Painting Kitchen Cabinet

[Evelyn J Good]

Need your opinion about painting a kitchen cabinet instead of replacing it.   Any company in Orlando that you can recommend? Thanks in advance for your input. 

[Matthew Paul]

Adding to a year old post .

I am refinishing and painting kitchen cabinets this week . ( yes it will take a whole week ) . Now this is my personal house , so I am going a bit more than redoing a rental . I removed every door and drawer front , and every drawer and shelf .  We sanded everything , even inside the cabinets .  Why the inside ?  Because the cabinets are older , but great quality , they have oak fronts .  I have 1 shot to do the job , there is no reason not to .

It was 1 entire day with 2 people removing doors , fronts and hardware, and then sanding . It was another entire day wiping down with thinner and priming just the doors and drawer fronts . ( 40 all together )  This used an entire gallon of Zimmer primer , 2 coats .   At $79 a gallon . 

Day 2 was sand with 220 sandpaper and then apply 2 coats of Sherwin Williams Gallery Cabinet paint Semi Gloss white . Thats 2 coats on the inside and 2 coats on the front . Lightly sanding in between coats . Started at 7 this morning and finished last coat at 3:30 .  Used  1 Gallon and a half  at $ 115  a gallon .  Its ready to recoat at a little bit more than 1 hour . This paint is SPRAY ONLY , I am using a Graco commercial airless  sprayer .  I am repainting and refinishig the floors , so the work is being done in the living room and kitchen .  ( You need room ) . So far the finish is as smooth as glass . 

Day 3 will be moving the painted parts and wiping down and painting the drawers , both inside and outside , 2 coats , and painting the hardware while waiting . 

Day 4 will be adding crown molding to the top of the cabinets and spraying 2 coats of primer to the entire cabinet , inside and out .  Overkill ? yes , but when you open any cabinet or drawer you wont see any of the old wood finish . 

Day 5 will be painting the cabinets . 

Just in paint and supplies , it will be around $750 . Then there is the new counter top , sink faucet , and tile back splash .  Reassembly will be in the evenings next week . Letting the paint time to cure . 

Even though I am a contractor , none of my painters wanted the work , I can now see why . I did get quotes from a few companies that do only cabinet painting and the cheapest was $7000. I now know why .  This is much harder than painting a car , ( I use to do do some custom paint jobs in the 80's) .   

I could have bought new cabinets , but new of similar build materials and quality was going to run about $12K . Just cabinets .   So far the finish has exceeded mine and my wifes expectations . The cost savings will go towards , countertop , tile ,lighting , and stainless appliances . 

Can you do this yourself ?  Sure . BUT this is a whole lot of work , and spraying paint takes a bit of practice to get the rythm down to avoid runs and sags . And the house is empty , its getting a head to toe make over . One and done .