
Do you have kitchen cabinets that accomplish their function well and don’t have serious flaws, but the paint has lost its freshness?
Then this article is just for you. Here you will learn the answer to the question “How much does it cost to paint kitchen cabinets?” and to many other questions related to the topic of giving new life to your cabinets.
There’s a list of pluses you get after kitchen cabinet painting in case you still doubt whether you need it or not:
- Your kitchen will get a much fresher appearance.
- You can save money: the average painting cost of the kitchen transformation is quite low compared to buying new furniture.
- Although you spend little money, the kitchen looks more expensive which increases home’s value in general.
- The term of accomplishing the kitchen cabinet painting process is short: less than 7 days.
Actually, no arguments are needed if you just imagine your cabinets covered with fresh paint and gotten an absolutely new look which provides you home improvement. Just like any other part in your house, cabinets require renovation once in several years.
So, let’s not drag out and come straight to the point!
Contents
Types of kitchen cabinets
Before you learn how much it costs to paint cabinets, you have to understand different subtleties of the process. Cabinets are divided into types by the material they are made of:
Maple cabinets
Maple refers to a close-grained kind of wood. That’s why it is easier to paint kitchen cabinets of this type. Moreover, they are cheaper to paint than oak cabinets and you will get an even surface.
Oak cabinets
These are cabinets having coarse-grained wood and consequently kitchen cabinet painting costs increase.
Antique Kitchen Cabinets
Depending on the look you want to create, staining kitchen cabinets can be an inexpensive option for creating an antique look. Click on the link to get more information about antique white kitchen cabinets.
How to measure your kitchen cabinets?
To learn the cost to paint kitchen cabinets, first of all, you need to measure your cabinets. We suggest you use the following methods to do it. There are linear foot, square foot and cabinet parts measurement. Measure only the facial cabinet surface area which consists of the door and the drawer faces.
For square foot method, to get the necessary dimensions, multiply the height by the length (it is the distance between the left and the right sides). As a result, you get the square footage of the cabinets’ surface. The advantage of this method is the act that you consider not only the length of cabinets, but also the height.
However, if you’re going to get cabinets professionally painted, considering that cabinet painters apply different methods of measuring, you need to know them as well.
The commonly used one is the method including measuring total linear feet. It assumes that you measure all the sides differing from each other and add them.
Cabinet painters also use such methods for measuring the amount of paint job size: per drawer, per door, per cabinet, per cabinet box.
Costs to paint your kitchen cabinets
As you understand, different kitchen cabinet painters require different prices. However, I can say the average prices in the market.
If you need to learn the cost to paint cabinets only very roughly, here it is. We will take a kitchen that can be met the most commonly. It is the average kitchen with a square footage of kitchen cabinets of 120-150 square feet (a bigger kitchen size usually contain more cabinets). The material of the kitchen cabinets is oak.
The typical range of the total cost to paint kitchen cabinets in such a kitchen is from $3,000 to $5,000 ($2,000-$4,000 for maple cabinets).
If you don’t want to dive into details much, there are average kitchen cabinet painting costs in the market today.
The average cost to paint kitchen cabinets ranges from $900 on the lower end to $3,800 on the higher end.
The minimum total cost to paint cabinets is $400, the maximum total cost achieves $8,000.
The cost of painting kitchen cabinets per square foot by professional painters equals $3-$10 per square foot, which is from $50 to $100 per door. This number includes all the kitchen cabinet painting costs needed (labor costs, material costs, instrument costs, and so on).
The national average cost to paint kitchen cabinets equals $1,000-$1,700. Most homeowners pay around $1,414.
If you don’t want to calculate the cost to paint kitchen cabinets, some companies have s service of a free estimate of your cabinets painting. Search the web to learn about free estimates in your district.
Cost guide depending on the method of dimension of the amount of painting work
There’s a table showing the costs to paint cabinets according to different methods of measuring the amount of paint job:
- Per Square Foot: $3 – $10
- Per Linear Foot: $30 – $60
- Per Drawer: $20 – $30
- Per Door: $50 – $100
- Per Cabinet: $120 – $170
For this moment, the most widespread method is to measure the amount of work by the number of kitchen cabinet doors and drawers considering their size.
Notice that mentioned costs refer to a painting project where mid grade materials are bought and mid grade kitchen cabinet painters charge mid labor costs, so expect to pay a much higher project cost if you want to get an extra cool and fresh look of the kitchen paying high costs: material costs and those which professional painters charge.
Costs of cabinet doors depending on their size and location (lower or upper cabinets)
As you see, the cost to paint 1 cabinet door is based on both the size and the cabinet layout (tricky or tight layouts result in difficulties when you paint cabinet doors). Besides, you can also see in the table cabinets costs for 2 cabinet doors.
- 12″ Lower Cabinet (per Door): $50 – $80
- 24″ Lower Cabinet (1 or 2 Doors): $110 – $130
- 30″ Upper Cabinet (1 or 2 Doors): $120 – $150
- 30″ Basin Sink Cabinet (1 or 2 Doors): $130 – $170
- 48″ Lower Cabinet (2 Large Doors): $220 – $260
Labor costs
Some painting contractors measure not the amount of the surface area it is necessary to paint, but the amount of time it is necessary to spend on the work. In this case, you should consider that the average cost per hour ranges from $20 to $50, it is $200 to $500 per day (again, 20 to 50 is price for hiring professionals of mid grade).
