How cabinet painting is done
Refinishing existing kitchen and bath cabinetry: doors and drawer fronts stripped, sanded, primed, and sprayed with a hard cabinet-grade coating. For boxes that are structurally sound but dated, yellowed, or worn at the touch points.
Scope
What the job includes
Removal and labeling
Every door, drawer front, hinge, and pull comes off and gets numbered so it returns to the exact opening it came from. Boxes rarely stay perfectly square over decades.
Degrease and deglaze
Cabinets near a cooktop carry a film of cooking oil that no primer will stick through. Surfaces get washed with a degreaser, rinsed, then scuff-sanded to kill the factory sheen.
Repairs and grain filling
Loose joints, chipped edges, and blown-out screw holes get fixed first. On oak, open grain is filled if you want a smooth painted face instead of visible grain texture.
Bonding primer
The primer is picked for the substrate: shellac or a bonding primer over knotty wood and old stain, a specialty adhesion primer over thermofoil, melamine, or laminate fronts.
Sprayed topcoats
Doors are sprayed flat in a controlled area, two thin coats with a light sand between. Spraying is what removes brush marks and gets close to a factory-looking surface.
Reinstallation and adjustment
Doors go back on, hinges are adjusted so reveals line up, and new hardware is drilled from a jig. Bumper pads keep fresh finish from sticking to the frame.
Sequence
Step by step
Inspection and substrate check
A door comes off and gets examined at the edge to identify wood, MDF, thermofoil, or laminate. That single check determines the primer, the risk, and a large share of the price.
Containment and removal
Plastic sheeting seals the kitchen from the rest of the house, countertops and floors are covered, and doors and hardware come off and get labeled before any sanding starts.
Clean, sand, and repair
Degreasing comes first because sanding a greasy surface grinds oil into the wood. Then scuff-sanding, filling of dents and old hardware holes, and grain filling if the finish calls for it.
Prime and spray
A bonding primer is applied and sanded smooth, then two thin topcoats go on with light sanding between. Doors dry flat on racks so the coating levels instead of running at the edges.
Reinstall and cure
Doors return to their labeled openings, hinges get adjusted for even reveals, and bumpers go on. The finish is usable in days but keeps hardening for two to four weeks.
Preparation
What to do before the crew arrives
Doing these first shortens the job and usually the invoice.
- Empty every cabinet and drawer completely, including the ones above the refrigerator that nobody has opened in years.
- Decide on new hardware before work starts. Changing from knobs to pulls means new holes, and old holes have to be filled during prep, not after painting.
- Take a door off yourself and look at the edge. Knowing whether the fronts are wood, MDF, or thermofoil before you get quotes changes what you should be told.
- Plan for the kitchen to be out of service for several days to a week and set up a temporary spot for the microwave and coffee maker.
- Clear a route from the driveway to the kitchen and a staging area, usually a garage or basement, where doors can be sprayed and racked.
- Confirm your color choice on a sample door under the actual kitchen lighting, not on a paper chip in a store.
Questions about the work
How long do painted kitchen cabinets last?
A properly prepped and sprayed job with a cabinet-grade coating typically holds up eight to fifteen years before it needs attention, and the first wear shows at the touch points around the sink and trash pull-out. Poor prep is what shortens that, not the paint. Touch-up on individual doors is straightforward if you keep leftover material labeled.
Can laminate or thermofoil cabinets be painted?
Yes, with a specialty adhesion primer, and with more risk than wood. Thermofoil is a vinyl skin heat-bonded to MDF, and where that skin is already lifting at a corner, paint will not reattach it. Loose skin has to be removed or the door replaced first. Expect a narrower warranty on these.
Is it cheaper to paint or replace kitchen cabinets?
Painting is substantially cheaper. Published ranges put a painted kitchen at roughly $1,000 to $10,000 depending on size, against considerably more for new cabinetry plus demolition, countertop removal, and often new flooring where the old boxes sat. Replacement makes sense when you are changing the layout or when the boxes themselves have failed.
How long will my kitchen be unusable?
Plan on three to seven days for a typical kitchen, longer if interiors are included or if doors are sprayed off-site. Boxes are usually done in place over one or two days, so the sink and appliances come back quickly. The doors are the long pole because each coat needs to dry flat before the next.
Do I have to sand cabinets before painting, or is a liquid deglosser enough?
Mechanical scuff-sanding gives the most reliable bond and also flattens the surface, which a liquid deglosser cannot do. Deglossers have a place on heavily profiled doors where sanding cannot reach into the routing. On flat surfaces, a job sold as no-sanding is trading a few hours of labor for the durability you are paying for.
Will the wood grain still show after painting?
On red oak, yes, unless the grain is filled. Oak has deep open pores that read through paint as visible texture. Some people like it. If you want a smooth modern look, the grain has to be filled and sanded, which adds meaningful labor. Maple, birch, and MDF fronts do not have this issue.
Can cabinet doors be sprayed inside my house?
They can, with heavy containment, and many painters do. The trade-off is overspray risk and disruption: the kitchen and adjacent rooms get sealed in plastic and stay off-limits. Off-site spraying in a shop gives a cleaner cure environment and gets your kitchen back sooner, but adds transport handling where doors can get dinged.
What should I do about the cabinet interiors?
Most quotes cover the exterior faces, door fronts, and visible frames only. Interiors add real labor and are often left alone because they are hidden and already sealed. A middle path is painting the inside of the door and the front edge of the shelves so nothing dated shows when a door is open.
Ready for a quote?
What this site is
Terre Haute Cabinet Painting is a referral site, not a contractor. We do not hold a license, own a truck, or send a crew. We research cabinet painting pricing and practice, publish what we find, and hand your request to a vetted local company in Terre Haute.
That company quotes, schedules, and stands behind its own work, and it contracts with you directly. We do not mark up the price, and you pay us nothing.