Cabinetry
Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing
Refinishing existing cabinet doors and frames — a sprayed, even finish on the cabinetry you already have, without a demolition.
In short Cabinet refinishing strips and re-finishes your existing cabinet doors, drawer fronts, and face frames rather than replacing them. Doors and drawer fronts come off and are sprayed in the workshop, where the finish lays down far more evenly than it can on site; the fixed frames are finished in place. It is a practical option when the cabinet boxes are structurally sound and you want a different color or a finish that has stopped looking good — and it is the wrong option when the boxes themselves are failing.
A good fit for
- Solid wood or wood-veneer cabinet doors and face frames in sound condition
- Kitchens where the layout works and only the finish is tired
- Color changes across an existing kitchen
- Cabinets with a failing factory finish that is peeling, yellowing, or worn through at the handles
Not the right fit
- Thermofoil or laminate-wrapped doors, where there is no wood surface to refinish
- Cabinet boxes with water damage, swollen particle board, or failing carcasses
- Kitchens where the layout is being changed, since new cabinetry makes more sense than refinishing the old
Cabinet refinishing sits between a repaint and a replacement. The cabinetry stays; the finish on it does not. When the boxes are sound and the layout works, it changes how a kitchen looks without a demolition.
Material decides everything
The first question is what the doors actually are. Solid wood and wood veneer refinish well. Thermofoil — a vinyl film heat-wrapped over a substrate — and plastic laminate do not, because there is no wood surface for a finish to bond to. This gets checked before anything else is discussed, and if the answer rules refinishing out, we say so.
Why the doors leave
Doors and drawer fronts come off, get labeled by position, and are sprayed in the workshop. A finish sprayed in a controlled environment is more even than any on-site application, and it keeps the fumes and overspray out of an occupied house. Fixed face frames have to be finished in place, and they are matched to the doors.
When to replace instead
If the carcasses have water damage, if particle board has swollen, or if you want a different layout, refinishing is money spent on cabinetry you will want gone. We look at the boxes, not just the doors, before recommending the work.
Step 1
Check what the doors are made of
Solid wood, veneer, thermofoil, and laminate are not all refinishable, so the material is confirmed before anything else is discussed.
Step 2
Label and remove
Doors and drawer fronts are labeled by position and taken off with their hardware, so everything returns to exactly where it came from.
Step 3
Strip and prepare
The old finish is removed and surfaces are sanded and cleaned, with any damage at handles and edges repaired.
Step 4
Spray the doors in the workshop
Doors and fronts are finished off-site, where dust control and spray conditions give a far more even result than brushing on site.
Step 5
Finish the frames and rehang
Fixed face frames are finished in place to match, then doors are rehung and adjusted so gaps sit even.
Common questions
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