(949) 030-0000

Cabinet Painting / Refinishing

Handis cabinet painting and refinishing is the finish-trade work that resets the look of a kitchen without touching the cabinet boxes — from $2,500 for a partial paint to $15,000 for a full kitchen of 30 to 50 doors and drawers in a premium urethane enamel. The 1990s honey-oak kitchen that has good bones and a tired color. The painted-white shaker where the finish is chipped at every door pull and the boxes are scuffed at every drawer face from a quarter-century of toes. The maple cabinets that the homeowner has been wanting to paint navy since 2019. We TSP-degrease every box and door (cooking-grease aerosol that no primer bonds through, skipped at the painter's peril), sand to a fine grit, prime with a bonding primer, and finish in two coats of cabinet-grade urethane enamel sprayed off-site on the doors in a controlled environment and brushed-and-rolled on the boxes in place. Done right the first time, the finish lasts a decade.

Cabinet painting and refinishing image — Seattle kitchen mid-paint, every upper cabinet box masked with painter's tape and plastic sheeting, the doors removed and laid out on a foam-board paint station in the garage, a paint sprayer with a 312 fine-finish tip on the workbench, and a quart of Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel on the counter.

Service

Photo of a cabinet painting project in progress — kitchen doors removed and laid out on a foam-board paint station in the garage, an HVLP paint sprayer with a fine-finish tip, two cans of Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel on the workbench, and the cabinet boxes in the kitchen masked with blue painter's tape ahead of the brush-and-roll on the boxes.
Process

How Cabinet Painting / Refinishing Works

Six sequential steps from the TSP degrease through the final re-hang — the actual sequence we follow on every full-kitchen cabinet paint.

Step 1/6

TSP Degrease Every Box and Door

Every cabinet box face and every door front washed with TSP (or phosphate-free TSP substitute) — sponge-and-bucket with rubber gloves, two rinses with clean water, dry with a microfiber. Cuts the cooking-grease aerosol layer that no primer bonds through.

Step 2/6

Sand to a Fine Grit and Vacuum

220 grit on flats, 320 grit on shaker, raised-panel, or beadboard profile. Random-orbit sander on the flat door fronts and box faces, sanding block on the profile detail. Thorough vacuum to remove every dust particle before prime.

Step 3/6

Remove Doors and Drawer Fronts, Tag for Re-Hang

Every door and drawer front removed from the box, hinge plate stays on the door, hardware stays in a labeled bag taped to the door, every door tagged with painter's tape and a Sharpie for re-hang order. Doors and drawer fronts loaded into the truck for off-site spray.

Step 4/6

Bonding Primer — Boxes In Place, Doors Off-Site

BIN, STIX, or Cover Stain primer on every surface. Boxes get brushed and rolled in place with masking and floor protection. Doors get sprayed off-site in a controlled environment. Light scuff sand after prime dries on both.

Step 5/6

Two Coats of Urethane Enamel

Two coats of cabinet-grade urethane enamel (Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, Benjamin Moore Advance, or PPG Breakthrough) — sprayed off-site on the doors, brushed-and-rolled on the boxes in place. Each coat cures 24 hours before the next.

Step 6/6

Re-Hang Doors, Touch-Up, Walkthrough

Doors and drawer fronts cured at the off-site station for 48 to 72 hours, then re-hung in tagged order. Any final touch-up on box edges and hinge plates done on the wall. Walkthrough with the homeowner, punch-list review, before the one-year project warranty starts.

Pricing

Cabinet Painting / Refinishing Pricing

Final pricing depends on cabinet count, door style, finish brand, and whether the scope is paint or stain-grade refinishing. Stain-grade refinishing on true wood doors prices higher than paint because the sand-to-bare-wood step adds a day. Premium urethane enamels and custom-color matches add a small premium on the finish. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.

Send a photo of the kitchen and the door count — we will quote the paint or refinish.

Call us
Why Handis for Cabinet Painting / Refinishing
Trust

Why Handis for Cabinet Painting / Refinishing

Every cabinet paint we are asked to redo skipped the degrease. The painter rolled cabinet paint over a kitchen-cooking-grease film, the finish looked fine for three months, then flaked at the door pulls and the drawer tops by month six. The fix is not a touch-up — the fix is to strip the failed finish back, degrease properly this time, prime, and recoat. Done right the first time, with TSP, a bonding primer, and two coats of urethane enamel, the finish lasts a decade. We do not skip the degrease. We do not skip the bonding primer. We do not spray a single finish coat hoping it covers in one pass. That is the difference between a cabinet paint that lasts and one that fails at month six.

