Doors, drawer fronts and boxes get degreased, sanded flat, primed for whatever they are made of and sprayed with a hard enamel, then hung back up. Kitchen cabinet painting changes the colour of an entire kitchen without disturbing the counters or the backsplash.
Hamilton kitchens vary more than most because the housing stock does. A 1990s oak kitchen on the south Mountain, a factory white shaker in a Waterdown build and a painted site-built set in a Crown Point brick house are three different jobs, and the quote reflects that rather than one rate per door. Older painted cabinets are tested for lead before sanding, which is covered on the century brick home cabinet painting page.
What A Cabinet Painting Quote Lists Before Anything Is Touched
The quote states the door count, the drawer front count and the number of boxes, and every price sits against one of those numbers. It names the substrate we found, the primer that suits it, the topcoat product family, the sheen, the number of coats and what is excluded.
Cabinet interiors are quoted separately from the cabinet painting itself because they are a real cost and not everyone wants them. Crown moulding, glass-front doors, filling old hardware holes and supplying handles each appear on their own line. Nothing gets added later without a new written line.
Kitchen Cabinet Painting Follows The Same Sequence In Every House
The order of operations is fixed, and skipping any part of it is why cheap work fails. Doors and fronts come off and get numbered, hinges are bagged, and the layout is photographed so everything returns to its own opening.
Every surface is degreased next. Cooking grease and old furniture wax sit in a film that water-based cleaners often will not shift, so heavily built-up doors need a solvent degreaser, and that adds to the price. Then comes filling, sanding to a uniform scuff, and the primer that matches the material, shellac on oak and other tannin-heavy wood, a bonding primer on melamine and laminate.
Two or three sprayed topcoats follow, each sanded lightly before the next. Doors are sprayed inside a booth well away from the house while boxes are coated on site behind sealed plastic, which is explained further under cabinet spray painting.
The Kitchen Stays Usable Through Most Of A Cabinet Painting Job
Two to three days of cabinet painting on site is normal, with the whole cabinet painting job finished in one to two weeks once shop time for the doors is counted. Large kitchens and deep colours take longer, because a deep colour needs a third coat.
The sink, the range and the refrigerator stay reachable the entire time. Shelves work as open storage while the doors are away, and the only genuinely awkward stretch is the day the boxes are coated. Small galley kitchens can be done faster than that.
Dry and cured are not the same. Waterborne alkyd enamel takes gentle use at roughly one week and reaches full hardness closer to a month, while two-component polyurethane is hard within a day. We ask for care with drawer fronts and cutlery drawers during that first stretch.
Cabinet Painting Prices Sit Well Under Replacement Cabinetry
Most whole kitchens in this market run $2,500 to $5,500. Small kitchens start near $1,500, and large or two-tone kitchens reach $6,000 to $9,000 and beyond. Per door the going rate is roughly $130 to $250, and a bonding primer for laminate or thermofoil adds to that.
Refacing instead of cabinet painting lands between $3,000 and $10,000, and replacing the cabinetry outright starts around $15,000 and climbs past $40,000. Those are Ontario market ranges gathered across the province. The written quote for your kitchen is the only number that actually applies.
Cabinet Painting That Fails Usually Fails For Known Reasons
Peeling cabinet painting almost always traces back to grease left under the primer, no sanding, the wrong primer for the substrate, or wall paint used on cabinet doors. Wall paint stays soft and never hardens enough for a kitchen.
Chipping shows first at the cutlery drawer and beside the handles, because those take the heaviest wear in any kitchen. Thick coats chip more than thin ones, which is another reason the finish is sprayed rather than brushed.
A fine hairline along the panel edge in February is wood movement, not paint failure. Five months of forced-air heat dries the air out and solid rail and stile doors shrink, then close back up in the humid harbour summer.
Cabinet Painting Is The Moment To Drill New Holes To A Template
A jig is the only way to keep forty pulls consistent. Every door in a run gets its holes from the same template, referenced off the same edge, so the pulls line up down the whole kitchen instead of wandering by a few millimetres.
Drawer fronts get their own reference because they are measured from the centre rather than from a corner. Handle placement is agreed before drilling starts, since the position cannot be undone once it is in. Doing this while the doors are already off for cabinet painting saves paying for a second visit later.
Fixed Cabinets Are Sprayed In The House, Not In The Shop
Anything screwed to a wall stays where it is, so the cabinet painting crew comes to it with the booth left behind. Plastic sheeting is sealed from floor to ceiling around the unit, the floor is covered, and ventilation is set up before any coating goes on.
Doors and drawer fronts still come off and travel to the booth where they exist. A bookcase or mantel with no doors is sprayed entirely on site, which means more masking, more setup and a slower pace than a kitchen of removable doors.
Ask For A Free Visit And A Kitchen Cabinet Painting Quote In Writing
The visit costs nothing and takes about forty minutes. We count everything, work out what the doors are made of, look at the worst one and leave you with a written cabinet painting quote you can compare against anyone else's. Call +1 (289) 201-5389, send the details through the contact page or read more about the work we take on around the city.
Kitchen Cabinet Painting Questions
How long does a kitchen cabinet painting job take?
A whole kitchen takes days, not weeks. The doors leave on the first working day, and the boxes are coated in the house while the doors are away. The finish is dry in hours but not hard for days, so gentle use for a week or two is wise.
Can we use the kitchen during the job?
Yes. The boxes are coated behind sealed plastic while the doors are away at the booth. The sink and the range stay reachable, and open shelves hold dishes until the doors return. Rooms next door stay masked while the work goes on.
Is the visit and the quote free?
Yes. The visit runs about forty minutes. The written quote lists the door count, the material, the primer, the topcoat, the coats and the price. Neither costs anything, and the quote sets the real price for your kitchen.