Is there a difference between cabinet paint and wall paint?

how to paint kitchen cabinets | the best paint for cabinets, trim & doors

Many of our clients will have already bought paint before we arrive to work on a project, not realizing you can’t use just one type of paint for every surface in your house. There are products that are best for painting kitchen cabinets, trim, and doors, which are vastly different from the paint you’d use for your walls! We’re here to share what works best for these surfaces.

Enamel finish is the best choice for trim, doors, and cabinet paint

how to paint kitchen cabinets | the best paint for cabinets, trim & doors

When it comes to high-traffic areas like trim, doors, and cabinetry that are prone to scuffing, enamel paint is the way to go; it dries smooth and hard, making it resistant to the inevitable damage that could occur over time.

We use Sherwin Williams Emerald® Urethane Trim Enamel because of its ability to stand up to the daily wear and tear of life with the added bonus of not yellowing or fading over time. Application is easy, leaving behind no brush or roller marks.

Shortcuts are not recommended when it comes to cabinet paint

Since enamel paint is a bit more costly than wall paint, you’ll sometimes see a less experienced painter or DIY-er forego the investment and just use a little semi-gloss mixed into their wall paint as a workaround for their trim and doors. This is honestly a terrible idea. That sort of mix will only strengthen your wall paint a very slight amount, but the long-term effects will be total weaksauce. Enamel contains a precise formula that no shortcut will be able to truly replicate.

Any professional knows enamel paint is worth the few extra bucks because:

1. You won’t need as much enamel paint for trim and doors, so you’ll be buying fewer gallons than you’ll need for your walls.
2. Enamel paint guarantees long-lasting results that are durable, easier to clean and look so much better than the cheaper alternatives.

Painting kitchen cabinets, trim & doors: the most important rule of all

cabinet paint | best paint for cabinets, trim, & doors

Never use water-based paint on top of an oil-based paint.

You’ll see oil-based paints in a lot of older homes and many people are wanting to move away from that.

This is because of the VOC’s that come off of oil, as well as the way the paint patinas and fades over time. So replacing it with a water-based paint may seem like the best solution.

However, as much as you may want to get away from oil, you cannot just slap a water-based paint on top of it, without proper prep.

If you skip steps here, you’ll end up creating a disaster that will take days and days of labor and expenses to fix!

Avoid this common mistake when painting on top of old, oil-based paint

There are a few really important things to know before switching up your paint. There are some common mistakes you can avoid when you know more about how to prime your cabinets, trim, and doors for new paint. We’ll be talking more about this in an upcoming post.