acrylic and VOCs used in exterior paint, if exposed for too long can cause serious health issues.

It is not so uncommon if you face strong odor or mild breathing problems once you have applied exterior paint on the interior. And a long exposure can cause respiratory problems or any other damages. Afterall, exterior and interior are two different parts of your home that need different treatments.

Best Paint to Use on Your Kitchen Cabinets

Durability and sustainability are two important factors when it comes to exterior paints. Kitchen cabinets are often exposed to rough uses. Premium quality paints like Valspar Pro Contractor Coat or Emerald are best fit to maintain long and regular use.

Then again, when it comes to color, your kitchen needs a delightful decoration. Color you choose plays a vital role on how you want to present your kitchen theme.

Subtle colors can lift up your kitchen environment more than the dark and heavy ones. But because the kitchen is such a place where a bright visual presentation can refresh your mind to a great extent, it is better to go for the soft ones like lime or sky blue.

You can find a handful of suggestions online on what types of paint for kitchen cabinets you should use. Check them out here.

Final Words

Using paint on kitchen cabinets has always been an exciting and fun job. If proper precautions like mentioned in our article above are taken, you can present yourself with a beautiful and shiny kitchen that will elevate your mental health.

When it comes to choosing paint, go for the ones that offer durable and quality service. A few more bucks is really worth of long year service. Hence, the decision is yours to take. We hope you already get the point about, can you use exterior paint on kitchen cabinets or not?

If you like our article and it is helpful to you, please share it with your friends and family and let others know as well.

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