Booth-sprayed doors, no brush marks
Spraying is the difference between cabinets that look painted and cabinets that look built that way. Kitchener Elite Cabinet Painting & Refinishing sprays every door and drawer front in our own booth and finishes the fixed boxes on site with a fine-finish HVLP gun, so a Kitchener kitchen comes back with no brush strokes, roller stipple or lap marks.
We have sprayed cabinets for homeowners, condo owners and small offices across Waterloo Region since 2010, more than 1,700 jobs in all. That volume is why we can tell you exactly where a sprayed finish is flawless and where it is very good but not identical.
We never roll or brush doors. Instead, we explain in plain terms which gun, which coating and which room each part of your kitchen goes through.
What gets sprayed
Cabinet spray painting atomizes primer and paint into a fine, even mist that levels into a flat film, the same method cabinet factories use. Every part of your kitchen is sprayed, but not in the same place or with the same product.
Parts that come off go to the shop, and parts fixed to the wall are sprayed where they stand.
Spraying suits every cabinet material we paint, from oak and maple to MDF cabinet doors and sound melamine.
The honest comparison
A sprayed finish is smoother, more even in thickness and better at reaching into Shaker corners and raised-panel profiles than a brush or roller. A careful brush job can still look tidy, but it shows strokes on flat panels in raking light from a window.
There is also a smaller difference inside a sprayed kitchen, between doors done in the booth and boxes done on site, and you should know about it before you hire anyone.
| Booth-sprayed doors | On-site sprayed boxes | Brushed and rolled | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texture | Glass-smooth, factory look | Very smooth, levels like an oil paint | Brush strokes and roller stipple visible up close |
| Coating | Renner 2K waterborne polyurethane | Benjamin Moore ADVANCE waterborne alkyd | Usually a 1K paint, thicker in some spots |
| Hardness | Hardest: a crosslinked two-component film | Hard once cured at about 30 days | Depends on the paint; thick edges stay soft longer |
| Profiles and corners | Even film in every groove | Even film, masked edges kept crisp | Paint pools in corners and runs on edges |
| Disruption | Done off site, kitchen untouched | Room sealed for about one day | Wet paint in the room for every coat |
Boxes are touched less and seen from further away, which is why a high-quality on-site spray coat is the right tool for them. The doors take the knocks, so they get the harder 2K finish.
Guns and setups
We use two kinds of spray equipment, and each one stays where it does the best job. HVLP lays down a fine finish with little overspray, while air-assisted airless builds film quickly on large batches of doors.
High-volume, low-pressure (HVLP) guns atomize paint with a large volume of air at low pressure, so more coating lands on the cabinet and less drifts into the room. That control is why HVLP is the only gun we use inside your home.
Air-assisted airless pumps paint at high pressure and adds a little air at the tip to soften the spray pattern. In the booth it lets us coat a full rack of doors evenly and quickly, with the film build a durable 2K finish needs.
Straight airless sprayers move a lot of paint fast, but they throw more overspray and fog than a contained kitchen handles well. We would rather spend longer with an HVLP gun than risk paint mist on your floors, windows and countertops.
Our Gage Ave booth
Doors and drawer fronts are sprayed in the booth at our shop at 330 Gage Ave in Kitchener, where we hold the air at 18 to 24°C and 40 to 55% relative humidity. Those two numbers decide how waterborne coatings level, dry and cure, and a garage or driveway cannot hold them through a Waterloo Region winter or a July heat wave.
Each door is labelled on day 1, primed, then sprayed with two coats of Renner 2K and sanded with 320 grit between coats.
Renner Italia 2K is a two-component waterborne polyurethane: a hardener crosslinks the resin as it cures, the same kind of chemistry used on factory cabinet finishes. Sprayed in thin, even coats in still, clean air, it flows out flat with no orange peel or dust nibs.
Finished doors are dry to the touch in about an hour, then rest on drying racks for at least 24 to 48 hours before they go back on. A typical kitchen's doors are in the shop for 3 to 4 days, and every one is checked under bright light before it leaves.
