Rant: My kitchen cabinet paint job failed after 3 months because I skipped primer

I painted my kitchen cabinets last summer in Portland, used a $40 gallon of Behr cabinet paint, and they looked amazing for maybe 3 months. Then the finish started peeling near the dishwasher where the steam hits. I'm convinced now that skipping the shellac-based primer was my big mistake, even though the paint can said 'no primer needed'. Half the guys on YouTube say primer is a waste of money and half swear by it. Has anyone else had their cabinet paint fail because of heat or moisture? What primer did you use that actually held up?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sam1mo agoTop Commenter

Yeah I gotta disagree about shellac primer being the magic fix here lol. I used Zinsser BIN on my cabinets in Seattle and it peeled just as bad near the stove after a year because I didn't scuff up the factory finish enough. The real trick is cleaning with TSP and sanding good, not just the primer type. Steam from the dishwasher is brutal though, that spot might always be weak unless you use a water resistant topcoat like polyurethane or a conversion varnish.

the_susan1mo ago

That's frustrating, you did all that prep and it still let you down in the end.

wyatt1351mo ago

Pretty sure @the_sam's right about sanding being the bigger deal than primer type. One thing nobody brought up is that Oregon's humidity actually changes how paint dries on wood. I painted cabinets in my old Portland rental and the paint took twice as long to cure because of the moisture in the air. That slow cure made the finish softer and more likely to peel later. If you painted in summer like I did, the humidity might have messed with the bond even before you put the doors back on.