Cabinet Painting FAQ for Kitchener Homeowners

Most Kitchener kitchens cost $3,400 to $5,200 before HST, which covers 21 to 35 doors, drawer fronts and panels. Small condo and galley kitchens start at $2,400, and large kitchens with an island and pantry wall run $5,200 to $7,800.

Both: we price every piece, and the total lands in a kitchen-size range. Doors are $110 to $150 each, drawer fronts $75 to $95 and tall pantry doors $160 to $220, with extras like a second colour on their own lines.

For most kitchens with solid boxes, yes: it costs a fraction of refacing or new cabinets and outlasts a DIY job by a wide margin. The difference is in what you can't buy at a paint store, like a 2K topcoat sprayed in a controlled booth, two rounds of degreaser and a written warranty.

DIY roller jobs tend to chip first at door edges and around the handles, usually because grease under the paint was never fully removed.

E-transfer, credit card or cheque. A 25% deposit books your dates, and the balance is due on walkthrough day.

Quotes are free, whether from photos, a video call or an in-home visit. There's no travel charge in Waterloo Region or Guelph, and small jobs under $1,500 in Elora, Rockwood or Acton may carry a flat $75 fee.

We spray: doors and drawer fronts in our shop booth, and boxes in your home with a fine-finish HVLP gun. A sprayed coat lays flat with no brush marks or roller stipple, which is the point of cabinet spraying.

Yes, doors and drawer fronts go to our shop at 330 Gage Ave in Kitchener. The booth holds 18 to 24°C and 40 to 55% humidity, so the finish cures the same way in July and January.

One coat of primer and two topcoats, sanded with 320 grit between coats. Dark colours and white over dark wood sometimes need a third topcoat, which is included.

Yes to both. Both sides of every door are sprayed, and the box exteriors, face frames, end panels, crown and valance are painted on site; interiors are an optional extra through our cabinet interior painting service.

Yes. Hinges and pulls come off on day 1 and are bagged by location, then refitted or swapped for new ones through our hardware and soft-close hinge upgrades.

Water-swollen particleboard, mould, rot and peeling or bubbled thermofoil can't be fixed with paint. Those boxes or doors need cabinet repair or replacement first, and for lifting thermofoil we usually recommend new MDF doors painted to match.

Yes, some grain texture shows through paint on oak. Clear grain filler smooths it a lot but never completely, as we explain under painting oak cabinets.

Yes, if the surface is intact. We scuff sand, prime with INSL-X STIX bonding primer and test a patch first, which is how we handle painting melamine and laminate cabinets and most IKEA cabinet painting.

Sometimes. We only paint thermofoil that is fully bonded with no peeling, bubbling or heat damage, after a test patch; more on that under painting thermofoil cabinets.

Yes, and MDF gives the smoothest result of any material. We prime the porous edges twice before the full coating system, as covered under painting MDF cabinet doors.

Many years, when the prep is right and the finish is a sprayed 2K or urethane coating. Wear usually shows first at door edges near the sink and around the handles, and those spots can be touched up without redoing the kitchen.

Use a soft cloth with mild dish soap and warm water, then dry. Skip abrasive pads, acetone and bleach, stick to gentle wiping for the first 7 days, and wipe hard-water spots off sink bases before they dry.

At about 30 days. They're dry to the touch in an hour and back on the boxes within days, but wait 14 days before adding stick-on bumpers.

Peeling, flaking or bubbling caused by our prep or application within 12 months of the walkthrough is fixed free: we sand, reprime and refinish that part. Impact chips aren't covered by the warranty, but we can quote a touch-up.

Impact chips and dents, heat from kettles, toasters, air fryers and self-cleaning ovens, standing water and leaks, harsh cleaners, and hairline cracks at five-piece door joints from seasonal wood movement. Thermofoil or melamine edge banding that delaminates under the paint isn't covered either.

Because solid wood shrinks in dry air. Furnace season in Waterloo Region can drop indoor humidity below 25%, which opens fine lines where five-piece doors meet, and keeping 35 to 50% humidity limits them.

Painting changes the colour with primer and an opaque topcoat. Cabinet refinishing renews the finish on existing cabinets, whether with a new colour, a stain or a fresh clear coat, and cabinet refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts and covers the boxes in new veneer.

Yes, by a wide margin. Painting an average kitchen costs $3,400 to $5,200 before HST, while refacing usually runs $10,000 or more and new mid-range cabinets $20,000 or more installed in Waterloo Region, before countertops.

When the boxes are water-damaged or falling apart, or the layout no longer works for you. Paint changes how cabinets look, not where they are.