Spray-finished kitchens since 2010
Kitchener Elite Cabinet Painting & Refinishing paints kitchen cabinets for homeowners whose boxes are still solid but whose finish has had its day: orange oak, worn maple, yellowed white paint. We spray every door and drawer front in our own booth and finish the boxes right in your kitchen, so the room looks new without a single cabinet torn out.
Since 2010 we have completed more than 1,700 jobs across Waterloo Region, most of them kitchens. We know which 1980s oak bleeds through primer, which melamine needs a test patch and how to keep a family cooking through the week.
A typical kitchen of 25 to 40 pieces takes 5 to 7 working days, with our crew in your home for only 3 to 4 of them. Every job comes with a written fixed quote, a WSIB-covered crew and a 1-year labour warranty.
What's included
Kitchen cabinet painting is a full refinish of the cabinets you already own: cleaned, sanded, primed and sprayed in a new colour, with countertops, backsplash and plumbing left in place. It suits sound boxes and a layout you like, where only the finish has failed.
Every kitchen quote covers the faces you see with the doors closed, sprayed in one colour and one sheen.
Extras are priced line by line, so you only pay for what you add. Not included unless the quote lists them: interiors, drawer boxes, walls, ceilings and countertops.
Time for a change?
Your cabinets are ready for paint when the boxes are square and solid but the finish looks dated, tired or worn through. Paint changes the colour and the surface; it does not repair the structure underneath.
Paint will not save particleboard swollen by a dishwasher leak, mould in a sink base or delaminated doors. We point those parts out at the quote so they are repaired or replaced first.
Compare your options
For a medium kitchen in Waterloo Region, painting usually costs a third to a half of refacing and a quarter or less of new cabinets. The trade-off is that painting keeps your layout and door style, while the other two change them.
Refacing and replacement figures are typical Waterloo Region quotes, not our prices.
| Painting | Refacing | New cabinets | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost, medium kitchen | $3,400 to $5,200 before HST | Usually $10,000+ | Usually $20,000+ installed, before countertops |
| What you keep | Boxes, doors, countertops, backsplash and plumbing | Boxes, countertops and backsplash | Usually nothing, and counters are often replaced too |
| What changes | Colour, sheen and hardware if you like | Door style and the veneer on the boxes | Layout, sizes and materials |
| Time | 5 to 7 working days | Depends on new door lead times | Depends on cabinet lead times and installation |
Painting also sends nothing to landfill. If the door style bothers you more than the colour, our cabinet refacing and new door service keeps your boxes and swaps the doors.
Materials
Almost every kitchen in Kitchener and Waterloo is oak, maple, MDF or melamine, and all of them can be painted with the right primer. The material decides the prep, so we identify it at the quote and test anything doubtful on a hidden spot.
Oak and cherry contain tannins that bleed a yellow-brown stain through water-based paint, so they get Zinsser B-I-N shellac primer. Oak grain still shows unless you add Aqua Coat grain filler at $35 per face, which flattens it a lot but never completely.
Melamine and laminate get a scuff sand, INSL-X STIX bonding primer and an adhesion test patch first. Painting thermofoil cabinets works only if the vinyl is fully bonded; lifting or heat-bubbled foil calls for new MDF doors.
MDF gives the smoothest finish of any material once its cut edges are primed twice. IKEA fronts are mostly painted or foil-wrapped fibreboard, and painting IKEA cabinets follows the bonding primer route.
Our method
Every kitchen goes through four stages, with the doors in our spray booth and the boxes finished in your home. The full sequence, cure times included, is set out in our cabinet painting process.
Range hood grease and old furniture polish are the number one cause of peeling, so every surface is cleaned twice with Krud Kutter Original and rinsed. We sand with Festool sanders on HEPA extraction, fill and caulk, then prime with Zinsser B-I-N on oak and cherry or INSL-X STIX on melamine and glossy paint.
Homes built before 1960 get a lead check before sanding, following Health Canada's lead paint guidance.
Doors and drawer fronts are labelled, taken to our shop and sprayed with one primer coat and two coats of Renner 2K waterborne polyurethane, sanded at 320 grit between coats. The booth is held at 18 to 24°C and 40 to 55% humidity.