Estimate

Tell us the cabinet count (count door fronts and drawer fronts), the existing finish (painted, stained, oak, maple, cherry), the new finish you have in mind (paint color and brand, or stain color), and any known constraints — a smoker's kitchen with heavy nicotine residue, a previous paint that is peeling, an unusual cabinet style. We send a clear estimate with the prep and finish steps named line by line.

Service cost estimate illustration
Reviews

Customer Reviews

Cabinet painting and refinishing reviews from real Handis customers.

1992 maple kitchen, 32 doors and 18 drawer fronts, painted Sherwin-Williams Alabaster in Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel. The tech TSP-degreased every box and door before sanding, sprayed the doors off-site in his garage, brushed-and-rolled the boxes in place. Six months in, no chip at the door pulls. Worth every dollar.

Theresa and Marcus B., Full Kitchen Paint

Honey-oak 1998 kitchen taken to Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. Stain-grade base, so they had to fully prime with Cover Stain for tannin block. Two finish coats in Advance. The grain is a tiny bit visible under the paint — which I actually like — and the doors look like they came out of a custom shop. Eight days end-to-end.

Megan and Brent P., Honey-Oak to Navy Paint

Stain-grade refinish on our 1980s walnut kitchen — sanded to bare wood, re-stained in a slightly darker color, two coats of lacquer. The grain pops, the color is even, and the finish is hard. The tech laid every door out flat at his shop so there are zero drip marks at the edges.

Rajiv and Sara P., Walnut Stain-Grade Refinish

Smoker's kitchen — previous owner smoked indoors for thirty years. The tech still TSP-degreased twice instead of once, used BIN primer for the nicotine block, then two coats of Sherwin-Williams Emerald. Six months later the cabinets read pristine — no yellowing, no bleed-through at the door pulls.

Helen and Doug F., Smoker's-Kitchen Paint with Nicotine Block

Partial kitchen paint — just the lower cabinets, in a contrasting color from the uppers. 12 doors and 8 drawer fronts. TSP, sand, prime, two coats in Benjamin Moore Advance. Tech sprayed off-site, two days for doors to cure, came back to re-hang. Final result reads like a designer kitchen.

Patricia G., Two-Tone Partial Cabinet Paint
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Handis cabinet painting and refinishing.

