Painting Ikea cabinets is totally doable, follow along to learn more!

This photo is after a year of wear and tear

Can you paint Ikea Cabinets?

Yes! The answer is yes and they even turn out well!

When we did our huge kitchen remodel, we needed to add 3 cabinets and a pantry.

We wanted to keep this project as affordable as we could, so we turned to our friends at Ikea.

Ikea is a great place to get cabinets, countertops and all sorts of great home things, as I am sure you are well aware. The only bummer part is your stuck to the colors they provide.

For us, we were painting our cabinets white, and Ikea’s white was off white, it wasn’t going to fly with our white as white cabinets.

Real life kitchen remodel disaster! I don’t have a straight on of the island cabinets, but I do of the Pantry, you can see it was the original white.

So, we decided on the double color kitchen.

I was terrified to paint Ikea cabinets.

I didn’t know what would happen or how they would hold up, and after you spend that kind of dough on something- you don’t want to screw it up.

It’s safe to say, I did it and I am SO glad I did. It’s been over a year since I painted them and it’s holding up great! And it’s SO easy. *See the bottom of the post for a further out update.

The most important part about painting your cabinets is the type of paint you use.

What time of paint do you need to paint Ikeas laminate cabinets?

I used Benjamin Moore Advance paint. I used this for all of my cabinets and it’s seriously worth the price!

Let’s get to the good part, painting Ikea cabinets.

How to paint Ikea Cabinets

Yield: How to paint Ikea Cabinets

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 5 days

Active Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 5 days 1 hour 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Here are the steps to painting Ikea cabinets.

Materials

Degreaser
Oil Based Primer
tape
Your favorite cabinet paint *I like Benjamin Moore Advance Paint

Tools

Small cabinet paint roller
Cabinet paint brushes

Instructions

Start by making sure your cabinets are super clean. They should be as they are likely new, but if not you need a good degreaser.
If they already have hardware on them, remove the hardware.
Tape off anything you don't want to paint. I only painted the fronts of the doors and the base. The inside of the cabinet I did not paint, I didn't care that they were white. And this way, it saves them chipping from banged pots and you don't have to remove the doors.
Use a good primer. I used an oil-based primer and did 2-3 coats on them. Luckily primer dries fast, follow the directions on the dry time- super important.
Once you have your primer set, you can jump into the painting. I used a small roller brush, like this one here. And carefully rolled being careful to not overcoat one area more than the other.
Let the first coat dry for 24 hours per the instructions on the paint. You really have to wait the time, I am super impatient with these kinds of things and want to hurry to the next time, but just don't. The curing time is super important to make sure your cabinets hold up. I ended up doing 3 top coats, just to make sure the paint was really on there good. For the next couple of weeks be careful with them. It takes weeks to fully cure and you could ding them up if you aren't careful.

Notes

* The times above are just estimates as it all depends on how many cabinets and what size they are.

This is a really easy and totally worth it project if you need to change the color of Ikea Cabinets.

How does painting Ikea Kitchen Cabinets hold up?

I have two boys and a dog, and these cabinets are the island and the pantry, the most frequented cabinets I have. They are holding up the same if not better than my all wood cabinets that I painted, although those are doing quite well.

Update- as of 4/2021- The cabinets are still holding up great! I did get a bit of a scratch but it covered up great with touch-up paint. The other tall cabinet hasn’t gotten any dings or scratches.

If you have any questions about painting your Ikea cabinets let me know in the comments!

If you’re looking for more fun DIY projects.

Maryann Hall

Tuesday 28th of December 2021

Courtney thank you for answering my question regarding painting IKEA cabinets. I was contemplating replacing my gray doors with glossy white doors at a cost of roughly $2000. Now I can save $2000, keep the traditional look of my current doors but add a bright white modern look! Oh that $2000 will be going into the countertop! Just an FYI for some folks, I use Glidden Trim & Door paint with GELL-FLOW Technology, it’s an oil base paint that allows any brush/paint strokes to disappear, it’s expensive but totally worth it cuz the paint does all the work! Also it gives you a hard factory finish that will stand up to cleaning & wear & tear for years! I’m not aware of the Benjamin Moore paint, it maybe similar but I know the Glidden has been time tested with me on several projects over the years! Good Luck everyone! Save those dollars & use them were you have to! Again thanks Courtney for the info, it was greatly appreciated!

Victoria

Thursday 18th of November 2021

So glad I stumbled upon this thread. Our grimslov medium brown kitchen was discontinued and we were looking to add a few cabinets so we weren't sure if we can just paint the doors and outer frames of the cabinets to a white or off white. I'm Glas it can be done!

Also a note, for those saying their kitchen cabinets are cracking or splitting, ikea has a warranty! Use it! I have in the past for the same reason and they refunded the money to use towards another kitchen! Take photos and open up a case!

Google

Friday 12th of November 2021

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Ayden

Tuesday 9th of November 2021

HI there! Would you mind sharing what brand of primer you used? Thank you!

Courtneys Homestead

Monday 15th of November 2021

Hi Ayden! I'm so sorry it took me so long to see this. I used Kilz Oil Based Primer.

Friday 29th of October 2021

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