The 1990s oak question
A huge share of the kitchens we get asked about were built in the west metro between about 1988 and 2005 with honey oak or golden oak cabinets. The good news is that those cabinets are usually solid wood doors on plywood or particleboard boxes, hung with decent hinges, and they are worth painting. The catch is the grain. Oak is open-pored, so a painted oak door keeps a visible wood texture under the finish. Some people like that. If you want a smooth, factory-flat look, we fill the grain before priming, which adds a step and cost. Either way the door is degreased, scuff sanded, primed with a bonding primer and sprayed with two coats of cabinet enamel. That process is what keeps paint on oak; a roller and a can of wall paint is what makes people say cabinet paint chips.
- Solid oak doors on sound boxes: worth painting
- Open grain shows through unless it is filled first
- Degrease, scuff, bonding primer, two sprayed coats of enamel
Paint or replace: the honest test
Paint makes sense when the boxes are square and solid, the doors close, the layout works, and what you dislike is the color and the finish. It stops making sense when the boxes are swollen from a dishwasher leak, the drawer slides are shot, the doors are thermofoil that is peeling at the edges, or you want a different layout. Refacing sits between the two: new doors and drawer fronts on the old boxes, which is a good answer when the doors are damaged but the boxes are fine. We look at the cabinets on the walkthrough and tell you which of the three you have. Our post on paint or replace goes through it in more detail, and we send people to a cabinet shop when that is the right answer.
- Paint: solid boxes, working doors, wrong color
- Reface: damaged doors, sound boxes
- Replace: swollen boxes, failed slides, new layout wanted
Doors off, hardware off, sprayed flat
Every door and drawer front comes off, gets numbered so it goes back on the same opening, and has its hinges and pulls removed. That is the only way to get a finish with no drips at the hinge cups and no paint bridging the hardware. Doors are sprayed lying flat, both sides, with a light sand between coats, so the enamel levels out without runs. In the kitchen, we mask countertops, floors, appliances and the openings, and spray or brush the boxes and face frames depending on how tight the space is. Cabinet enamel cures hard over a couple of weeks, so we ask you to be gentle with the doors for the first several days after they go back on. New hardware, if you want it, goes on at reassembly and we can fill and redrill for a different pull spacing.
What a painted cabinet finish holds up to, and what it does not
A properly prepped and sprayed cabinet enamel handles daily kitchen life: wiping, cooking grease, kids, dogs. What it does not love is standing water and abuse at the edges. The door under the sink and the drawer front by the dishwasher take the most punishment in any kitchen, painted or not, and are the first places to show wear. We use a hard waterborne enamel made for cabinets, not wall paint, and we tell you which color families age better: whites and light greys hide minor wear, dark colors show it at the edges sooner. In a Minnesota winter, the dry furnace air is good for curing; a humid July stretches the cure time and we plan the reassembly around it. Leftover enamel is labeled and left for touch-ups.
When we would talk you out of it
- Thermofoil or laminate doors that are peeling or bubbling. Paint will not reattach the skin, and it fails at the same edge. Those doors should be replaced; the boxes can often be painted.
- Cabinets with swollen particleboard boxes from a leak, or drawer slides and hinges that have failed. Paint fixes the finish, not the structure. That kitchen is a reface or replace conversation.
- A homeowner who wants no grain texture at all and no grain-fill step. Painted oak shows grain. If that will bother you, either budget for grain filling or look at new doors.
What you get
- Doors and drawer fronts off, numbered, hardware removed
- Degreased and scuff sanded so the primer bonds to the old finish
- Bonding primer on oak and other slick finishes
- Two coats of hard cabinet enamel, sprayed flat on doors
- Kitchen masked so overspray stays off counters and floors
- Honest paint, reface or replace answer at the walkthrough
How it goes
- 1
Photos of the doors and the boxes
Send a photo of a door face, a door edge and the inside of the sink cabinet. We can spot oak, thermofoil and water damage from those and tell you if paint is the right answer.
- 2
Doors off, kitchen masked
Every door and drawer front is removed, numbered and stripped of hardware. Counters, floors, appliances and openings are masked so the kitchen stays clean while the boxes are finished.
- 3
Degrease, sand, prime, spray
Doors are cleaned, scuff sanded, grain filled if you chose it, primed with a bonding primer and sprayed flat with two coats of cabinet enamel, sanded lightly between.
- 4
Cure, reassemble, adjust
Once the enamel is hard enough to handle, doors go back on their numbered openings with hardware reinstalled and hinges adjusted so every door closes straight and quiet.
How much does it cost to paint kitchen cabinets?
Cabinet painting is priced by door and drawer count plus the boxes, quoted from photos for a range and a walkthrough for a firm number. Door count drives it more than anything: a small galley kitchen and a large kitchen with an island and a pantry wall are very different jobs. Then the prep. Oak with grain filling takes longer than a painted door that just needs a scuff and a recoat. Glazes, two-tone islands and a color change from dark to white add coats. New hardware with different hole spacing adds filling and drilling. Bathroom vanities are the small end of the range. The estimate is free and lists doors, drawers and boxes so you can see where the number comes from.
- Number of doors and drawer fronts
- Current finish: oak, painted, or slick factory finish
- Grain filling for a smooth look on oak
- Color change and coat count, including two-tone islands
- Hardware changes that need filling and redrilling
- Boxes and face frames sprayed or brushed in place
- Kitchen plus bathrooms done together
Questions we get on the phoneStraight answers.
Is it cheaper to paint or replace kitchen cabinets?
Painting is a fraction of replacement when the boxes are sound, because you are paying for labor and enamel instead of new cabinetry, demolition and installation. It stops being the cheaper answer when the boxes are damaged or the doors are peeling thermofoil, since paint cannot fix either. We tell you which you have at the walkthrough.
Does painting cabinets devalue a home?
Not when it is done well. A sprayed, properly prepped finish on solid oak cabinets reads as an updated kitchen to buyers and photographs far better than dated honey oak. What does hurt value is a rolled finish with brush marks, drips at the hinges and paint that chips at the edges. Prep and spraying are the difference between the two.
Is professional cabinet painting worth it?
If the kitchen works and only the finish is dated, yes. The result is a hard, smooth enamel that a roller and wall paint cannot produce, on cabinets that would otherwise cost far more to replace. It is not worth it on cabinets with structural problems, and we will say so rather than paint something that should be replaced.
How long does a painted cabinet finish last?
Many years on solid cabinets that were degreased, sanded, primed with a bonding primer and sprayed with a real cabinet enamel. The first wear shows at the sink and dishwasher doors, where water and hands meet the edges. Touch-ups from the labeled leftover enamel handle that. Rolled wall paint on cabinets is what fails in a year.
How long is my kitchen out of commission?
The kitchen stays usable through most of the job. Doors are gone for the duration and the boxes are masked and sprayed over a day or two, so plan on simple meals and no access to the cabinets for that stretch. Reassembly comes once the enamel is hard enough to handle, and we ask for a gentle week or so after that.
Related
Where we do this work
Cabinet painting across Independence, Medina, Corcoran, Orono, Wayzata, Plymouth, Maple Grove and Minnetonka, and the rest of the west metro and Central Minnesota. See the full service area.