I’ve got a customer who wants to have their their metal kitchen cabinets painted to look like metal. The cabinets were made by the Kelvinator company back in the late 1940’s and they were top of the line in their day. Right now, they’re painted white, but faded and chipped.
I think the “metal” look is a great idea, but I’m not sure how to go about it. Spray painting would give the best finish, but I’d rather not do that much spraying with lacquer or oil inside a home. Removing the cabinets and spraying outside is not really an option either.
Brushing/rollering might be acceptable, but what kind of paint to use?
-Don
Replies
Aluminum roof paint is one option, must be stirred thoroughly. You might consider Chem-Metal laminate, regular laminate with real metal in a variety of finishes.
Check out auto paint finishes.
Edited 7/1/2004 9:46 am ET by JACKPLANE
"metal kitchen cabinets painted to look like metal"
What do you mean?
Are you talking about a high gloss smooth finish or are you talking about some kind of metallic finish?
Are the doors easy to remove. If so then you can spray paint them outside the house and those are the most seen.
We probably need more info. When you say "spray" do you mean air, airless, hvlp, or what--this can make a difference.
I suspect you want to get that look of "paint on metal" effect that a traditional metal cabinet has. The best way to get that is to layer. You will need an absolutely smooth finish, no chipped spots. Good news, Bondo (or whatever brand) is made for this application. You then want a good primer coat. Now, apply a coat of silver metallic. This coat needs to be near opaque. After that, you can apply the finish color.
The silver "reads through" to give that metallic appearance (even on mdf, if the mdf's finish is smooth--no fuzz--enough). The under coat is key. There's at least one web page that lists the effects. Silver for metallic, gold for "candy apple," opalescent for day-glo, bronze for gold & platinum metallic finish, that sort of thing.
I suppose they want all this fine auto body work done cheaply too?
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Will a case of Krylon do the work? Big color selection, various sheens from flat to high gloss, available everywhere. ;)
Could the original finish be porcelainized enamel? Look at the chips, if the coating looks real thick and hard, that is what it might be. You might end up doing more work in prep than the spray up.
If it is parts you can just take out, then get a quote for the job from an auto body shop.
Another option would be office furniture refinishers.
They use electrostatic spay systems so that overspay is very limited.
If you can take the doors off I would take them to an auto body shop. We used to take the metal doors off of the new homes to auto shop, they did a great job.
Doug
Hammerite?