Good wood is worth keeping. Sanding or stripper removes the tired finish, fresh stain evens out the colour, and a clear coat sprayed over walnut, cherry or white oak leaves the grain still reading.
Not every kitchen belongs under cabinet painting. Where the doors are hardwood through and through and the failure lies in the coating alone, refinishing gives back the wood itself, and wood is once again the most chosen cabinet look in Canadian and American kitchens. It is the one job we do that is not cabinet painting at all.
Refinishing Beats Cabinet Painting When The Wood Is Worth Showing
Three things point toward refinishing rather than cabinet painting. First, the doors are solid hardwood instead of veneer over particleboard. The species has figure worth looking at, which usually means walnut, cherry, white oak or good maple. And the damage is in the coating rather than the wood, so scratches, yellowing, worn patches at the sink and a cloudy film above the dishwasher.
Three others point the opposite way. Veneer sanded through once cannot be sanded again. Doors that are already painted are far cheaper to repaint than to strip. And a kitchen where half the doors have been replaced over the years will never stain evenly, so cabinet painting is the fairer recommendation there.
Stripping Or Sanding Comes First, And Which One Depends On The Doors
Refinishing starts where cabinet painting does, with removal, and old finishes come off in one of two ways. Chemical stripper suits carved profiles, raised panels and anything with a deep moulding, because an abrasive cannot reach into a corner without rounding it. Sanding suits slab doors, flat shaker panels and drawer fronts, and it is faster where the surface is open.
Most kitchens use both on different pieces. Either way the wood ends up bare, even in colour and sanded through the grits to a consistent surface, because stain reveals every scratch that paint would have buried. That is the step that takes the time, exactly as prep does in cabinet painting.
Stain Fixes The Colour While The Clear Coat Does The Protecting
Stain is where the kitchen's new character gets decided. A 2000s espresso can come back lighter and warmer, a yellowed maple can move toward a neutral mid-brown, and a red-toned cherry can be steered away from the orange it has drifted to. Sample doors get stained first, the same way sample doors get sprayed before cabinet painting, because stain on bare wood is not reversible.
Two or three coats of clear finish go on after that, sprayed in the same booth that cabinet painting uses, with the same sanding between coats. A waterborne clear stays clear over pale woods rather than ambering, while a 2K clear gives the hardest surface against daily use. Sheen is chosen at the same time, and satin is the usual pick.
Refinished Wood And Painted Cabinets Work Well Together
A very common request mixes refinished wood and cabinet painting in one room. The island stays walnut or is restained darker while the perimeter turns cream, or an oak pantry run survives while every other door is painted. That pairing is set out on the two-tone kitchens and island painting page, and matching a stain to a cabinet painting colour belongs to the cabinet colour consultation.
Pricing tracks the labour. Stripping is slower than scuff sanding, so refinishing a kitchen generally costs a little more than painting that same kitchen, and both sit far below the $15,000 and up that new cabinetry costs.
Refacing Costs More Than Cabinet Painting And Far Less Than Replacing
The three options sit in a clear order on price. Cabinet painting across an entire kitchen most often runs $2,500 to $5,500 in Ontario. Refacing runs $3,000 to $10,000 according to the door material, melamine fronts at the low end and solid wood at the top. Replacing everything runs $15,000 to $40,000 and higher once demolition, counters and plumbing are counted.
Ranges like those describe a market, and the figure that governs is the written quote following a free visit. What usually decides it is the state of the boxes, because refacing a carcass that is coming apart is money spent on a poor foundation.
Find Out If A Kitchen Should Be Refinished Rather Than Painted
Photograph one door and its inside edge, then send both through the contact form, or call +1 (289) 201-6897 and describe what the wood is doing. If refinishing is the better answer you will hear it, and if cabinet painting is, you will hear that instead. Every service we offer is set out on the home page.
Refinishing keeps a kitchen that was built from real wood looking like real wood, which is something no amount of cabinet painting can do.
Cabinet Refinishing Questions
How do I know if my kitchen should be refinished instead of painted?
Refinishing suits solid hardwood with real figure, such as walnut, cherry, white oak or good maple, where only the coating has failed. Veneer sanded through, or doors already painted, point toward cabinet painting. We look at one door and its inside edge at the visit and tell you which.
Is stripping or sanding used to remove the old finish?
Both, on different pieces. Chemical stripper suits carved profiles and raised panels, because sanding would round the corners. Sanding suits slab doors, flat shaker panels and drawer fronts. The wood ends up bare and even, since stain shows every scratch that paint would have hidden.
Does refinishing cost more than painting?
Usually a little more, because stripping is slower than scuff sanding. Both sit far below the $15,000 and up that new cabinetry starts at. Refacing, which fits new fronts on the existing boxes, runs $3,000 to $10,000 in Ontario. The written quote decides the real number.