Properly Caring for Your Painted Cabinets
If you want to give your kitchen a nice new look without spending a lot of money, hiring kitchen cabinet painters is one of your best options. Simply recoloring your cabinetry can instantly refresh the look of your kitchen, while being affordable on virtually any home renovation budget.
Once the work is done, though, it’s important to maintain it! Well-maintained cabinets should be able to hold their paint job for years – with proper care. Here are some of the tips we give our own customers, whenever we repaint their cabinets.
How To Keep Your Kitchen Cabinet Paint Looking Great
1 – General advice
As a rule, one of the most important things is to always clean as you go, when you’re cooking. If a spill occurs, clean it up at your earliest possible opportunity. The paint will prevent staining for at least a few minutes, but the longer a spill or staining mess sits, the more likely it is to become permanent.
Also, be careful not to hang damp items like washcloths where they can touch the paint. The moisture in them will break down the paint, and lead to it failing early.
Your cabinets should also be cleaned, around every 3-6 months.
2 – Cleaning your cabinet paint
The important thing to know about cleaning cabinet paint is that the cleaner should be as gentle as possible. Basic degreasing kitchen soap should be fine, or else you can make your cleaner. A mix of one cup of vinegar, two cups of water, and 1 tbsp of baking soda (for scrubbing action) will do a fine job.
Be sure to also use extremely soft materials for cleaning. We recommend microfiber cloth. If that’s not an option, then use the softest sponge you own.
3 – What NOT to do
The biggest mistake people tend to make with their kitchen cabinets is cleaning them with improper materials which will damage the paint.
DO NOT use:
- Petroleum-based cleaners
- Silicone-based sprays
- Abrasive powders – nothing rougher than baking soda
- Waxy citrus or orange-based acidic cleaners
- “Magic Erasers” or similar products
As long as you keep this in mind, and use the gentlest cleaning products you can, you should be able to keep your kitchen paint looking great for years to come!
C.E.T. Painting are the kitchen cabinet painters that Westchester County trusts. Our prices are reasonable, and our work is always exemplary. Contact us for a free estimate on your painting job!