How to Paint Cabinets Without Sanding!

Hi! If you follow me on Instagram you already know that I just recently painted our bathroom vanity cabinet as part of our bathroom remodel. The cabinets are builder grade oak cabinets that were painted white by the previous owner. Ideally, I would have completely replaced the vanity to something a little more modern, but that just wasn’t in the budget. SO I had to figure out a way to make it work.

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The countertop is a very busy granite with shades of black, gray, tan, and orange. Because of all of the tan in the counter I just didn’t love the way the white looked next to it. Plus, I wanted to do something a little different and outside the box! I went with a gorgeous sage green color called Hunter’s Pointe by Sherwin Williams. It has the perfect amount of color while still being muted enough to feel like a neutral.

The paint I used was actually discovered by happy accident! I went to Lowe’s to buy the paint and just happened to see in the mis tint section a cabinet and furniture paint by Valspar in what looked like a really pretty navy color. Navy WAS one of the colors I had considered for the vanity, so I thought I would give it s shot since it was only $9. I tried it out, and it was way too bright! But I loved that it required minimal prep work and the finish is beautiful. Back to the store I went to get the same thing in the Hunter’s Pointe color.

How to Paint Cabinets Without Sanding

Buying this paint is my #1 recommendation. It’s called Cabinet and Furniture paint by Valspar, and you can check it out here. It requires no sanding, no priming, and is self leveling so no brush strokes are visible at all. At first, I didn’t quite believe that you didn’t have to sand. I sanded the doors lightly and left the cabinet box unsanded to experiment. I noticed no difference in the way the paint adhered! I even painted a portion that the previous owners had left unpainted with no sanding and the paint adhered beautifully!

Another awesome thing about this paint is the fumes are so minimal! It makes the painting experience that much better.

I would choose a semi gloss finish in the paint if it is going in a high traffic or high moisture area. This allows for more cleaning and dings.

Do your prep work. While no sanding is necessary you will want to clean your cabinets thoroughly. For a bathroom like mine I used a general purpose cleaner and microfiber cloth. For kitchen cabinets you will want to use a degreasing cleaner to get rid of all of the built up gunk that happens in the kitchen!

I taped off a few areas when I did this project, but honestly if I was doing it again I would have just taken a little extra time around the edges and not taped anything.

Take your time and follow the directions. Even without the sanding, painting cabinets is a long process and it can look awful if you don’t have some patience in the process. You really want to make sure you are painting thin coats of paint. I used a brush to paint all of the cabinets. It doesn’t have to be a top of the line brush, but get something at least in the middle range!

This paint requires 24 hours dry time in between coats to cure. Don’t give in to the temptation to rush this timeline!

Also – allow the full dry time of 48 hours before replacing and using your cabinets. And be gentle with them for a few weeks following that if you can! This allows your paint to really cure and become more scratch resistant.

Paint can make a huge transformation to a space for not a hole lot of money! It just requires a little work and patience to get it right!

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