On-site containment
Cabinet boxes are sprayed in place inside a sealed work zone, so overspray stays on the cabinets and off your floors, counters and walls. Setting up that zone takes most of a morning, and it is the part of spraying that separates careful painters from fast ones.
This is how we set up a kitchen before an HVLP gun is switched on:
Boxes are primed and sprayed with Benjamin Moore ADVANCE, sanded with 320 grit between coats. The kitchen is off limits for about one day while the boxes are sprayed, and the room has to be 15°C or warmer, which matters in older Kitchener homes with cold outside walls.
One honest note: a home is never as clean as a booth. The lead painter inspects every box under work lights and sands out any dust nib before the final coat, so the boxes come out very smooth, but the doors are always the finest part of the job.
Five to seven days
A typical sprayed kitchen of 25 to 40 pieces takes 5 to 7 working days, with our crew in your home for 3 to 4 of them. Your fridge, sink and stove stay usable except on the day the boxes are sprayed, and our cabinet painting process shows every stage in order.
We protect the room, label every door, drawer front and hinge, and take the doors to the shop.
Doors are degreased, sanded, primed and given two coats of Renner 2K, then racked to cure for at least 24 to 48 hours.
The kitchen is sealed in zip walls and the boxes, face frames and end panels are primed and sprayed with HVLP.
Doors go back on, hinges are adjusted, hardware is fitted and we walk the kitchen with you and hand over the care sheet.
Large kitchens of 40+ pieces take 7 to 10 working days. Plan on gentle cleaning only for the first 7 days, and full hardness at about 30 days.
What spraying costs
Spray painting a cabinet door costs $110 to $150 per door, both sides, before HST, and drawer fronts cost $75 to $95. A medium kitchen of 21 to 35 pieces usually lands between $3,400 and $5,200.
Our cabinet painting pricing breaks down every factor that moves a quote, from door style to condo elevator access. If you only need doors sprayed, our cabinet door painting service prices them per piece with no visit to your home.
Built to hold up
A sprayed finish lasts when the surface under it is clean, every coat is sanded and the coating is allowed to cure. Skipping any one of those is what causes peeling on a sink base two winters later.
Kitchen grease and silicone polish are the number one cause of peeling, so every door and box is cleaned twice with Krud Kutter and rinsed with clean water. Festool sanders with HEPA extraction handle the scuff and the 320 grit between coats.
Waterborne coatings cure poorly when it is cold or damp, which is why doors stay in a climate-held booth and why we keep the home at 15°C or warmer. Nothing is rehung until it has cured for 24 to 48 hours.
After 16+ years of spraying in Waterloo Region, our painters know how each coating behaves in a dry January and a muggy August. Every job has one lead painter from the first day to the walkthrough.
We spray kitchens across Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph and New Hamburg and Baden, and doors from all of them come back to the same booth. Our 1-year labour warranty covers peeling, flaking and bubbling caused by our prep or application.
Common questions
Spraying raises practical worries about mess, smell and cost, and these are the ones we hear on almost every estimate visit.
No. Floors are covered with Ram Board, counters and appliances are wrapped, the room is sealed with zip walls and a filtered negative-air fan pulls mist out a window. HVLP guns also put far less paint in the air than airless sprayers.
Spraying takes more setup time for masking, but the coats themselves go on faster and need far less fixing. We do not roll or brush doors at all, so our per-door prices of $110 to $150 are spray prices, with no cheaper brushed option to compare.
Very little. Every coating we use is waterborne and low odour, the negative-air fan vents the work zone outdoors, and most families and pets stay home throughout the job.
Yes. We work within building hours, book the elevator with padding and send a certificate of insurance to the property manager, all covered by our condo cabinet painting service.
Yes. If you would rather keep the wood grain, our cabinet refinishing options include a sprayed clear-coat refresh or a darker restain, finished in the same booth.
Free spraying quote
Every spraying job starts with a sample door or board sprayed in your colour and sheen, so you can judge the finish in your own kitchen light before we begin. Send us photos of your kitchen and we will reply with a fixed quote within 1 business day.