Are your kitchen cabinets looking tired and out of date? Is replacing them is outside your budget? Painting your cabinets is a surefire way to squeeze extra life out of that investment—and give your kitchen the fresh look you’ve been visualizing.

The Five-Step Process

While this job is fairly labor intensive, in just a few steps and some elbow grease, the job is nearly done.

CLEAN: Clean all surfaces to be painted with a degreaser (e.g., TSP, TSP substitute, citrus cleaner) to remove all grease and grime.
SAND: Sand all surfaces with a fine sanding block to produce the surface roughness required for maximum paint adhesion. Vacuum and/or wipe down surfaces to remove sanding dust.
PRIME: Prime all surfaces with a good primer. I use latex primer, brushed and rolled on. I allow the primer to cure at least a few days to ensure adequate adhesion and to make it more “sandable”.
SAND: Once the primer has dried & cured thoroughly, give the surfaces a light sanding with the sanding block to remove any nubs that developed during the priming. (You may skip this step if your cabinets still have a decent finish on them.)
PAINT: Paint all surfaces with a high-quality paint. I use latex paint, brushed or rolled on.

A Word about Latex Paints

Over the past few years latex paint manufacturers have begun to produce Low-VOC or No-VOC paints. These paints are clean for the environment because they release little or no organic compounds into the atmosphere.

With that said, I find they dry extremely fast, making it almost impossible to paint without significant lap and brush marks. Typically I add a retarder (e.g., Floetrol) to the paint to slow the drying process and give the paint more time to level and blend. My favorite paint is Sherwin-Williams, which has a longer open time and better leveling qualities compared to other name-brand paints.

Potential Labor Costs

Keep in mind that these approximate costs include removing doors, drawers, and hardware, cleaning, sanding, priming, painting, and a complete reinstall of removed components.

Cabinet doors: $40-$60 per door

Drawer fronts: $30-$40 per drawer front

Cabinet face frames: $30-$50 per cabinet

Cabinet interiors: $40-$60 per cabinet

Exposed cabinet sides: $30-$40 per side

Cabinet undersides: $30-$40 per cabinet

Crown moulding: $1.50 per linear foot of moulding

Toekick: $1.00 per linear foot

Costs for primer, paint, and supplies total ~$100. These costs do not include repairs.

Project Example: Brightened-Up Beach House

I worked on a project involving a kitchen makeover. The client wanted to reconfigure the island and install a new countertop, appliances, and flooring, but wanted to save money by refinishing the cabinets. The cabinets were of good quality and in good overall condition, which made them ideal candidates for painting.

As shown in Figure 1, the existing finish was natural oak. Figure 2 shows the same cabinets painted in Glidden, Swan White, semigloss. The upper cabinets were also topped off with crown moulding—a nice finishing touch.

One question you may be asking: Was it worth it? The short answer is yes – the client saved approximately $1,200 by painting the cabinets instead of replacing them.

SEE THE FULL PROJECT: http://www.heritagewoodworksinc.com/kitchen-remodel

Fig 1: Before photo of cabinets in a natural oak finish

Fig 2: After photo of cabinets painted with Glidden Swan White, semigloss