That week in March that changed my mind about prefinishing

I always thought prefinishing cabinet parts before assembly was a waste of time. Then I had a job for a kitchen in Austin with 36 doors and all those drawer fronts. Spent 3 days sanding and finishing everything flat before assembly, and the finish was flawless with zero drips or brush marks. Anyone else make the switch after one disaster job where you had to sand a finished assembled cabinet?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowanharris1mo ago

My first prefinish job was a nightmare with 18 maple cabinets in a tiny condo. I had a spray setup in my garage and tried to do everything assembled like I always did. Ended up with runs on the inside corners and had to spend two full days with a razor blade scraping drips off the door edges. Now I always break down doors and drawer fronts first, lay them flat on sawhorses with cardboard underneath, and shoot them one at a time. The finish dries perfectly smooth and I just flip them over the next morning for the backs.

elliot_johnson311mo ago

Actually you want backs first then flip for fronts, not the other way around.