Paint or Replace Your Kitchen Cabinets?
If your cabinet boxes are solid and you like the layout, painting is the better deal by a wide margin. In our estimates, professionally refinishing a typical kitchen's cabinets runs about $4,500 to $7,500. Replacing them runs $16,000 to $40,000 or more for the cabinets and installation alone, and replacing almost always pulls the countertops, backsplash, plumbing and electrical into the project with it.
So the real question is not paint or replace. It is whether your kitchen has a cabinet problem or a layout problem.
What painting really costs
Good cabinet painting is priced by the piece, not by the kitchen. On a recent whole-home bid, refinishing 72 doors and 61 drawer faces, plus the frames, came to $12,341. That works out to roughly $90 per door or drawer face with the frames included.
A typical Central Florida kitchen has 25 to 35 doors and 15 to 25 drawer faces, which puts most kitchens around $4,500 to $7,500.
Here is what that price should include:
Removing every door and drawer face and labeling it.
Refinishing the doors and drawer faces in a shop, not in your kitchen.
Cleaning, sanding and priming the frames on site.
A tinted primer and two coats of a cabinet-grade finish.
Reinstalling and adjusting every door and drawer.
If a quote is a lot lower than that, ask how the doors get done. Brushing doors in place is the cheap way, and it shows.
What replacing really costs
New cabinets are where most of a kitchen remodel budget goes. Two recent kitchens from our estimates:
A mid-size kitchen with a breakfast nook: $16,492 in cabinets and hardware (42" uppers, a trash pull-out, a spice pull-out, glass door uppers in the nook), plus $3,200 to install.
A larger kitchen with tall pantry and oven cabinets: $35,668 in cabinets and hardware, plus $4,200 to install.
And that is before anything else moves. When the old cabinets come out, so do the countertops. On those same two kitchens, the new quartz tops were $6,923 and $11,942. Then comes demolition, new backsplash, plumbing hook-ups, electrical updates, drywall repair and paint. That is how a cabinet replacement turns into a full kitchen remodel. Our kitchen remodel cost guide shows where those land.
Paint them if
The boxes are solid wood or plywood and not water damaged.
You like the layout and the cabinets are the right size for your appliances.
The doors are a style you can live with in a new color. Shaker and raised panel doors paint well.
You want to keep your countertops.
Replace them if
The boxes are particleboard that is swelling, especially under the sink.
The doors are thermofoil or laminate. Paint does not hold on them the way it holds on wood.
The layout does not work. Painting a bad layout gives you a nice-looking bad layout.
You are replacing the countertops anyway. Once the tops come off, new cabinets cost less than they seem, because the expensive disruption is already happening.
You want features older cabinets do not have, like full-extension drawers, pull-outs or taller uppers. Our guide on how to choose cabinets walks through the options.
The middle option
Sometimes the answer is both. On one whole-home project, we priced new island cabinets turned to face the view, and refinishing the perimeter cabinets in the kitchen, mudroom, laundry room and six bathroom vanities to match. The kitchen got a new layout where it mattered, and the rest of the house got a fresh finish without tearing out cabinets that were still good.
New doors on existing boxes is another middle path, but it rarely saves as much as people expect. The doors are a big part of what you pay for in a cabinet.
Paint or replace FAQ
How much does it cost to paint kitchen cabinets in Central Florida? Most kitchens we price land around $4,500 to $7,500 for professional refinishing, doors and drawer faces done in a shop and frames done on site.
Is it cheaper to paint or replace kitchen cabinets? Painting, by a lot. Replacing cabinets usually starts around $16,000 for cabinets and installation, and it almost always means new countertops and backsplash too.
Do painted cabinets hold up? When they are done right, yes. The prep, the primer and spraying the doors in a shop are what make it last. Brushed-on paint over a greasy surface is what peels.
Can I keep my countertops if I replace my cabinets? Rarely. Most tops crack or break coming off, and new cabinets almost never match the old footprint exactly. Our countertop guide helps if you are choosing new ones.
Not sure which one your kitchen needs?
We will look at your boxes, your layout and your goals, and tell you honestly whether paint will get you there. If it will, we would rather paint them than sell you a kitchen you do not need.
