Stripping or sanding back to bare wood, then fresh stain under a clear coat. Walnut, cherry and white oak keep their figure this way, and the finished kitchen reads as furniture rather than as a painted surface.
Refinishing suits a house where the wood is the point. A Lynde Creek side-split with birch slab doors, an Ashburn farmhouse kitchen or a Brooklin main street home with original millwork often looks wrong under an opaque painted finish and right in a refreshed stain. The decision is made against the species and the room, not against fashion. Cabinet painting is the alternative on every one of those kitchens, and both routes are priced at the same visit.
When Refinishing Beats Cabinet Painting On The Same Kitchen
Three things point toward keeping the wood. The species has figure worth seeing, such as walnut, cherry, white oak or quartersawn anything. The doors are solid rather than veneer over particleboard. And the existing finish has failed by wearing thin rather than by cracking apart.
Three things point the other way. The doors mix materials that will never take stain evenly. The grain is open oak that the owner does not want to see. Or the room needs to go lighter than any stain can take it, in which case cabinet painting on the same kitchen is the honest answer.
What Stripping And Restaining Involves Compared With Cabinet Painting
Old finish comes off with a stripper, a scraper and sanding, in that order, and it is slower than the prep for cabinet painting because every trace has to go. Any surviving film shows as a blotch under new stain, and stain cannot be sanded off a panel without sanding through the veneer.
Bare wood is then sanded through the grits, the grain is raised and knocked back, and a conditioner goes on any blotch-prone species such as maple or birch. Stain is applied, wiped and checked against a sample board in the kitchen's own light before the rest of the doors follow.
The clear coat is sprayed, not brushed, using the same equipment as cabinet painting and usually a two-component polyurethane for the wear it gives. Two or three thin coats with a sand between them give a surface that handles a wet dishcloth and a hot pan lid.
What Refinishing Costs Compared With Painting The Same Cabinets
Refinishing is usually the more expensive route on the same kitchen, because the stripping stage is labour that cabinet painting does not need. Where a full repaint sits between about $2,500 and $5,500 across Ontario, a strip and restain on the same door count tends to sit at the upper end of that band or above it.
Those are market ranges rather than a price for one kitchen. The written quote names the stripper, the stain, the clear coat and the number of coats, and it prices doors and boxes separately because boxes are often left alone.
Refacing Compared With Cabinet Painting And Full Replacement
Refacing puts new doors, new drawer fronts and matching veneer or paint on the existing boxes. Across Ontario it runs roughly $3,000 to $10,000, set by the door material and the count. Full replacement of a medium kitchen starts around $15,000 and passes $40,000 once counters and installation are in. Cabinet painting sits below both, between about $2,500 and $5,500 for most kitchens.
These are market ranges and the written quote is the number that applies. What tips a kitchen from painting to refacing is usually door condition or door style, not the colour, since colour is solved by cabinet painting at a fraction of the cost.
Layout is the other tipping point. If the run has to change, if an island is being added, or if the boxes themselves are failing, then none of the three options above apply and a renovation is the honest advice.
Ask Whether Refinishing Or Cabinet Painting Suits This Kitchen
Species, construction and the state of the existing finish decide it, and all three are read in five minutes with a door in hand. The visit is free and both routes are priced, so refinishing and cabinet painting can be weighed against each other.
Call +1 (289) 201-5986, or send a photo of one door through the contact page. The home page lists every service around cabinet painting.
Cabinet Refinishing Questions
When does refinishing beat painting?
When the species has figure worth seeing, such as walnut, cherry or white oak, the doors are solid rather than veneer, and the finish has worn thin rather than cracked. Mixed materials, or a room that must go lighter than stain can take, point toward cabinet painting instead.
Is the clear coat sprayed or brushed?
Sprayed, using the same equipment as cabinet painting. It is usually a two-component polyurethane for the wear it gives. Two or three thin coats with a sand between them handle a wet dishcloth and a hot pan lid.
Why does stripping take longer than painting prep?
Every trace of the old finish has to go. Any film left behind shows as a blotch under new stain, and stain cannot be sanded off a panel without sanding through the veneer. The bare wood is then sanded through the grits and conditioned if it blotches.