Professionally painting kitchen cabinets costs $3,000 to $8,000. Refacing costs $7,000 to $18,000. Painting keeps your existing doors and changes their colour. Refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts entirely and puts new veneer on the frames. The decision is not about budget first, it is about whether your doors are worth keeping, and raised-panel oak with a heavy grain is the case where painting almost always disappoints.
What each one costs and does
| Painting | Refacing | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost, 20 linear foot kitchen | $3,000 to $8,000 | $7,000 to $18,000 |
| Doors | Kept, repainted | Replaced |
| Boxes | Kept, frames painted | Kept, frames veneered |
| Door style change | No | Yes |
| Time on site | 3 to 7 days | 3 to 5 days |
| Kitchen usable during | Partially | Mostly |
| Realistic life | 5 to 10 years | 15 to 25 years |
| Hides grain | No, grain telegraphs | Yes, new material |
When painting is the right call
Painting works beautifully on smooth or lightly grained doors in sound condition: maple, poplar, MDF shaker, or any flat panel without an aggressive grain. In those cases a sprayed professional finish is close to indistinguishable from a factory one, and it costs less than half of refacing.
It also wins when the kitchen is being sold within a couple of years, or when the layout is changing soon and this is a stopgap.
When painting is a waste of money
Red oak with open grain. Paint sits in the grain and the texture reads through every coat. Filling and sanding it to smooth costs more labor than the doors are worth.
Thermofoil or laminate doors. Paint does not bond reliably, and peeling thermofoil is a symptom of a door that is already failing.
Doors that are sagging, swollen at the bottom, or delaminating. Painting a failing door buys a year.
In all three cases refacing is the honest answer, and if the boxes themselves are soft at the sink base, replacement is. See cabinet refacing vs replacing for that line.
The part nobody quotes
Both jobs assume your boxes are sound. Open the cabinet under your sink and press the bottom panel. If it has any give, if the particleboard has swollen, or if there is staining at the back corners, no finish treatment solves that. You are looking at replacement, and money spent on paint or veneer over a failing box is money spent twice.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to paint or reface kitchen cabinets?
Painting, by roughly half: $3,000 to $8,000 against $7,000 to $18,000 for a typical 20 linear foot kitchen. Painting keeps the existing doors; refacing replaces them.
How long does painted cabinetry last?
Five to ten years before high-touch areas around handles and the sink show wear. A sprayed professional finish lasts considerably longer than a brushed one.
Can you paint oak cabinets?
You can, but open-grain red oak telegraphs its grain through paint. Getting a smooth result requires grain filling and extra sanding, which erodes the cost advantage over refacing.
Does refacing change the door style?
Yes, that is the main thing it buys over painting. You choose new doors and drawer fronts, so a dated raised panel can become a flat shaker.
Is painting cabinets worth it before selling?
Usually yes, in a kitchen whose doors are smooth and sound. It is the cheapest change that reads as a renovation in listing photos.
Not sure which your doors are? Send us a close photo of a door edge and the inside of your sink base, or bring one to our Derwood showroom. We will tell you straight. Call (301) 939-0009 or book a showroom visit.