Kitchen cabinet paint calculator

The default list is an example kitchen: eight upper doors, eight lower doors and six drawer fronts, plus 20 sq ft of frames and end panels. Replace it with your own sizes; most kitchens have three or four. New to this? Paint words explained.

How the cabinet paint calculator works

each size = width × height × how many × sides
total = all sizes + frames and end panels
paint = total × coats ÷ coverage

Cabinets are mostly doors, and doors have two sides. The example kitchen has 93 sq ft of door and drawer surface and 20 sq ft of frames: 113 sq ft per coat. Two coats of enamel at 400 sq ft per gallon come to 0.57 gallons, so one gallon of enamel and one of primer cover most kitchens. See how much paint for kitchen cabinets.

Which paint for cabinets

• Enamel, not wall paint. Waterborne alkyd or urethane enamels level out brush marks and cure hard. Benjamin Moore Advance, made for cabinets, doors and trim, lists 400–500 sq ft per gallon.
• Primer. A bonding primer over scuffed old finish, or a stain-blocking primer over oak with tannin bleed. Behr’s stain-blocking primer lists 250–400 sq ft per gallon, so plan a little more primer than enamel.
• Sheen. Satin and semi-gloss are the common cabinet sheens; see the paint sheen chart.
• Cure time. Enamels can be dry to the touch in hours and take weeks to cure fully. Rehang doors gently and wait before scrubbing.

Tips

• Number each door and its hinge location with tape inside the cabinet before you take them off.
• Paint the backs first, let them dry, then the fronts, so the faces never sit on a drying rack.
• Thin, even coats beat thick ones: thick enamel sags and stays soft.
• A bathroom vanity is the same job in miniature: two doors and a drawer front come to about 10–15 sq ft per coat, well under a quart.