Sand kitchen cabinets before and after priming and painting. See cleaning and degreasing cabinets
Cleaning and De-greasers
When it comes to kitchen cabinet painting its best to remove grease and scuff any shiny surface before painting. This is very important for paint to bondage. Sanding is the best way to do this. Therefore we recommend sanding cabinet before painting.
TSP
Although TSP is a recommend degreaser, we never use this product because it reacts badly to the primer we use.
What sort of degreaser should I use?
If some sort of degreaser is needed our choice de-greaser is Spray 9.
De-greasers soften and push grease into grain and seams which effects painting from bonding. This then becomes a weak area prone to cracking, If degreasers actually worked without sanding, we would be using them! Unfortunately this just isn't the case so we don't recommend them as a sure way to prepare wood for finishing.
How clean are most kitchen cabinets?
When is comes to painting kitchen cabinets.... everything has to be sanded and cleaned thoroughly. There is no easy way out. De-greasers never work as a single way to prep kitchen cabinets.