Door and drawer count
This is the number that matters. Every door is handled, degreased, sanded, primed, sprayed twice and rehung. Thirty openings is roughly twice the work of fifteen.
Cabinets & trim
Doors come off. That is the whole difference.
A brushed cabinet door looks brushed, forever, under every kitchen light you own. Ours come off, get sprayed flat where there is no dust, and go back on the same hinge with the same screw.
The number, itemised
What is in the price, and what is not.
Cabinets are the job where the cheap quote and the good quote look identical on paper and completely different in eighteen months. The difference is all in here.
In the number
- Taking off every door, drawer front and piece of hardware
- Mapping and bagging hardware so each piece returns to the hole it came from
- Degreasing every surface — the single step that decides whether it holds
- Scuff sanding by hand so the primer has something to bite
- A bonding primer suited to the finish that is already on there
- Doors and fronts sprayed flat off site, both faces, dust-free
- Boxes and face frames finished in place
- Two finish coats in a cabinet-grade enamel
- Rehanging and adjusting hinges so the doors sit square and even
- Dust containment between the kitchen and the rest of the house
Quoted separately
- New hardware, hinges or drawer slides — we will fit them, they are not in the paint number
- Replacing doors or fronts that are delaminating or water-swollen
- Re-facing, re-building or re-sizing boxes
- Stripping a heavy factory catalysed finish back to bare wood
- Grain filling on oak, unless you have asked for the smooth look
- The inside of the boxes, unless it is quoted
- Repairs to the countertop, backsplash or plumbing we work around
- Colour changes once spraying has started
Nothing on the right-hand side gets added without your say-so. The one to decide early is grain. Oak has an open grain that still reads through paint, and filling it is a genuinely different job. We will show you both on your own door before you choose.
Before you compare quotes
Four things move a cabinet price more than the size of the kitchen.
Cabinet quotes are priced per opening, not per square foot, which is why two kitchens of the same size can come back hundreds apart.
What the current finish is
Raw or previously painted wood is straightforward. A factory catalysed conversion varnish needs a specific bonding primer. Thermofoil and laminate need testing before we commit.
Whether the grain gets filled
Oak painted straight looks like painted oak. Getting a smooth, modern front means filling and sanding the grain on every face, which can add days.
How much comes with it
Boxes only, or boxes plus interiors, plus the island, plus the trim in the same room. Each is a real block of labour and each is quoted as its own line.
Asked most
Cabinet painting questions.
If yours is not here, call and ask. We would rather answer it now than have it come up on day two.
Can I use my kitchen while you work?
Mostly. The boxes stay in place and stay usable, so the sink, the oven and the fridge keep working. What you lose is the doors, for roughly three to four days while they are off being sprayed and cured.
Plan for open shelving for most of a week and it is an easy job to live through.
Will it chip?
Not the way wall paint would. A cabinet-grade enamel cures much harder than a wall finish — the trade-off is that it takes longer to get there.
Where chipping does happen it is almost always a degreasing failure underneath, not the paint on top. That is why the degrease is on the included list rather than assumed.
How long until I can use them normally?
Doors go back on hard enough to use. Full cure is two to three weeks, so for the first fortnight close them rather than swing them, and do not stack heavy things directly onto a freshly painted shelf.
Can you paint thermofoil or laminate?
Sometimes, and we will test rather than guess. Thermofoil that is lifting at the edges is not a paint problem and painting it will not fix it. If it is sound, the right bonding primer can work — we will tell you honestly which one you have.
Do you spray in my house?
Boxes and face frames, yes, contained and masked. Doors and drawer fronts, no — they come with us and get sprayed flat and horizontal, which is the only way to get a finish with no runs and no brush texture.
Will the oak grain still show?
Yes, unless we fill it. Painted oak with the grain showing is a real look and plenty of people want it. If you are picturing a smooth modern slab, say so early, because filling is a separate line and adds days.
Do you paint the inside of the cabinets?
Only if it is quoted. Most people skip it — it roughly doubles the surface area and nobody sees it. If you want it, it is a straightforward line to add before we start.
Free, no obligation
Send us your kitchen.
Two photos and a rough door count gets you a real number. Stand back far enough to get the whole run in, and add a close-up of one door so we can see the grain and the existing finish. Written quote within one business day.
Rather talk it through? Call (314) 489-6667, weekdays 7am–6pm.