When given the opportunity to test out new products, I get so ecstatic! I have been working in the world of water-base for about 20 years now. In those twenty years I have used Aqua Coat. I always have their clear grain filler, and wood putty on hand, along with some select stains. My personal favorite stain color of theirs is teak!
About Aqua Coat
All Aqua Coats products are environmentally friendly, low VOCs, low odor, waterbased, non-flammable, and non-combustible. All of these are a huge plus for us! This is also a US based company another bonus for The Upcycle Girls. Plus they are very down to earth and available to help you along your way.
Jessica from Kaleidoscope Interiors and I have 3 video blogs on how to use Aqua Coat’s new White Cabinet Grain Filler along with results. You will have to watch to see the outcome!
Why You Use Grain Fillers
Lets first start by talking about why you would use a Grain filler for wood cabinets. Clear grain fillers are commonly used to create a flat mirror like finish on musical instruments, such as pianos. Aqua Coat created the White Cabinet Grain Filler for kitchen cabinet painting.
There is a huge pull right now to paint kitchen cabinets. But when you paint your cabinets you do not want the open / negative grain to be showing through on all your hard work. The white color helps you see where you are filling in the grain. While clear grain filler can be hard to tell where you have filled the grain. Truthfully if you are painting your cabinets you want them to look like they came straight from the manufacture. Aqua Coat’s White Cabinet Grain Filler is one of those products that can create that look.
Intro and Prepping your Doors
Applying Your Grain Filler
Results of Aqua Coats White Cabinet Grain Filler
Whoa thats a huge difference don’t you think? If that doesn’t convince you check out these photos.
The doors above the paint is hand brushed on. You can clearly see the grain poking through on the side we didn’t do (bottom left). You can however see on the right my brush strokes from painting but very minimal grain.
This door the paint was sprayed on which shows the open / negative grain quite a bit more than the brushed on door.
Still need to be convinced? Check out these!
The grain filler isn’t just for cabinet doors it can be used on wood where you need to hide the grain. So do you have a project for Grain filler for wood cabinets? If you do be sure to share with us or Aqua Coat on their Facebook or Instagram. We are also here for questions!
Tara and Jess
***This blog was sponsored by Aqua Coat to read more about sponsored blogs and our affiliate links please go here.
What to learn more about how to paint kitchen cabinets and get some product recommendations? Download my Kitchen Painting eBook!
thank you for sharing, great project
Do you still clean with alcohol/water between every time you sand it? or just the beginning?
Arlette, just a dusting works good for between coats. 🙂
Thank you!
You’re Welcome!
Thanks for this post Tara! I’m planning on repainting my bathroom cabinets in the next month or two and I’m going to try Aqua Coat out! I got my kitchen cabinets repainted last year by my local cabinet refinisher and they did an excellent job. I’m trying to save some money this time around, so I’ve decided to go the DIY route for my bathroom cabinets! Will let you know how it turns out 🙂
That’s great I am excited for you and good for you for doing your research. Please let me know if you have any questions. I also have an ebook for on painting cabinets. If you want to check that out too. Yes, please let me know how it turns out.
Would this be good for oak spindles I’m painting white? Also, thoughts on liquid sandpaper for spindles?
Thanks for your comment and great questions!! Yes absolutely this will work on spindles just use a rag and glove with your finger go in circular motions. You will need to sand with a sanding sponge after it is dry to get rid of any excess. In regards to liquid sandpaper, I am pretty old school when it comes to refinishing I don’t get into any hype about “all in one” or “no prep / sand” My thoughts is I don’t see how liquid sandpaper will remove imperfections for a smooth surface. You can check out my post Product List for Painting Furniture.. Let me know if you have any other questions.
So which looks/does the best in the end, spraying or brushing the paint on? I had a contractor who came and gave us a quote of $6,000! We may as well buy new cabinets. We have the golden old. I have changed all appliances to black, taupe/black speckled granite countertops with a natural taupe color backsplash. I would like a little color in the cabinets. I’m replacing hardware with matte black. The cabinets are shaker style. Another question, when I get to the bottom, do I leave the quarter round stained or paint it? This will be an intense undertaking, but I want it to be right.
Carol spraying always looks best. 😉 Your kitchen sounds beautiful ❤️. Most people paint the quarter round but that is totally up to you. On my website under Learn How to DIY I have a Kitchen Painting eBook you can download.
I have textured laminate on MDF cabinets in a wood tone that I ‘d like to paint black. Ideally, I ‘d like to eliminate the “texture” (it’s about 1/16th inch tall linear striations). I’m afraid to sand them down too much so do you think the Aqua Coat could fill in the recesses?
Thanks so much!
The grain filler won’t work well you would have to do very thin coats and a lot of them. I would either put a 1/4 inch plywood over the top of the laminate (if possible) or use car bondo to fill that. If you use the car bondo mix and fill in sections it will dry fairly quickly. You will also have to do heavy sanding afterwords so get a good sander.
Thank you so much!
Can I use this product on cabinets that have already been painted? Didn’t know about the oak grain issue before we painted and now I want to fix it.
If you sand and use the same paint brand it should be fine. If you have too many different product or too many layers of products it can cause finish failure.