Cost of repainting kitchen cabinets
The average cost to repaint cabinets is absolutely the same as to paint cabinets. The typical range is from $900 to $3800. However, here need to take into account the preparation needed. It can increase the cost.
Cost of prep work for cabinet painting
Saying “prep work” we mean hand sanding cabinets, paint stripping, and using putty. All this work can result in adding from $2 to $3 per square foot to the cost you pay. The cost of preparation depends on the amount of work and degree of destruction of the cabinets.
Cost of glazing kitchen cabinets
The average cost of glazing kitchen cabinets equals $10-$25 per square foot which is $2,000-$5,000 if we take a kitchen of the middle size of 200 square feet. When glazing you apply a semi-transparent coating on the surface and as a result, the procedure adds depth, smoothness and an older look to cabinets; so, glazing is a great way to imitate antique or custom cabinets look: it is cost effective and simple.
Factors influencing pricing that cabinet painters set
There’s a list of actual costs factors that depend on a professional painter exceptionally:
- Experience of the cabinet painter.
- Quality of the paint and instruments.
- The reputation of the painter.
- Demand on the painter’s services.
- Method of measuring the amount of work.
There’s a list of factors that depend on your kitchen cabinets:
- The size of kitchen cabinets painting square.
- The wood type of the kitchen cabinets.
- Does the kitchen island have to differ by color?
- Is there a necessity to apply grain filler? (Grain filler is a special substance that allows to even the surface of the wood and to make wood grain look less noticeable).
- These are lower or upper cabinets.
- Preparation needed.
- Current condition of the cabinets (more prep work results in additional costs).
- What season it is.
- Cabinet design.
Find a professional painter near you.
What is the difference between spray and roll technique?
Professional painters usually apply spray painting techniques for painting kitchen cabinets. Let’s figure out the difference between rolling and spraying cabinets.
The principles of the work of spray painting are the following. To spray paint kitchen cabinets, you press the button on the spray paint gun and it disperses the paint it contains evenly. This way, the paint lies on the surface of cabinet boxes, drawers and doors not forming any drips or paint stains that appear when applying the roll technique.
This technique is faster than the roll one. It i the best method for intricate cabinet design: complex textures, narrow crevices and detailed woodwork.
The rolling paint technique in turn, contrary to spray painting method, is based on spreading the paint by paintbrush which leads to a fair amount of stains and drips. At the same time, the advantage of the roll technique is that it is possible to get a consistent layer of paint.
That’s why it suits for covering existing dark color. It is possible to coat small areas such as corners because the area of the painting is limited by the brush. You can also paint hard-to-reach zones. Besides, painting with a paintbrush is perfect for small kitchens.
But what about the difference in price? To rent a spray paint gun costs $40-$100 per day.
There are extremely different paintbrushes. Which one should you choose? We recommend you to take a flat brush 3-4″ in width for painting kitchen cabinet surfaces and an angled brush 2.5-3″ in width for painting corners and for hard-to-reach zones.
Paint costs
To learn the cost to paint your kitchen cabinets, after you learn the dimensions of the cabinets, you need to get information about the cost and the amount of paint.
To understand how much paint you need for your kitchen cabinet painting project, you should know the amount of paint necessary to cover a certain square footage. So, 300 to 400 square feet can be covered by 1 gallon of paint. Knowing all that you finally are able to count how many gallons of paint are needed.
For those who want to know approximate costs of paint, here’s a table showing correspondence between the kitchen size, the necessary amount of gallons of paint, and the cost of paint:
- Small kitchen / 1 / $20 – $50
- Average kitchen / 1 – 2 / $20 – $100
- Large kitchen / 2 – 3 / $40 – $150
Furniture paint types (base and finish characteristics; +primer)
If you wish to get an extremely cool and high-quality job done, maybe you should pick a type of paint made for cabinets exceptionally. A quality paint should have such characteristics as smoothness and solidity: since the kitchen is a facility frequently used for potentially harmful furniture activities, cabinets covering has to be firm and reliable.
There are a few more moments to consider.
- Don’t buy 2-in-1 paint and primer products: these things don’t adhere properly to the surface and have low thickness.
- Remember to buy primer. It plays an important function; it supports sticking paint to the surface of cabinets.
- When choosing paint, don’t save money a lot at the cost of paint. A higher-quality paint provides a bigger smoothness of the surface, doesn’t allow the previous layers to shine through, creates durable surface and gives cabinets a more expensive look and increases home’s value as a result. As for high-quality lacquer paint, it also dries quicker.
Picking between oil-based and water-based type of paint, consider that oil-based paints are smoother.
If you want to get cabinets with sheen, pay attention to the packaging: there should be a note saying that the paint type is semi gloss, gloss, or satin. Paint with a satin finish is the most frequent choice. The plus of this finish is the absence of dirt that could be noticed on the surface of the painted cabinets.
