Have you successfully painted cabinet hinges?

[fidgiegirl]

Hi all

As you may have heard, DH and I have a new house. We are working on some remodeling and one of the ideas I have is to spray paint our kitchen cabinet hinges. They are ok, but I don't like the color. I thought if I could paint those and purchase new knobs (old knobs are ugly regardless of color :~) ) then we could save a few bucks. But the Interwebs seem to have mixed feelings about this approach. Anyone had success at it?

[Aqua Blue]

I haven't, but one of my brothers did hinges and knobs about 2 years ago and they still look great. Recently he said he has had to respray paint the knobs on the cultery drawer and the cupboard under the sink. I suppose those had gotten more wear in the past two years. I think the hinges have been no trouble at all. They had been that ugly brass color and are now a brushed nickel. I know he did some prep work and it took him a while, but I don't know the specifics.

[ICheer]

I painted my kitchen cabinet hinges a little over a year ago and they still look great. There was a fair amount of prep work involved - removing them, cleaning them thoroughly, sanding lightly, priming, and finally two coats of spray paint.

[fidgiegirl]

Cool! I have hope! Further advice still welcome, of course . . .

[fidgiegirl]

Holy moly! Turns out DH kind of likes them the way they are :) We'll see. If I go for it and can remember, I will post a pic here when it's done.

[Marianne]

Could you wipe black or brown paint over the hinges (then wipe most of it off), so the dark color stays in the grooves and the whole thing is toned down? After that, give it a shot of spray urethane?

I had a really neat looking set of hooks, but didn't like the bold, brassy finish. I first spray painted them silver - they looked worse at that point. Then I wiped on black acrylic paint. Now they look almost like brushed nickel.

[goldensmom]

We spray painted hinges and knobs gloss black in 1995. Still looks good. Sometimes I get so confused with conflicting internet information, I'd much rather go with info from those who have done it.

[jennipurrr]

I totally missed that you ended up buying a new house! Are you going to rent out the old one or did you sell it?

I'm glad to hear positive experiences with painting hinges...I was wondering if the paint would wear off fairly quickly, but it looks like if you do it correctly it can last a long time. Good to know.

[fidgiegirl]

Yes, jennipurrr, we are going to rent our our current home. We start remodeling this weekend!! :)

[frugalone]

Never did it, but DH says you've got to take them off, clean the old paint off (turpentine, maybe?) and then make sure the hinge surface will accept the new paint. I don't know if that would involve light sanding or what. Personally, it sounds like too much trouble. then again, almost any home improvement sounds like too much trouble to me. tee hee

[nswef]

There used to be a product called Rub and Buff that you could put on metal with no prep....comes in a little tube . I think an art store would have it. Here's a Joann link. http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?CATID=cat1772&PRODID=prd36790

[Mrs-M]

I'm going to go against the grain a little today (related to this topic) and express my true thoughts on painting hinges (of any sort). IMO, hinge painting is a major faux pas. (Just take a look at any poorly done paint job, door hinges painted over, it looks terrible). Hardware, IMO, should be left in it's natural state.

[fidgiegirl]

But it wouldn't be sloppin' on paint with a brush, it would be spraying it . . . we're going to do a test hinge from a now-surplus cabinet and see how it comes out. If it's crappy, we'll pass.

[CathyA]

Our experience has been that they can rust through, or the paint peels.

[Azure]

I just did that with the hinges on the bathroom cupboard. They were rusty to begin with. And they apparently don't make that kind any more. Not that I've found here in town anyway. And they are an odd design to fit into the space they're in. So I figured I had nothing to lose. I spray painted them with rustoleum. Too soon to tell how they'll last. But they look nice. Way better than before, that's for sure.