Knotty Alder kitchen cabinets painted white -- help me improve them!

Susan
by Susan
I just purchased a new home. The builder installed kitchen cabinets that are made with knotty alder that he painted white. The natural knots and crevasses in the painted wood really bother me -- they look like slashes and gashes.. My question is -- has anyone out there successfully filled the knots and crevasses in painted knotty alder??? If so, what did you use (wood putty or other ???) and did the end result look smooth and clean like regular white painted cabinets? We got a great deal on this house and I don't mind putting in the work to fill, sand and paint the cabinet surfaces. I just don't want to start the project without being confident the end result will be good looking. Thanks for any help you can give me.
  6 answers
  • Cori Widen Cori Widen on Nov 30, 2016

    Hi Susan! Can you please post a photo? I think that will help us generate some ideas.

  • Johnchip Johnchip on Nov 30, 2016

    I agree pictures will help, but my gut tells me you should be thinking

    of sanding down to smooth rather than building up. Personally, I would ask the builder to replace with natural wood or another product or do a fix.

  • Jenn Beck Jenn Beck on Nov 30, 2016

    I would strip them and bring out the natural beauty of the wood with just a nice glaze on them.

  • M'sMammy M'sMammy on Nov 30, 2016

    Just a day ago I pinned several posts about this on PINTEREST. Search for "How to remove wood grain.." They use a special product by Behlen called Water Base Grain

    Filler. The pictures look fantastic.

  • Sharon Mccoey Sharon Mccoey on Jan 04, 2017

    You could glue luan (door skins) to the cabinets and then paint.

  • Susan Susan on Jan 05, 2017

    Wow, thanks Sharon. I looked into it and the pattern on the doors would make this a very, very complicated solution and would not solve the knot holes in the grooves and trim. I appreciate the potential solution though. Susan