[doug_bates]

Does automotive paint work well for kitchen cabinets? I have a regular spray gun, not hplv. If not what kind of paint should I use. I am painting over new MDF. Thanks.

[shunned]

Maybe I can answer by asking: would you take cabinet paint and use that on your car?

[Dave Ewing]

Does automotive paint work well for kitchen cabinets? I have a regular spray gun, not hplv. If not what kind of paint should I use. I am painting over new MDF. Thanks.

I have heard that painting kitchen cabinets with automotive paint is the new style and getting more popular as time goes bye. I also want to paint my wooden kitchen cabinets with automotive paint. I want to know how I can prepare the doors and drawers for painting. I want the doors to be smooth with no wood grain showing and I wonder if I can do this with several coats of primer (primer, sand, primer, sand etc.)? If so can I do my primer with spray cans?

[ac101]

If you must have auto paint on your cabs then go for it. Myself I prefer A good latex paint.
As far as getting the doors smooth find a good filler primer. If your using auto paint might as well use auto Primer. Then sand between coats just like your car. If you do this post me back I would love to know how it turns out.

[zerotiger]

really? Auto paint? Why?
better off cleaning, sanding, staining, and sealing. The results will be better and you'll have better re-sale value.

[wswonder]

Auto paint is a good idea, if you know how to use it, if you are a first timer, then bad idea. If you are going to have a professional paint it, then that is great. If you want it to look like the finish on your car on your cabinets, that is hot, BMW black, Mercedes white, that copperish color that Chevy has out on the new Camaro. Auto paint is hard to work with though, but I see where you are going with it. Doesn't hurt to ask MAACO or some other cheap auto paint place.

[koilaf]

I put automotive paint on a bookshelf which got an extreme amount of daily use by active students in my multigrade 3-6 class. It was excellent! I would highly recommend this for use on kitchen cabinet doors. The colour was rich and deep - I used a burgundy candy colour with multiple layers. Did I mention it NEVER scratched! It wore for years and looked like new with merely dusting and the odd wash. I applied it with a brush and with the brush striations within the depth of many layers it looked like an exotic wood with grain ranging from almost cherry to deep burgundy. Many people asked me where that bookcase came from and wondered why I had such a valuable piece of furniture in a classroom - lol. After twenty years it is now residing in my husband's shop holding cans of paint, and it still looks lovely, and although it is scuffed and scratched in places it still carries the high gloss it had when first painted. Amazing - latex paint on cabinets may give a nice even solid coat to cabinet doors, but nothing compares to the amazing finishes available if you can afford to purchase automotive paint which is significantly more expensive.