What you must know when having your cabinets professionally painted

What does it really cost to have your kitchen cabinets painted and not ruin them yourself

Many homeowners are thinking about new home improvement projects. 

Kitchen remodeling is one of the most common types of major renovations. 

This can be a very costly remodel with prices ranging from $5000 for lower grade cabinets upwards to $25,000 or more for high quality kitchen cabinets.

There are many sites that may give you an idea of what painting your kitchen cabinets “should” cost. However this doesn’t  tell you the entire story.

This typically is an average price around the United States and based on many different types of painting companies who may not deliver professional cabinet refinishing work.

As with almost anything, for a quality long lasting product, it usually is more expensive to deliver it. This is no different with kitchen cabinet refinishing.

This article will walk you through a professional cabinet refinishing costs. It will also give you average pricing depending on the size of your kitchen using top of the line products and why paint store grade paints are not your best option.

Please remember not every painting company is doing the same job, just like a used Ford is not the same as a New Mercedes. Both are cars but there is a difference.

Do you need some kitchen cabinet inspiration? Check out our most recent projects

Average cost of painting kitchen cabinets professionally

The average cost of painting kitchen cabinets is $100-$175  per drawer face and cabinet door. This usually averages out to a cost of $5,000 for a medium-sized kitchen. However, the cost commonly ranges from $3000 to $10,000. This is a large range, but keep reading to learn how to narrow the cost down for your kitchen. 

Painting Cabinet Cost Pro Tip

An easy way to determine the rough cost for your kitchen cabinet painting project is to use the cost per cabinet face method. This avoids the need to take any measurements and calculate the square footage.

This is also how we do our virtual estimates, saving time and money in lieu of an estimator running out to your home, only to find out it is more expensive then your budget allows

First, you need to count the number of cabinet surfaces in your kitchen. A cabinet surface is simply a drawer face or cabinet door. Second, you need to determine if you have a small, medium, or large kitchen. A small kitchen has fewer than 20 cabinet surfaces. Medium kitchens contain 21-40 cabinet surfaces. Large kitchens have more than 40. You should also add on 10% if you have a detailed cabinet design, such as glass in the cabinet doors.

One more thing. These numbers are adjusted to account for the cost of painting the cabinet boxes, so don’t worry about calculating anything extra for those. But, if you have a wine rack or island that needs to be refinished, add $250 or $500, respectively, for a good-enough estimate. This cost is in addition to any cabinets/drawers on the island.

Here are some other things that may add costs to your project

• Multiple colors
• Heavy cleaning or patching
• Holes from old handles that need patching
• Heavily grained cabinet doors
• The type of paint coating being used
• Are you using a professional company that does this every day? Or a painter?
• Do you have glass front and want the interior of those painted?
• Do you want the underside of the boxes painted?
• All of these things and others can raise or reduce the cost of painting your kitchen cabinets

Pricing

Small Kitchen

For a small kitchen, it usually costs around $110 to $190 for each cabinet door and drawer. So, if you have 6 drawers and 14 cabinet doors, you could expect the total cost to be about $3500-4750 .

Medium Kitchen

Medium Kitchen cabinets refinishing
The cost of painting a drawer face in a medium kitchen is usually $100-$175 . As a result, the total cost of painting cabinets in a medium-sized kitchen with 9 drawers, 22 cabinet doors, and an island would be about $5100-$6500

Large Kitchen

Large Kitchen costs
The price per drawer face and door is often around $100-$175,So, the total cost to paint cabinets in a large kitchen that has 33 cabinet doors, 18 drawers, an island, and a wine rack would end up being around $8,500-$10,000 and up.

DIY cost of painting kitchen cabinets

If you’re going to DIY your kitchen cabinet painting project, you can save a lot of money. Be warned, though, that it is a very time-consuming project, even for a professional cabinet painter. Most people want a very fine finish on their cabinets, which requires a premium type of paint and a lot of patience and experience.

We do not suggest using paints right off the shelf, the coatings we use are all two to three prt products with limited working times.

Not an easy task for a painter let alone a homeowner
We have fixed more do it yourself projects than you would imagine, spend the extra money and have a professional company do them

If you’re going to DIY your kitchen cabinet painting project, you can save a lot of money.

Be warned, though, that it is a very time-consuming project, even for a professional cabinet painter.

Most people want a very fine finish on their cabinets, which requires a premium type of paint and a lot of patience.

Products Used

Benjamin Moore’s best cabinet paint is their ADVANCE product line. It costs about $55 per gallon and comes in all of Ben Moore’s available paint colors. One gallon is usually enough to cover 12 cabinet surfaces.

You’ll also likely want to use Sherwin Williams’ Extreme Bond Primer. Strictly speaking, you don’t have to use it. However, it will save you a couple of weekends of prep work.

The finish won’t be quite as smooth as if your cabinets were professionally done. However, the difference will be small unless you plan on using a high-quality paint sprayer.

Cabinet Painting DIY Price

These two products will make up the bulk of your materials cost, which will amount to about $15 per cabinet surface.

So, if you were painting 30 cabinet surfaces, you could expect your total cost of materials to be about $450. Add some more on if you don’t have common painting equipment, such as drop cloths.

That sounds pretty good, but be aware that the real cost is in the time and frustration you may experience.

Kitchen cabinet resurfacing is one of the hardest types of painting projects to tackle. A professional would expect to spend 1.5 hours per cabinet surface when refinishing all the kitchen cabinets.

It would likely take a weekend warrior 2x that time. So, a kitchen with 30 cabinet surfaces would only cost you around $450, but over 75 hours of your time.

Why is it so expensive to repaint kitchen cabinets?

Homeowners want a high-quality finish on their cabinets. Achieving a cabinet-level finish requires high-end materials and a lot of time consuming work.

As a rough rule of thumb, cabinet painters usually charge about $65-$90 per hour of work for labor. This doesn’t mean that they make that much per hour. A lot of that money goes towards paying workers comp, insurance, and other overhead costs.

Professionals also tend to use high-quality paint sprayers in order to get a super fine finish with the new paint.

Homeowners should note that this is not Specifically, paint sprayers use high pressures to atomize the paint. This results in a finer finish than other painting methods, such as using a brush or a roller.

Is it cheaper to paint or replace kitchen cabinets?

It is much cheaper to paint than to replace kitchen cabinets. The cost to replace kitchen cabinets with new cabinets is usually around 3 times the cost of repainting them.