Priming the surfaces of your cabinets prior to painting promotes better paint coverage – I recommend using the best oil-based primer for cabinets.

For a cabinet that’s stained, you’ll require to apply a minimum of two quality primer coats. Compared to oil-based primers, shellac-based primers dry fast and won’t have brush marks but not like.  

The Oil-based primers will work great on the exterior and interior bare or unfinished wood. The primers will seal your porous wood and thus give better coverage. 

The primer prevents tannin-bleeding through paint on cabinets made from woods like redwood, cedar. You can use the primers (with hardened Enamel) on woodwork, metal, windows, and doors. 

s: Top 7 Best Oil Based Primer for Cabinets in 2023

1. KILZ High-Hide Premium Sealer, Latex Primer & Interior Stain Blocker

KILZ High-Hide Premium is a great primer for blocking stains. It’ll adhere to and seal the cabinet surfaces – It’ll give a smooth texture and adheres well on bare wood, plaster, and drywall. 

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The stain-blocking primer will cover discolorations and also suitable to change colors on old surfaces.  It’ll prevent and kill mildew growth. Suitable for high-humidity sand moisture-prone areas. 

KILZ High-Hide Premium is suitable for softwood surfaces since the primer won’t deeply lift the softwood grain. It’ll give a level and smooth finish – filling imperfections and sealing porous surfaces. 

KILZ High-Hide Premium is suitable for heavy stains. A gallon of the primer will cover about 300 to 400 square feet of your exterior or interior surfaces. 

The primer offers mold & mildew protection in laundry rooms and bathrooms – areas with high-humidity. It’ll protect brick, masonry, paneling, woodwork, plaster, & exterior or interior drywall. 

You can use the primer over oil-based or latex paint – ensure to adequately prepare the surfaces to rid them of peeling paint, rust, mold, chalk, grease, and dust. 

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2. Rust-Oleum 1976730 Water-based acrylic Painters-Touch Latex

Rust-Oleum 1976730 will work well for your outdoor and indoor priming project including on unglazed ceramic, masonry, plaster, and woo – long-lasting, resist chips, and low odor.

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Rust-Oleum 1976730 will dry within 30 minutes and will cover 120 sq ft. It’ll give an excellent base, smooth finish, and reduces surface imperfections.

I advise you use a 180/200 grit sandpaper to sand the surfaces before primer application. Next, you’ll require to wash the surfaces using a degreaser before allowing them to dry.

The water-based formula in the Rust-Oleum 1976730 will clean and apply easily – it’s a Latex paint. The primer lacks a strong odor – it is a water-based recipe and will be simple to clean.

Rust-Oleum 1976730 will be easy on the surface (fast-drying ~ 30 to 32 min) – preventing cracking or chipping after it has dried. It’ll fill up the imperfections and gaps – with that smooth finish.

The primer is usable on the exterior and interior surfaces, metal components, and lawn furniture – including on yard décor.

3. Zinsser 03504 Cover-Stain Exterior/ Interior Oil Primer

Zinsser 03504 is an excellent Exterior or Interior oil-primer that’s loved by beginners. The mold- and mildew-resistant primer will work wonders on your wooden.

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Zinsser 03504 will work well on your poorly-sanded surfaces – to give that extra pop. The mildew- and mold-resistant primer & sealer will hide stains, damages, and imperfections.

The primer will remove smoke or water stains on your surfaces. Also, the stains won’t bleed through that paint finish. The perfect and flexible primer is great on small DIY painting projects.

Zinsser 03504 is excellent for wall and exterior wood stains, priming cabinets – a suitable oil-based primer. It’ll stop the tannin bleed, oak cabinets, and seals the surfaces.

4. KILZ-Restoration Odor and Stain Maximum Blocking Latex Interior Primer

KILZ-Restoration or popularly known as KILZ MAX is an excellent kitchen cabinet primer that the market offers. It works effectively for vintage cabinets – blocking most stains that arising from prolonged usages.

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KILZ-Restoration ensures that you won’t require to sand the wood – you can block pet stains, grease, pencil, tannin, nicotine, felt marker, grease, and smoke from extensively damaging your surfaces with water.

But keep the cabinet surfaces cleaned and hence ripe for priming to get excellent results – it’s a stain blocker and sealer. It’ll tacker those tough stains and I gallon will cover roughly 300 to 400 square feet.

KILZ-Restoration will tackle those tough stains working on your different materials including wood, stucco, plaster, painted metal, masonry, glass, drywall, ceramic tile, and brick – and excellent oil-based and latex paint.

Ensure to mix the paint well prior to applying on your surfaces – you may use airless sprayers, roller, or a brush. It’ll block your tough stains including interior stains, grease, heavy water, and odors.

KILZ-Restoration has an excellent odor-blocking capability – like those odors (medium – severe) from pets, food, smoke. You can apply the primer on subfloors as this will block the odors priors to spreading the laminate or carpet.

The primer will also effectively cover your or block past artworks – including those of graffiti paints, felt pen, crayon, permanent marker. The primer will hide the nuisance topcoat and offer superior repaint coverage.

My brother acquired the KILZ-Restoration since his cat had urinated on their staircase-carpet steps and it was difficult to remove the smell by simple washing. Ripping the carper and priming it afresh helped to remove the smell.

Equally, my aunt saved her basement stone floor from the bad odors coming from cat pee. Dampening the floor regularly reactivates the pee smell – despite thorough cleaning using soapy-bleach water.

5. Zinsser B-I-N Shellac-Base house-primers and Painting Supplies Primer

Zinsser B-I-N considers the health plus environmental impacts and thus its lacks VOC and thus it is approved from priming child cribs – safe for both animal plus human health.

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Zinsser B-I-N is an excellent primer for exterior and interior application – an amazing primer for your kitchen cabinets. It’ll cover stains more excellently compared to oil-based and latex primers.

Zinsser B-I-N will remove most musty odors, smoke, and pet stains. It is suitable if you need a topcoat or paints the cabinets. But make sure the area is well-ventilated as it has strong-fumed alcohol.

But ensure that you don’t spray the primer – this may effectively increase the gas that lands on the surrounding. The spot and interior primer will effectively refurbish your cabinets.

The primer will stick to your surfaces with no need to sand

Conclusion

The USA-made primer – the best oil-based primer for cabinets – is of high quality and thus loved by novices and professionals.

It’ll give you that smooth finish while also preventing bleeding through of damages old-paint colors, and water stains.