Refinishing suits good hardwood that should stay on show: stripping or sanding removes the old finish, stain follows if the colour is changing, and the grain is sealed under a sprayed clear topcoat.
Kingston has a lot of good wood in its kitchens. The custom kitchens in Sydenham Ward, Portsmouth Village and the lakefront homes of Reddendale and Collins Bay were often built in cherry, walnut or white oak, and painting over that wood is a loss. When the wood is only oak or maple and the goal is a new colour, kitchen cabinet painting is the better fit.
Refinishing Beats Cabinet Painting When The Wood Is Worth Seeing
Walnut, cherry, white oak and quarter-sawn oak are worth refinishing. Their grain and colour are the point of the kitchen, and a fresh clear coat brings them back. Refinishing rather than cabinet painting also suits a kitchen where the finish has worn through around the handles and at the sink but the doors are otherwise sound. Cabinet painting is the better answer when the wood is plain builder oak or maple, when the colour has to go light, or when there is old damage that stain would show.
Refinishing prices out near cabinet painting for the same door count, because the stripping is more work than the priming it replaces. The quote lays out both when both apply.
Stripping Or Sanding Comes First, As It Does In Cabinet Painting
A worn clear coat can sometimes be sanded back to bare wood, but a thick old lacquer or a previous stain usually has to be stripped with a chemical stripper, then washed and sanded. The doors and fronts head to the shop for that. The boxes are sanded in place behind containment. Any dents are steamed or filled with a tinted filler, and the wood is checked for bleed-through on cherry and walnut before the new finish goes on.
Stain Changes The Colour, And The Clear Coat Does The Protecting
A new stain can lighten honey oak toward a natural white-oak look, warm a cherry that has gone orange, or take maple to a deep walnut tone. Stain is wiped on and wiped off, and blotch-prone woods like maple get a conditioner first. The protection comes from the topcoat: a clear waterborne topcoat or a clear 2K polyurethane, sprayed thin in two or three passes and sanded lightly between, in satin or matte. It is the same sprayed process we use for cabinet painting, without the colour.
A Refinished Island Against A Painted Perimeter Is A Common Pairing
A lot of refinishing jobs are one piece: the island, a hutch or the bar. A wood island refinished to a warm natural tone against painted white perimeter cabinets is one of the most requested kitchens in Kingston right now, and the two jobs run at the same time in the same booth. The two-tone and island page covers that pairing.
Full Refacing Replaces Every Door And Keeps Every Box
When every door is beyond paint, or the door style has to change from raised-panel oak to a plain shaker, refacing swaps every door and front for new and leaves the boxes on the wall. The boxes get cabinet painting to match, the end panels get a new skin or paint, and new hinges and hardware go on. The result looks like a new kitchen from the front for far less money.
In Ontario market terms, refacing runs $3,000 to $10,000 depending on door count and door material, while full replacement starts at $15,000 and climbs past $40,000. Cabinet painting alone sits below both. Those are market figures. The quote we write is the number for the kitchen at hand.
Ask Whether Refinishing Or Cabinet Painting Suits A Kingston Kitchen
When the wood is worth keeping but the finish has worn out, refinishing is worth pricing, and the visit that decides between refinishing and cabinet painting is free. Send the form or call +1 (613) 706-5129. The Kingston Cabinet Painting home page covers the painted kitchens.
Cabinet Refinishing Questions
When is refinishing better than cabinet painting?
When the wood is walnut, cherry or white oak and the grain is the point of the kitchen. Painting is the better answer for plain builder oak or maple, a move to a light colour, or old damage that stain would show.
Can stain change the colour of the wood?
Stain can lighten honey oak toward a natural white-oak look, warm a cherry that has gone orange, or take maple to a deep walnut tone. Blotch-prone maple gets a conditioner first. A clear topcoat does the protecting.
How is the old finish removed?
A worn clear coat can sometimes be sanded back to bare wood. Thick lacquer or an earlier stain usually needs a chemical stripper, then a wash and sanding. Doors go to the shop for that, and the boxes are sanded in place.