A small room with a lot of surface
Kitchen cabinets look like a modest job until you count the pieces. Every door has two faces and four edges. Every drawer front, every face frame, every end panel and every toe kick is brushed or sprayed separately, and the finish has to stand up to hands, steam and cleaning. That's why cabinet painting is priced by the piece and the process more than by the size of the kitchen. We don't publish prices; this guide explains the parts.
Counting doors and drawers
The single best predictor of labor is the number of doors and drawer fronts. A painter will count them on the estimate visit. Glass-front doors, raised-panel doors with deep profiles, and open shelving all take longer than flat slab doors. Add in an island, a pantry cabinet or a built-in hutch, and the count grows.
Off the boxes or in place
Most careful cabinet jobs take the doors and drawer fronts off, label each one, and finish them flat in a workshop or a set-up area. The cabinet boxes and face frames are painted in place. That approach produces a smoother finish and lets doors dry without being touched, but it adds handling, transport and reinstallation time. Painting everything in place is faster and may cost less, at the expense of drips and brush marks on vertical door faces.
Cleaning and sanding
Kitchen cabinets carry a film of cooking grease, especially near the range. Paint won't stick to it. Prep usually means:
1. degreasing every surface with a cleaner made for it; 2. rinsing so no residue is left; 3. scuff-sanding the old finish so the primer can grip; 4. filling dents, old hardware holes if hardware is changing, and open grain if you want a smooth look.
Thorough prep is where a cabinet job's quality is decided, and where most of the hours go.
Primer and finish products
Cabinets need a bonding primer that grips the old finish, often a shellac-based or specialty product, then an enamel made to cure hard. Waterborne alkyds and cabinet-grade acrylic enamels are common. Cheaper wall paint on cabinets tends to stay soft and stick to itself where doors meet frames. Ask what primer and topcoat the painter will use, by name, and how many coats.
Spray, brush or both
A sprayed finish is the smoothest, but spraying needs masking of the whole kitchen, a place to spray doors, and equipment. Brushing and rolling with a quality enamel can look good and avoids some setup, but takes longer per door. Many painters spray doors off-site and brush the frames. Each method has a different labor cost.
Hardware and hinges
New knobs and pulls with a different hole spacing mean filling old holes and drilling new ones. Changing from exposed to hidden hinges is carpentry. Ask whether hardware removal, cleaning and reinstallation are included.
Older paint on cabinets
Cabinets in an older kitchen may carry several layers of paint. Under EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, anyone paid to do work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes built before 1978 must hold EPA lead-safe firm certification and use trained workers, and this applies to all firms, even sole proprietorships; the rule generally does not apply to homeowners working on their own pre-1978 homes. Sanding cabinet doors disturbs paint. If the house is that old, ask the painter whether their firm holds that certification and how they'll contain the dust. The card on EPA's state programs lists which states run their own EPA-authorized programs.
Living without a kitchen
Doors are off for days, and the finish needs time to cure before heavy use. Ask how long the kitchen will be out of service, whether the painter can stage the work so part of it stays usable, and when you can put dishes back.
Comparing cabinet bids
- How many doors and drawer fronts did you count?
- Off-site or in place?
- Which primer and enamel, and how many coats?
- Are hardware, hinges and filling old holes included?
- How long until the kitchen is usable again?
Our cabinet painting and refinishing page covers the process in more detail.