Step-by-step guide on painting kitchen cabinets
The process is quite easy and you could know it, however, it is better to check this list so as not to forget to do anything important. Before you start painting kitchen cabinets, learn how to clean sticky wood kitchen cabinets.
- First, you need to take out all the content of the kitchen cabinets and all the parts that interfere with painting your cabinets and can be removed: cabinet doors, drawers, handles, and hinges. It is possible not to remove doors and drawers if you’re sure that it will be convenient to paint with their presence and you will be able to properly paint cabinets. However, removing doors and drawers gives a better quality of paint result.
- Apply painter’s tape to adjacent surfaces and cover the floor with some drop cloths (e.g. plastic drop cloths), newspapers or other needless papers, clean the cabinets with a degreaser.
- Then you have to prepare the cabinet surface for new paint: to handle the surface of the cabinets by sanding them down to remove old paint and applying paint stripper. If the cabinets are in good condition, you can manage without sanding, but it supports adherence of the paint to the surface. Another way of old paint removal is use of chemical stripping agent. If the kitchen cabinets are covered with PVC film, you can take them off by heating them. Use a hairdryer for this purpose. Take into account that there will be a sharp odor if you decide to apply this method. So, in this case, it is better to go outside.
- Cover the cabinets with primer to even the surface more and to make the paint stick better.
- Finally, you can go to the painting itself. Coat the cabinets with 1 coat of paint.
- Leave painted kitchen cabinets to dry.
- Coat the cabinets with 1 more fresh coat (at least two coats of paint are obligatory for old cabinets in rough shape).
- Wait until the paint is dry again.
- Reattach the details you removed: the doors, the hinges, and the drawers.
Best paint colors for kitchen cabinets
If you want to know what the most frequent paint color for kitchen cabinets is, the answer is simple. The popular option contains classic white and grey colors. White is a basic color filling the room with plenty of light and paring with any color perfectly.
Grey is usually painted on lower cabinets, it adds some feature to the interior.
In general, people prefer to use calm shades for painting cabinets.
There are some frequent options for a painting project:
- White. As you know, white is a classic color that can be applied practically everywhere. Its neutrality and pureness create a great field for your imagination and taste. White kitchen is a great way to please everybody with your choice.
- Blue. Depending on the shade of blue, kitchen cabinets painted in blue a fresh and lively kitchen if you choose a colorful and not really dark shade, or a rich and impressive kitchen if you choose dark navy.
- Greige. Greige is a color mixture of beige and grey. Adding beige to grey makes it calm and warm. It is quite fashionable nowadays and can be paired with almost every color well.
How much does it cost to paint kitchen cabinets with your DIY?
It is much easier to learn the average cost of a DIY project, everything you need to know is the costs of the paint and the tools you’re going to apply.
Here’s the price list for DIY projects:
- Paint: $20 – $60 per gallon
- Primer: $35 – $60 per gallon
- Paint sprayer: $40 – $100 per day
- Brushes: $10.48
- Paint Roller Kit: $8.97
- Patching Compound: $8.78 (3.5 pounds)
- Scraper: $6.75
- Masking Tape: $5.93
- Sandpaper: $2.50
- Drop Cloth: $1.98
So, if the cost of painting cabinets is important factor for you when choosing the way of painting, compare the approximate numbers you get both for hiring a professional painter and DIY home improvement project cost. Expect to pay a bigger overall cost for the DIY method.
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Picking between the DIY painting method and hiring painting contractors, consider not only the cost to paint but also the amount of time you spend, the quality of work you get, and the durability of the coating.
If you pick to paint cabinets yourself, there’s also an option to buy a paint kit that contains all the necessary tools, paint, and a guide. The price of such a kit varies from $50 to $100.
In case the most important factor for you is the simplicity and speed of the process, you can paint the kitchen cabinets with a spray painting gun method. From the price list you can see that its rental costs $40 – $100 per day.
How much time do you need to paint kitchen cabinets?
One of the most frequently asked questions is about the amount of time needed for painting.
In general, to paint cabinets yourself is quite a time consuming project.
In the case of a small or middle-sized kitchen, it takes approximately 3 days to paint kitchen cabinets. If you paint a big kitchen, you will spend 3-7 days painting cabinets. Speaking more concretely, 200 square feet demand 15-30 hours of work. However, this estimate doesn’t include the time for the preparation needed, the additional time is 20 hours for removing the old finish from cabinets.
If you have to do serious work on that, consider a little bit more time.
Consider that 1 day doesn’t mean just a few hours. It consists of about 8-10 hours.
Other options besides painting
Let’s compare costs for painting cabinets and for other options.
- Refinishing cabinets – $1,300 to $2,800.
To refinish cabinets means to delete old paint, sand down the surface, and paint kitchen cabinets again.
- Refacing cabinets – $4,200 to $8,100.
The method includes the use of a thin layer of laminate, veneers, or solid planks for the creation of new cabinet surfaces.
- Replacing cabinets – $3,200 to $8,500.
The most expensive option is to switch kitchen cabinets to new ones.
That was all!
We hope the article was useful for you.
We wish you good luck in painting kitchen cabinets!