Both keep the doors you already have. Painting puts a new colour over them. Refinishing takes them back to bare wood and brings the grain out again. Four pages here cover which one your kitchen can take, and what each costs.
Paint is an opaque film that sits on the surface. It covers the grain completely and gives you a flat, even colour, which is exactly what most people want from a dated oak kitchen. Refinishing does the opposite: the old coating comes off, bare wood is stained, and the figure in the timber becomes the point again.
That difference decides the material question. Refinishing needs real wood underneath, so hardwood doors can take it and thermofoil cannot. Painting is more forgiving but still bonds poorly to vinyl film.
Lifespan follows the same line. A properly sprayed painted finish gives eight to ten years before it wants a refresh, while a refinished one gives ten to fifteen. Painting usually costs a third to a half of refinishing on the same kitchen, so where you want a flat colour it is simply the better spend, and where the timber is worth showing it is not.
Recent work
How it works
How a Refinishing Job Runs in Edmonton
Doors come off
Every door and drawer front is numbered and taken off site. Finishing them flat in a booth is the whole reason a sprayed job looks different from a brushed one.
Degrease, then sand
Years of cooking film sits on the doors nearest the range in a layer you cannot see. Nothing bonds through it, so degreasing comes before sanding, every time.
Prime and finish
Bonding primer, then two coats of cabinet-grade enamel for a painted job, or stain and clear coats for a refinished one. Frames are done in place, masked off.
Rehang and cure
Doors come back on their numbered hinges once the finish has hardened. Full cure takes longer than it looks dry, so we tell you which week to stop being gentle with it.
Common questions
Painting and Refinishing Questions, Answered
What each one is, what it costs, and which doors cannot take either.
Painting puts an opaque colour over the existing doors and hides the grain. Refinishing takes the old coating off, back to bare wood, then stains and seals so the grain shows. Painting changes the colour; refinishing renews the wood.
Roughly $30 to $60 per linear foot brushed and rolled, and $40 to $100 sprayed. A standard kitchen usually lands between $1,500 and $4,500 depending on method and door count. Example ranges, not quotes.
A brush can reach mouldings, but it leaves stroke marks across flat panels that catch the light every time the sun or a downlight hits them at an angle. Spraying gives an even film with no texture, which is what people notice.
Poorly. Paint sits on vinyl rather than bonding into it, so it chips at handles and edges within a year or two. New doors on your existing boxes lasts far longer and often costs less than repainting twice.
A professionally sprayed painted finish gives eight to ten years before wanting a refresh. Refinished wood, sealed properly, gives ten to fifteen. Both depend more on how the kitchen is used than on the product.
For a sprayed finish, yes. Doors are numbered, taken to the booth, finished flat and brought back. Frames and boxes are done in place with everything else masked off.
Five to seven days for most kitchens, plus curing. The boxes stay usable throughout because only the doors are away, but expect open shelving for that week.
They took every door away and sprayed them flat. I had a quote from someone who wanted to brush them on the hinges, and now I can see why that would have looked wrong.
Renata C.
Edmonton
★★★★★
Ours were oak and I wanted them painted. They asked twice whether I was sure, because refinishing would have suited the grain. I still went white and they did it properly.
Owen M.
st. Albert
★★★★★
The degreasing step took most of a day and I thought it was overkill. Two years on, nothing has chipped around the handles, which is where my last kitchen failed.
Halima N.
Sherwood Park
★★★★
Good work, fair price. Just be ready to live with open shelves for a week, which they did warn me about beforehand.
Peter S.
Edmonton
From the blog
Edmonton cabinet guides
Paint against stain, how finishes wear, and what to expect from a sprayed job.
We check what your doors are made from, talk through paint against stain, and quote by the linear foot. If your doors will not hold a finish, we will say so.
