Tannins in golden oak get sealed under shellac before anything else happens. Filler then closes the open pores until they disappear, and sprayed colour finishes doors that were solid all along. Oak cabinet painting suits them well.
Barrie has more honey oak kitchens than any other kind, and more oak cabinet painting requests, because Letitia Heights, Painswick North, Cundles and the early streets of Holly and Ardagh were built between about 1982 and 1998, when oak was what every builder installed. The doors are usually sound. The colour is what the owner wants gone.
Golden Oak Bleeds Through Paint Unless A Shellac Primer Seals It
Oak carries tannins that migrate through water-based primer and appear as blotches of pink, yellow or brown, along the edges and in the grain first. A white topcoat over ordinary primer on oak stains within weeks, and extra coats of white do nothing to stop it. Oak cabinet painting solves this with shellac-based primer, which locks the tannin inside the wood before anything else goes on.
So oak cabinet painting begins with degreasing and sanding, then a full coat of shellac primer over each door, each drawer front and each box. Cherry and walnut follow the same rule, since both bleed harder than oak. Honey maple, common in early-2000s kitchens, has tight grain and no tannin issue, so it takes standard primer and paints easily.
Grain Fill Makes The Difference Between Painted Oak And Smooth Paint
Filling the grain is a choice, and it is the choice that decides how oak cabinet painting looks when it is done. Oak has deep, open pores, and a sprayed topcoat follows them. Without fill, a painted oak door still reads as oak from across the room, which some owners like and some do not. With fill, the surface becomes as smooth as a factory MDF door.
In oak cabinet painting, grain fill means two or three thin rounds of water-based filler, each sanded level before the next, applied after primer and ahead of topcoat. It adds a day at the shop and one line on the quote. When an owner is torn, we spray a sample door both ways, since the difference is easier seen than described.
Cathedral Arch Doors Make Oak Cabinet Painting A Spray Job
The raised-panel and cathedral-arch doors of the 1980s and 1990s have a routed profile with a lot of edge. Those profiles collect grease at the top rail, wear at the handle end and show every brush mark. They are the reason this cabinet painting is sprayed rather than brushed, since only a sprayed coat lays evenly into a curved profile. The cabinet spray painting page explains the booth and the thin-coat method.
Owners who want the arches gone can keep the boxes and fit new shaker doors, sprayed in the same booth to match. Our refacing and door replacement page explains that option and what it costs.
Oak Cabinet Painting Runs Slightly Higher Than Maple Or MDF
Shellac primer and grain fill add labour, which places oak cabinet painting a step above the bottom of the Ontario market range, where a whole kitchen most often costs $2,500 to $5,500 and a door roughly $130 to $250. Leaving the grain visible pulls the number down. Our written quote shows the grain fill on its own line so the choice is plain, and that quote, not the range, is your price.
Ask About Oak Cabinet Painting In Barrie
If the kitchen is 1980s or 1990s honey oak, most of what the quote needs is already known. Request the free visit or phone +1 (705) 230-7220, and a painted oak sample comes along so filled and unfilled grain can be compared side by side. Everything else we do across Barrie, Innisfil and Springwater is on the Barrie Cabinet Painting home page.
Honey oak is the easiest kitchen to picture in a new colour, and oak cabinet painting done with shellac primer and filled grain is the job that makes that picture last.
Oak Cabinet Painting Questions
Why does golden oak need shellac primer?
Oak carries tannins that migrate through water-based primer and show up as pink, yellow or brown blotches, often along the edges and in the grain first. Extra coats of white do not stop them. Shellac primer locks the tannin in the wood before anything else goes on.
Will the oak grain still show after painting?
It can, and that is your choice. Without grain fill, a painted oak door still reads as oak from across the room. With two or three thin rounds of filler, each sanded level, the surface turns smooth. Grain fill adds a day at the shop and one line on the quote.
What happens to cathedral arch doors?
They are sprayed, because only a sprayed coat lays evenly into a routed profile. Owners who want the arches gone can keep the boxes and fit new shaker doors, sprayed in the same booth to match. The quote prices each option on its own line, so the choice is plain.