Cabinet refinishing keeps the wood grain in view by stripping or sanding the old clear coat, adjusting the stain and spraying a fresh protective finish. It is the right choice over paint when the wood itself is worth showing.
Some of the larger homes in Sawmill Valley and along the Credit River side of Erin Mills were built with better cabinets than a typical builder kitchen. Cherry, maple and walnut kitchens from the 1980s and 1990s often just need their worn clear coat replaced.
Refinishing is best for good hardwood with a finish that has gone dull, sticky or worn at the handles. Cherry that has darkened evenly, solid maple and walnut veneer usually look better refinished than painted.
When the wood itself looks wrong, cabinet painting wins. Orange-toned oak, mismatched repairs or doors with water damage are easier to fix with colour. You get our honest pick during the visit.
A light refinish means cleaning, scuffing the old clear coat and spraying new clear coat over it. This works when the old finish is sound and just worn.
A full refinish means stripping or sanding back to bare wood. This is needed when the finish is peeling, cracked or has turned yellow. It takes longer and costs more than a light refinish, often about as long as cabinet painting the same kitchen, and veneer needs a light hand so it is not sanded through. Your quote says which method your cabinets need.
If you want to change the tone of the wood, a new stain goes on after the surface is prepared. We test the stain on the back of a door first so you see the colour before it goes on the fronts.
The clear coat is sprayed, not wiped or brushed, in thin even layers. A sprayed clear coat dries without brush marks and gives even protection across every door. Spray coatings are covered in more depth under cabinet spray painting.
Taking wood back to bare and refinishing it runs close to cabinet painting in price, or higher when stripping is involved. A light refinish over a sound finish usually costs less. Both cost far less than new cabinets, which usually start around $15,000 for a full kitchen.
Your written quote shows the method, the stain, the clear coat and the number of coats.
Cherry darkens with light over the years, and maple turns more yellow or orange. A kitchen installed in the 1990s may now look much warmer than it did on the first day. Cabinet refinishing can bring back a lighter tone, or deepen it evenly if some doors have darkened more than others.
When a door has been replaced or repaired, it often does not match the older doors next to it. A tinted clear coat or a new stain can blend them together. If the difference is too great, cabinet painting in a solid colour may be the better choice. We show you both options on a test area before any work starts, so you can see the result instead of guessing.
Refinished cabinets are cleaned the same way as painted ones. Mild soap and a soft cloth keep the clear coat in good shape for years.
A kitchen does not have to be all wood or all paint. A common choice is to refinish a solid wood island and use cabinet painting on the perimeter cabinets in a light colour. The warm wood island then becomes the focal point of the room.
The reverse also works. Wood uppers with glass fronts can be refinished while the lower cabinets are painted a deeper colour. We plan both finishes in one schedule, so the refinished and painted parts are done together. Your quote lists the cabinet painting and the refinishing as separate lines, so you can see what each part costs.
We inspect the wood, test its coating and give a straight recommendation. Nothing is charged for that visit or the written price. Dial +1 (289) 206-9908, share some pictures, or return to our Erin Mills home page.
The bathroom vanity, the laundry uppers and the hall shelving in a South Common town get the kitchen's exact coating system.
Kitchen cabinet painting puts fresh colour and a tough sprayed coat on the cabinets you already own, with counters, sink and boxes left in place. Doors come off, get cleaned, sanded and primed for their material, then return with two or three smooth coats.
See Kitchen Cabinets
Townhouse kitchens are compact, usually galley or L-shaped, and the cabinet painting work has to fit around shared walls, visitor parking and condo complex rules. The boxes stay in place, the doors leave for spraying, and the family keeps cooking.
See Townhouses
Oak cabinet painting begins with shellac primer, which locks brown tannin inside the wood so it never stains your new colour. After that, deep pores are either packed flat with filler or allowed to show as soft texture.
See Oak Cabinets
Cabinet spray painting lays down thin, level coats of hard enamel that dry without brush marks or roller texture. In our cabinet painting work, doors get sprayed in a filtered booth and the boxes get sprayed at home behind plastic sheeting.
See Spray Painting
Glossy factory fronts accept new colour after hand scuffing and an adhesion primer built for plastic faces. Peeling thermofoil is different, so we strip or swap those fronts before cabinet painting starts.
See Thermofoil and Melamine
Cabinet refacing hangs brand-new fronts on the boxes you keep, and those boxes get coated or skinned to match. It suits kitchens where the boxes are solid but the doors are damaged, dated in shape or too worn for cabinet painting alone.
See Refacing and New Doors
Two-tone cabinet painting uses a darker colour on the island or lower cabinets and a lighter colour above. An island-only job brings in colour while leaving everything else alone.
See Two-Tone and Islands
A bathroom vanity gets the same degreasing, primer and sprayed enamel as a kitchen, with extra care for moisture and steam. No cabinet painting job in your home is smaller, and one or two days usually covers it.
See Bathroom Vanities
Condo kitchens are small, and the cabinet work schedule has to follow building rules for elevators, loading and working hours. The doors leave the unit for spraying, so odour stays low and the kitchen keeps working.
See Condo Kitchens
Pantry units, laundry uppers, mudroom lockers and fitted shelving receive kitchen-grade primer and sprayed enamel. Adding them to kitchen cabinet work lowers the cost per cabinet and makes the whole house match.
See Pantries and Built-Ins
Fresh pulls, knobs and quiet hinges complete a painted kitchen, and fitting them goes quickest with every front already down. Before cabinet painting, unused pull holes are packed and sanded so no trace survives under the colour.
See Hardware and Hinges
Choosing a colour is easier with a real sprayed door in your kitchen than with a small paint chip. We spray a sample in the colour you are considering and leave it in your room so you can see it in your own light before the cabinet painting starts.
See Colour ConsultationSomeone stops by, tallies each front, checks the material and lists the work in detail. The trip and the price sheet are free.
Fill in what you can about the kitchen, and we will phone to settle on a day. We just need a way to reach you. Or skip the form and call +1 (289) 206-9908.