How much does a cabinet paint cost?
A partial kitchen paint of 10 to 15 doors starts at $2,500. A partial wood-kitchen stain refinish starts at $3,500. A standard full kitchen paint of 20 to 30 doors and 10 to 18 drawer fronts starts at $6,500 and runs to $8,500 with a premium Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane or Benjamin Moore Advance finish. A large kitchen of 30 to 40 doors runs $10,500. A full kitchen stain refinish on true wood doors runs $12,000. A premium full-kitchen paint of 30 to 50 doors in urethane enamel with a custom-color match runs $15,000. The estimate includes the TSP degrease, the prime, the two-coat finish, and the off-site spray on the doors. You get a written estimate before any work begins.
How long does a cabinet paint take?
A standard full kitchen paint runs five to seven working days end-to-end. Day 1 is TSP degrease, removal of doors, sand on the boxes. Day 2 is prime on the boxes and on the doors at the off-site station. Day 3 is finish coat 1 on doors and boxes (each coat is one day with a 24-hour cure between). Day 4 is finish coat 2. Days 5 and 6 are door cure time at the off-site station (urethane enamel needs 48 to 72 hours of cure before re-hang to avoid hinge-plate dents). Day 7 is re-hang, touch-up, and walkthrough. Stain-grade refinishing adds a day for the sand-to-bare-wood step.
Why does the degrease step matter so much?
Kitchen cabinet boxes carry a film of cooking-grease aerosol from every steam release off the stovetop over the years. The film is invisible at conversational distance and unmistakable to a primer that needs to bond to wood. Skip the degrease and the primer bonds to the grease film, not to the wood; the finish flakes at the door pulls and the drawer tops where hands touch the cabinet within six to twelve months. We TSP-degrease every box and door face on every cabinet-paint project. The wash takes 3 to 4 hours on a standard kitchen and is the single step that decides whether the finish lasts a decade or six months.
Why do you spray the doors off-site instead of in the kitchen?
Spray work in a kitchen creates an overspray cloud that lands on every horizontal surface in the room, fills the room with a paint-aerosol haze, and lays down on the cabinet doors in conditions (kitchen breeze, dust from a vacuum, temperature swings from an open window) that produce orange-peel, dust nibs, and uneven coats. Off-site spray in a controlled environment (no dust, no breeze, even temperature, full-room cure space) lays the finish down flat with no orange-peel, no brush marks, no fish-eye. The boxes brush-and-roll in place with masking. Doors sprayed off-site read as factory; doors sprayed in place always read as on-site sprayed.
Can you match a specific paint color I have already picked?
Yes. Bring the brand, color name, and color code (Sherwin-Williams SW 7008 Alabaster, Benjamin Moore HC-154 Hale Navy, Farrow and Ball No. 9912 Pigeon, etc.) and we will tint the finish to your spec. Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, Benjamin Moore Advance, and PPG Breakthrough all tint to any custom color from any major brand's deck. We can also color-match a sample chip from a different brand by sending it to the paint counter for a custom-color tint. Custom-color tints add a small premium on the finish material.
What if the cabinets have nicotine residue from a smoker's home?
A smoker's-home kitchen needs a heavier prep sequence. We TSP-degrease twice instead of once, use BIN shellac-based primer (the toughest stain blocker on nicotine residue), then two coats of urethane enamel. The BIN primer is critical — it blocks the nicotine bleed-through that would yellow a water-based topcoat from underneath. Without BIN, even a perfect topcoat can yellow over time on a nicotine surface. We will tell you on the booking call whether your specific kitchen needs the heavier prep, which adds a half-day to the project.
Will the cabinet boxes look as smooth as the doors?
Very close at conversational distance. The doors get an off-site spray finish that is flatter and crisper than the brush-and-roll finish on the boxes — that is the inherent difference between a spray finish and a brushed finish. We brush-and-roll the boxes with a high-density foam roller (laying off with a sash brush) and the box finish reads as smooth at every viewing distance the homeowner cares about. The box finish does not read as brush-marked or roll-textured.
Do I need to be out of the house during the cabinet paint?
No, but the kitchen is offline. We seal off the kitchen with a plastic-zip wall at the doorway and a HEPA negative-air scrubber if needed to keep paint fumes and dust out of the rest of the house. The rest of the house stays livable. The kitchen is fully offline for the duration of the project — typically five to seven working days — so plan to use the rest of the kitchen sparingly (microwave, refrigerator, takeout) during that window.
Will the new paint chip at the door pulls within a year?
Not in our scope. The one-year project warranty covers the finish — if the paint chips at a door pull, peels at a drawer top, soft-marks from a fingernail, or fails at any high-touch point inside a year, we come back and refinish at no extra charge. The TSP degrease and the bonding primer prevent the most common cabinet-paint failure mode (poor adhesion at the grease layer); the cabinet-grade urethane enamel cures hard enough to resist chipping at the high-touch points. Manufacturer defects on the paint itself route to the brand.
Can I keep using the kitchen during the work?
Not for the spray and cure days. Days 1 and 2 (degrease and prime) leave the kitchen mostly usable — sink, range, refrigerator stay reachable. Day 3 onwards (spray coat 1, spray coat 2, cure, re-hang) the kitchen is fully offline because the boxes are wet and the doors are at the off-site station. We sequence the work so refrigerator and microwave stay reachable and we will tell you on the call which days the kitchen is fully offline so you can plan around it.
Is the work guaranteed?
Yes — one-year project warranty on the finish. If the paint chips at a door pull, peels at a drawer top, soft-marks from a fingernail, or fails at any high-touch point inside a year, we come back and refinish at no extra charge. The guarantee covers our prep and finish work — manufacturer defects on the paint product itself route to the paint brand. Every Handis tech carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening before the first job.

Learn More and Reach Out

For each of our clients

Contact information
Our Business Hours
Monday:09:00 - 21:00
Tuesday:09:00 - 21:00
Wednesday:09:00 - 21:00
Thursday:09:00 - 21:00
Friday:09:00 - 21:00
Saturday:09:00 - 21:00
Sunday:Closed

Write Us!

We will respond to your request as soon as possible