Why Cabinet Painting?
Painting kitchen cabinets is an excellent way to give your kitchen a fresh, updated look without the expense of a full remodel.
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You get what you pay for. Often times cheap cabinets are cheap for a reason. They are typically made from cheap materials like pressed particle board and they are not easy to repair, touch-up, or maintain. Many times customers in this scenario have excellent cabinet boxes made from quality plywood, and are looking at tearing out superiorly constructed cabinets to replace with an inferiorly constructed cabinets.
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Quite a bit actually! Unless you have all the tools and transportation to haul off your existing cabinetry and countertops, to pay someone to do this for you can cost quite a bit. To rent a dumpster and haul off, you can easily spend $1,000-$2,000 just in dumpster fees. And unless you have plumbing experience, for a licensed plumber to disconnect your plumbing could cost you anywhere from $500-$1,500 for labor alone.
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This can vary quite a bit, but back to the point we made in the first question: you get what you pay for. On the low end, you are looking at $30-50 per cabinet box just to assemble. For installation, the average cost to install cabinets in 2024 is $75-150 per box for labor alone.
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If you are keeping the exact same layout, it is possible to reuse your existing countertops, however, planning for this cannot be guaranteed. Depending on the installation method of your existing countertops, removing them intact and in one piece can be difficult and sometimes not possible. For laminate or formica countertops, you may be able to reverse the screws and lift off your countertops, but you are going to need help. It is rare that one person can do this all by themselves without damaging the countertops. If you have granite, quartz or any other type of stone or solid surface countertop, removing them in one piece is extremely difficult, and can require the help of three or more people. So before diving into this task ask yourself: Do I have the manpower to do this? Do I have the tools to remove and transport the countertops to a place they won’t be damaged? Do I have the space to store the countertops that they won’t be damaged? These are all questions that you should consider before tackling a task like this. New countertop costs will depend on material you select. It can be hundreds or thousands of dollars.
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Plumbing disconnect and reconnect costs can vary quite a bit, but from experience, plumbing disconnect and reconnect can quickly exceed $2,000-$3,000. If you have a dishwasher and garbage disposal, or if your drain configuration is going to change, this will affect your total cost for plumbing.
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For most kitchen remodels countertops cannot be reused. The time it takes to demo, install new cabinets, template for new countertops, and install new countertops, sinks, and faucets can take multiple weeks depending on the materials you use. Can you accept not having a kitchen for a month or longer? If not, painting your kitchen cabinets is very appealing for this reason alone.
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Touching up minor chips or dings in the cabinets can be done pretty quickly if the cabinet manufacturer provides a touchup kit. If the cabinets do not come with a touchup kit, removing a cabinet door or drawer face and taking it to a paint store to be color matched can take 1-3 days. However, if a cabinet box has significant damage that can not be repaired easily, the time it takes to order a new cabinet can take a week or more. If this happens, then it will for sure delay the time the countertops can be templated and installed. This will increase the amount of time you have without a functioning kitchen and cause you to have to eat out at a restaurant. Can you live with that risk?
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Typically, the warranty of your cabinets only covers damage incurred during shipping and does not cover damage that is caused by installers or yourself. So if a cabinet box is damaged during installation, the liability will fall on the installer or the homeowner. When cabinets are made with cheap materials, the likelihood of damage occurring during install or afterwards is increased. If you paint your cabinets with Diamond Pro Finishes, you have a lifetime warranty for all your cabinets against any cracking or peeling of the finish. We also provide you with a touchup kit for any minor dings or scratches.
What to consider when painting kitchen cabinets:
Why would you paint your kitchen cabinets?
There are a variety of reasons someone might want to paint their kitchen cabinets. Perhaps the cabinets themselves are wearing out and the finish is no longer uniform or intact. This can make a kitchen or bathroom unappealing for homeowners, or perspective home buyers. For others, they are looking to remodel their kitchen or bathroom and are looking for the most economical way to get new looking cabinets. This allows them to budget more for other finishes, like countertops, sinks, faucets, and flooring. There are also benefits to making a dark spaces brighter for resale and adding curb-appeal value to their home sales. No matter which scenario you are in, there are benefits of painting your cabinets.
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The benefits of painting your cabinets vs replacing are numerous. 99.9% of the time, you can get a new looking kitchen or bathroom in a fraction of the time of replacing your cabinets. The quick turnaround time is especially appealing to realtors and investors looking to flip a home quickly. Also for people who are living in the home, the down-time for their kitchen is very important when renovating or remodeling. Have you ever lived in a home without a kitchen? It is a lot more uncomfortable than you can imagine. Access to the appliances you use everyday is very important to live comfortably. Furthermore, besides the quick turnaround time for painting your kitchen cabinets, the cost compared to replacing is quite stark. Often times when people ask us about the cost of painting kitchen cabinets vs replacing, they are typically comparing the material cost of new cabinets without the extra unforseen costs vs refinishing or painting cabinets.
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If your cabinets cannot be painted, or if you want to change the style of your cabinets and not just the color, then refacing your cabinets with new doors and drawers is a great time and money saving option.
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The best way to paint your kitchen cabinets starts with this: proper preparation. There are some companies and DIYers who recommend that you brush and roll your frames, and some even brush and roll the doors and drawers. While this can sometimes be a quick and easy method, the results are almost always less than desirable. Seeing brush or roller marks on your cabinets is not pretty, and is why at Diamond Pro Finishes, we NEVER brush or roll anything on your cabinets. All of our cabinets are spray-finished, and produce a “factory finish” that is impossible to tell that the cabinets were not made that way to begin with.
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Long and short: Yes! Painting your kitchen cabinets is always quicker and less expensive than replacing.
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At Diamond Pro Finishes all of our cabinets are sprayed with an industry-leading waterborne, two-component, catalyzed polyurethane paint. What you get is an extremely durable cabinet finish that will last for a lifetime.