Palm Springs Stephan told us how to repaint our vintage steel kitchen cabinets via the powder coating method at the local industrial place. A beautiful finish – but yes, will cost some money.
And, we have Jamie and Jay’s experience repainting their cabinets.
As another alternative, Kay points us to the highly labor-intensive — but very inexpensive — method that has stormed through the car reno community — like, via hundreds of pages on a forum thread! People think we retro renovators are obsessed? We have nothing on the car guys.
The method involves Interlux Brightsides marine top paint thinned with mineral spirits, sponge rollers, 7 coats including wet sanding — all leading to an equally beautiful and durable finish, at least in our retro Corvair owner’s experience. See his complete instructions here.
As Kay points out: “And the results are impressive…My cabinets are so sad. Someone painted them with house paint. I am currently trying to remove the old paint, I cannot keep it clean. And then I found a method of painting cars using paint available in a can. I am going to experiment with that…on my cabinets. They can’t be any worse then they already are. At least that is my reasoning.”
Thank you, Kay. And let us know how it works out with your vintage Yorktown steel kitchen cabinets.
BTW, nice wheels, Rick. My first car, circa 1976, was a Corvair – it had some kind of souped up engine, a real beast and great fun.
Painting metal kitchen cabinets: Jay and Jamie’s Nashville condo with retro renovated Youngstown cabinets 
Painting metal kitchen cabinets — and a peek at Stephan’s new ’58 Palm Springs pad — Tony Curtis provenance! 
Fabulous St. Charles metal kitchen cabinets for sale in Pittsburgh 
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I know this is an old post but thought people may still be interested in refurbishing vintage metal cabinets. I have 2 vintage metal kitchen cabinets from the 50′s. I would love to get them powder coated and all sugar and spice but baby needs new shoes. So I’m going to try Rick Wrench’s tips. I will post before and after photos. The base cabinet I have is white and the wall cabinet I have is avocado green. I will use primer on both and sand after a few coats (I guess the avocado may need more primer) and then Rustoleum in a candy apple or cherry red (having trouble finding the color chart for their gloss paints). I will have to email Rick because maybe my reading skills have dwindled due to renovating and researching until the wee hours but I don’t see anything listed for what product he used when buffing? Or if he used an electric sander (which is what I wanted to use) and what grade sandpaper. And if each sanding was done when paint was wet? (It was dry but he wetted the finish each morning? Is this necessary for cabinets that are inside?) So many questions and desires….
Well anyway, will post photos within the next week and a half. Oh and I’m sad to say that this month will be the pink and black bath’s funeral. B & W Tile Co.’s beautiful tile chart came last week. Neither of their pinks match ours. The pink shades in the 30′s were completely different than those of the 40′s and 50′s if B & W’s colors are precise.
So anyway, we’re still deciding on exactly what to do. We may keep the floor and do subway tile in colors which match the art deco geometric floor tile design (gray, matte black and pale pink). And wouldn’t you know it but I found a somewhat large mirror from the early 40′s with a palm tree and pnik flamingo.
Oh found the sandpaper grit. But I’m still confused about “wet/dry sanding.”
We brought YT cabinets from this site and are now starting to refinish them. We tried spray painting and with about 10 coats we are still not happy. So we found this information and picked up the paint at West Marine. We applied 1 coat so far and you would not believe the difference already. You really need to be in a well vented area. We could not finish because we had to come home, oh did I mention that the cabinets are going in our vacation rental in Orlando. Where we are doing a complete remodel with a 50′s vibe. So on the next trip down I will finish the cabinets. Thanks Pam for this forum or I would be disappointed with the cabinets. The finish looks to be more durable also.
Yay, Debbie. Thanks for the report on the paint. And yes, be sure to do your research – consult with a pro – about safety and environmental issues. Also for example, check for lead paint – and take appropriate steps.