Why the prep decides the result
Kitchen cabinets carry years of cooking grease, hand oils, and furniture polish. Paint will not stick to any of it. We degrease every door, drawer front, and face frame with a cleaner made for the job, then scuff sand the whole surface so the primer has real tooth to grab.
Loose knots, dents, and grain get filled and sanded flat. Gaps between the frame and the wall get caulked. Only after all of that does anything wet go on the wood.
Bonding primer, then enamel
Doors and drawer fronts come off and get labeled so every piece returns to its own opening. They are sprayed flat in a controlled setup, which is how you get an even film with no roller stipple and no brush drag.
We use a bonding primer suited to your substrate, whether that is oak, maple, thermofoil, or a factory finish, and follow it with a waterborne enamel that levels out and cures hard. Face frames and boxes are sprayed in place with the kitchen fully masked.
How the finish holds up
A cabinet enamel is not wall paint. It is formulated to resist blocking, which is what makes a door stick to its frame when it closes, and to take repeated cleaning without burnishing. That is why we do not shortcut to a general purpose interior paint on cabinetry.
Cured enamel needs time. The surface is dry to touch quickly, but the film keeps hardening for a couple of weeks. We will tell you when to go easy on the doors and when normal use is fine.
What is included
Removing and rehanging doors and drawer fronts, hardware taken off and put back, full masking of counters, appliances, and floors, cleaning, sanding, filling, priming, and finish coats. Hinge and pull holes can be filled and redrilled if you are switching hardware.
We also paint islands, pantry doors, built-ins, bathroom vanities, and trim in the same finish so the kitchen reads as one piece of work.
What you can expect while we work
A kitchen is the busiest room in the house. We plan the job so you are not locked out of it any longer than necessary.
- ✓Doors and drawers labeled so every piece goes back where it belongs
- ✓Counters, backsplash, appliances, and floors fully masked before spraying
- ✓Hardware removed, bagged by location, and reinstalled at the end
- ✓Sample door or drawer front on request so you can judge the color in your own light
- ✓Final walkthrough with the doors hung and adjusted
Common questions
Can you paint oak cabinets without the grain showing?
Yes. Open grain oak needs an extra step: a grain filler or a high build primer that is sanded back before the finish coats. It adds time to the job, so tell us at the estimate if a fully smooth look matters to you. If you like the grain, we can leave it visible and simply change the color.
Do I have to move out of my kitchen?
No, but plan for disruption. Doors and drawer fronts leave for the duration, and the sink and range area are masked while the boxes are sprayed. Most kitchens are usable in the evenings during the job. We will give you a day by day plan at the walkthrough.
Will the paint chip around the handles and the sink?
Not if the prep was done right and the correct enamel was used. Chipping almost always traces back to skipped degreasing or paint applied over a glossy factory finish that was never scuffed. Water sitting on an unsealed edge near the sink is the other common cause, which is why we seal cut edges.
Can you match a color I already have?
Bring us a sample, a fan deck chip, or the name of a color from any major brand and we will match it in a cabinet grade enamel. We can also spray a test door so you can look at it against your counters and flooring before we commit the whole kitchen.
Related services
Most cabinet jobs pair with one of these.