Found out the hard way that pre-finishing drawer boxes saves a ton of time

I built a whole kitchen last month and didn't pre-finish the inside of my drawer boxes before assembly. After installing everything I had to mask off all the fronts and spent 4 hours with a tiny brush in awkward angles. Has anyone else made this mistake or is it just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_harper1mo ago

Got a buddy who did this exact same thing on his first kitchen remodel and ended up cussing out a drawer box at midnight. He told me he had to basically disassemble half the kitchen to get a clean finish on the insides. He still brings it up every time we talk about woodworking projects.

emma_flores1mo ago

I saw a video from a cabinet maker who swears by pre-finishing everything before assembly. He said it only adds about 15 minutes per drawer box but saves hours of touch-up work later. I tried it on my last set of built-ins and it's kind of a game changer honestly. That tiny brush work you described is just brutal, I ended up getting finish all over my fingers and had to keep wiping it off.

jana_shah1mo ago

Pre-finishing every piece before assembly works great until you realize you've scratched up half your finish job just getting the box together. The glue squeeze-out cleanup alone makes me question the whole approach. @the_harper's buddy might have had a rough night, but I'd rather spend four hours with a tiny brush than deal with dried glue spots ruining a pre-finished surface that I can't sand without redoing everything. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

-2