Painting keeps every door you have and changes the colour. What separates a job that still looks right in five years from one that does not is preparation and how the finish is applied, and both happen off the hinges.
A brush can get into a raised panel profile and around a bead, which is why brushing survives at all. What it cannot do is cross a flat door face without leaving stroke marks. Those marks are invisible head on and obvious the moment low sun or a downlight catches the door at an angle.
Spraying lays an even film with no texture in it, which is why it costs more: the doors have to come off, travel, be finished flat and come back. Roughly $30 to $60 a foot brushed against $40 to $100 sprayed. Example ranges, not quotes.
The other half of the difference is prep. Doors are degreased, scuff sanded, then given a bonding primer before two coats of cabinet-grade enamel. Skip the degreasing and the film fails at the handles first, which is the same failure that ruins painted thermofoil. See refinishing and the cost page.
Recent work
How it works
How We Paint Cabinets in Edmonton
Number and remove
Every door, drawer front and hinge is numbered before it comes off. That is what lets everything go back exactly where it started rather than nearly where it started.
Degrease, then sand
Cooking film around the range is the reason most painted kitchens fail early. Degreasing comes first, then a scuff sand to give the primer something to hold.
Prime and spray
Bonding primer, then two coats of cabinet-grade enamel, sprayed flat in a booth. Frames and boxes are sprayed in place with the room masked off.
Rehang and cure
Doors go back on their numbered hinges once the finish has hardened enough to handle. Full cure takes a few weeks, so we tell you when to stop being careful with it.
What paint suits
The Doors That Take Paint Well
Solid wood and painted MDF are the easy cases. Both are stable, both hold a bonding primer, and neither fights the finish. A flat MDF door in particular takes paint better than wood does, because there is no open grain to fill and no seasonal movement to crack the film at the joints.
Oak is the one people are surprised by. Its open grain telegraphs through paint unless it is grain filled first, so a painted oak door either shows that texture or costs more to bury it. We show you a sample before the whole kitchen goes that way.
Vinyl-filmed doors are the hard no. Paint does not bond into thermofoil, so it chips at the handles within a year or two. There the honest answer is new doors on your existing boxes, or refacing. If the wood is sound but tired, refinishing may suit it better.
Door materials
Other finishes
Other Ways to Change the Finish
Painting is one of four finish routes. These are the rest, and what each is for.
Cost, method, how long it lasts and which doors we turn down.
Roughly $30 to $60 per linear foot brushed and rolled, $40 to $100 sprayed. Most kitchens land between $1,500 and $4,500 depending on method, door count and door style. Example ranges, not quotes.
On flat door faces, yes. Brush marks are invisible head on and obvious under angled light, and you see those doors every day. On heavily moulded doors the gap narrows, because a brush reaches the profiles anyway.
Five to seven days for most kitchens, plus curing. The doors are away for that period so you live with open shelving, but the boxes and worktops stay usable throughout.
Eight to ten years before it wants a refresh, when it is sprayed and properly prepared. What shortens it is grease at the prep stage and hard use around handles, not the paint itself.
We will not, and you should be wary of anyone who says yes. Paint sits on vinyl rather than bonding into it and starts chipping at the handles within a year or two. New doors last far longer for a similar spend.
Yes, unless it is grain filled first. Some people like that texture and some do not, so we bring a sample and let you decide before the whole kitchen goes that way.
Usually. Concealed cup hinges are reused after cleaning. Older surface hinges are often painted over on the frame side already, and those are worth replacing while everything is apart.
Homeowner reviews
What Edmonton Homeowners Say About Painted Cabinets
They showed me a grain-filled oak sample next to one that was not filled. I would never have thought to ask, and I would have hated the unfilled one once it was up.
Georgia W.
Edmonton
★★★★★
Doors went away on the Monday and came back the following week, numbered, straight back on the same hinges. Not one of them needed adjusting.
Nabeel A.
st. Albert
★★★★★
I asked about painting my thermofoil doors and they talked me out of it, then quoted new doors instead. Cheaper in the end than doing it twice.
Trish D.
Sherwood Park
★★★★
Finish is excellent. The only thing I would flag is that the cure takes longer than the job, so do not start slamming doors the day they go back on.
Colm B.
Edmonton
From the blog
Edmonton cabinet guides
How painted cabinetry wears, and what to ask before booking a sprayed job.
We check what your doors are made from, bring colour and sheen samples, and quote by the linear foot. If your doors will not hold paint, you hear it at that visit.
