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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Whatever else in the house has doors and drawers gets prepped, primed and sprayed the same way.
Fronts leave for a booth; boxes are coated where they stand, behind containment. What returns looks factory finished, wears a new colour, and costs a fraction of replacement. Kitchen cabinet painting is how a tired kitchen gets there.
See Kitchen Cabinets
A pre-sale refresh is a painted kitchen scheduled around a listing date, in a neutral colour that photographs well, with the vanity and hardware handled in the same visit so the house is camera-ready in two to three weeks.
See Pre-Sale Refresh
Oak cabinet painting seals golden oak's tannin with a shellac primer, then fills the open grain or leaves it on show, and finishes doors and boxes in a sprayed modern colour so a 1990s kitchen looks built this year.
See Oak Cabinets
Cabinet spray painting runs the doors and drawer fronts through an off-site filtered booth and the boxes through sealed containment in the kitchen, the only cabinet painting method that produces a factory-smooth surface.
See Spray Painting
Two-tone work gives the island, or the whole lower run, a deep colour like navy, green or charcoal while the perimeter stays light, and an island by itself can be done as a small stand-alone job.
See Two-Tone and Islands
Melamine, laminate and thermofoil doors are slick from the factory, so their cabinet painting starts with a bonding primer and finishes with hard sprayed enamel, and it holds on any door whose surface is still tight to the board.
See Thermofoil and Melamine
In a condo galley or L-shape the fronts leave for spraying and the boxes take a single contained day indoors. The unit stays usable, and cabinet painting works around the building's rules on elevators and parking.
See Condo Kitchens
When the boxes are sound but the doors are not, refacing fits a full set of new doors and drawer fronts, or replaces just the few past saving, and old and new get painted together so nothing looks different.
See Refacing and New Doors
A vanity is a small piece that lives in steam and splashes, so it gets the kitchen treatment of degreasing, priming and sprayed enamel, is finished inside two days, and is often booked with a kitchen.
See Bathroom Vanities
Hardware work covers filling the old handle holes, drilling fresh ones with a jig after the paint has cured, swapping slamming hinges for soft-close, and fitting knobs or pulls in brass, black or nickel.
See Hardware and Hinges
Pantries, laundry runs, mudroom lockers, bookcases, wall units and mantels are fixed in place, so their cabinet painting is done on site inside sealed containment, using the same products a kitchen gets.
See Pantries and Built-Ins
A colour consultation narrows the shortlist to two or three colours, sprays a full sample door in each, and checks them under the kitchen's real light so the finished result matches the choice.
See Colour ConsultationA visit to the house, a door count and a written quote, with no fee and nothing owed if the answer is no.
Tell us what you can about the kitchen, and we phone to arrange the visit. Sending the form takes nothing more than a name and a number. If talking is easier, the number to dial is +1 (613) 706-5129.