Face frames, box sides, end panels, crown and valance are sprayed in place with Benjamin Moore ADVANCE through a fine-finish HVLP gun, tinted to match the shop coat. Ram Board covers the floor, zip walls close off the kitchen and a filtered negative-air fan vents out a window.
Doors go back on their own labelled openings and every hinge is adjusted until the gaps run even. We fit hardware, touch up and walk the kitchen with you, then hand over a written care sheet and the warranty.
Timeline
A 35-piece kitchen takes about six working days, and you lose full use of the kitchen for roughly one of them. Empty the cabinets and clear the counters before day 1; the fridge, sink and stove keep working otherwise.
| Day | In your kitchen | In our shop | Kitchen use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Protect the room, remove doors, drawer fronts and hardware, degrease boxes | Doors degreased twice | Usable |
| Day 2 | Sand, fill, caulk and prime boxes; first topcoat late in the day | Doors sanded and primed | Usable until late afternoon |
| Day 3 | Final topcoat on boxes, frames, end panels and crown | First Renner 2K coat | Out of service, about a day |
| Day 4 | No crew in the home | 320 grit sand, second coat | Usable, open shelves |
| Day 5 | No crew in the home | Doors cure on racks | Usable, open shelves |
| Day 6 | Rehang, adjust hinges, fit hardware, walkthrough | Doors delivered | Back to normal |
Kitchens over 40 pieces run 7 to 10 working days. We usually book 2 to 3 weeks out, and spring and the weeks before Christmas fill up first.
Pricing
Most Kitchener kitchens cost $3,400 to $5,200 before HST to paint, which covers 21 to 35 doors and drawer fronts. Pricing is per piece, so your count of doors and drawer fronts sets most of the number.
Door style, oak grain filling, a dark-to-white colour change, interiors and repairs move a kitchen up or down within its range. Every extra, plus deposit and payment terms, is listed in our cabinet painting prices.
Typical jobs
Most kitchens we paint fit one of a few familiar patterns, and each pattern comes with its own prep, schedule and price range.
A 32-piece golden oak kitchen gets two rounds of degreasing, Zinsser B-I-N to lock in the tannins and two coats of a warm white in satin. It takes five to six working days and lands at $3,400 to $5,200, plus $35 per face for grain filling.
A 40 to 50 piece maple kitchen with crown, valance and a seating island runs 7 to 10 working days and $5,200 to $7,800. A navy island against a grey perimeter adds the $250 second-colour fee.
A 24-piece white melamine kitchen in Cambridge gets a scuff sand, INSL-X STIX and a test patch on day 1, then a muted green in satin, for $3,400 to $5,200. A Waterloo condo kitchen under 20 pieces would be $2,400 to $3,400.
FAQ
Before booking, most homeowners want to know what is painted, how long the finish lasts and whether they can still make dinner that week.
Only if you ask. Interiors are an optional extra at $45 to $65 per box, and glass-front uppers and open shelving are the usual candidates. See painting cabinet interiors for how it is done.
Yes, and it is the best time to do it. We fill old holes and drill new ones at $6 per hole before priming, so the patches vanish, then install your pulls at $4 each or supply them from Richelieu.
One primer coat and two topcoats, sanded at 320 grit between coats. Dark colours and white over dark wood sometimes need a third topcoat, which is included in the price.
With a crosslinked 2K finish on the doors and sensible care, a painted kitchen keeps looking good for many years; the edges around the sink wear first. Clean gently for 7 days, skip stick-on bumpers for 14 days and expect full hardness at about 30 days.
In winter, keep indoor humidity at 35 to 50%, since dry furnace air opens hairline cracks at the joints of five-piece wood doors.
Yes, on all but about one day. The fridge, sink and stove stay usable except on the day the boxes are sprayed, so set the microwave and kettle up on a dining table and plan one takeout night.
Free quote
Send photos of your kitchen from each corner with a rough count of doors and drawer fronts, and we will reply with a written fixed quote within 1 business day. Prefer a visit? We book in-home estimates on evenings and Sundays.