Cabinet refinishing keeps the wood. Stripping or sanding takes the old finish off, new stain goes on, and a clear coat seals it, so solid walnut, cherry or white oak doors look new without paint covering the grain.
The executive homes of Old Glenridge, the ravine lots of Power Glen and the older houses along the Twelve Mile Creek hold a lot of solid-wood kitchens that should stay wood. The work is insured, and refinishing is quoted as its own job, separate from cabinet painting.
Refinishing is the right answer when the doors are solid wood with a grain worth seeing and the only problem is a finish that has gone cloudy, scratched, sticky or orange. Walnut, cherry, white oak and clear maple all qualify. Cabinet painting is the right answer when the doors are veneer, MDF or a species nobody wants to look at, or when the kitchen simply needs to be white. We will tell you which one applies on the visit.
Refinishing also cannot change the grain. A golden oak kitchen refinished in a darker stain is still an oak kitchen with open grain, so a customer who wants a smooth finish is better served by oak cabinet painting with grain fill.
A thick lacquer or varnish is chemically stripped so the wood underneath is not thinned. A thin, worn finish on solid wood can be sanded. Veneered doors are stripped rather than sanded, because the veneer is too thin to survive a sander, and some 1970s veneers cannot be refinished at all, which is when cabinet painting becomes the honest alternative. Every door is checked on the visit before the method is written into the quote.
Stain is applied by hand, wiped, and allowed to dry, and sample boards are made first so the colour is chosen on the real wood and not from a chip. Then a clear waterborne or 2K polyurethane topcoat goes on in the booth as a few thin coats, each one sanded, exactly as a painted door would be. The clear coat is what protects the wood, and a sprayed one lasts far longer than a brushed one.
One of the most popular kitchens right now pairs a perimeter painted cream or greige with a stained wood island, and refinishing the island while the rest gets cabinet painting is a normal job. The island page covers how the two finishes meet and how the colours are paired.
If the kitchen is solid wood and the finish is the only thing wrong, refinishing may cost less than you expect. Book the visit or call +1 (905) 367-8017 and we will look at a door edge and tell you whether the wood can be refinished. The St. Catharines Cabinet Painting home page covers the cabinet painting alternative when it cannot.
Refinishing keeps a wood kitchen as wood, and where the doors are veneer or the species is plain, cabinet painting is the honest recommendation and we will make it.
Identical prep, primer and sprayed coats go onto all the other cabinets around the house.
Kitchen cabinet painting removes every door and drawer front, degreases and sands the lot, primes for the substrate and sprays thin coats of a hard enamel so an existing kitchen looks new without replacing a single box.
See Kitchen Cabinets
Oak cabinet painting locks the tannins in golden oak under a shellac primer, deals with the open grain by filling it or keeping it, and lays a hard sprayed enamel over 1980s and 1990s doors that are solid, well built and simply the wrong colour.
See Oak Cabinets
Post-war bungalow kitchen cabinet painting restores the original birch and plywood slab doors of 1950s to 1970s kitchens, or the 1980s oak that replaced them, in the small galley layouts those houses were built with.
See Post-War Bungalows
Thermofoil, melamine and laminate doors carry slick factory surfaces where ordinary primer will not hold, so the job begins with bonding primer, plus an honest verdict on the doors worth painting and the ones past saving.
See Thermofoil and Melamine
Cabinet spray painting means doors finished in a filtered spray booth, boxes finished behind sealed containment in the kitchen, and thin, even coats of enamel or 2K polyurethane that cure hard with no brush marks, which is cabinet painting done the factory way.
See Spray Painting
Bathroom vanity painting is the smallest job on the list, usually six to ten pieces finished inside one or two days, with a primer and topcoat chosen to stand up to the steam and splashes of a bathroom.
See Bathroom Vanities
A two-tone kitchen puts a painted perimeter beside a darker or wood-toned island, and where the perimeter is already fine, just the island gets sprayed in navy, green or charcoal as a job of its own.
See Two-Tone and Islands
Refacing fits fresh doors and drawer fronts onto boxes that are still sound, and door replacement swaps out a single damaged or delaminated door and sprays it to match, for a fraction of what a full kitchen replacement costs.
See Refacing and New Doors
Condo kitchen cabinet painting deals with a small galley, the building's rules, the elevator and the parking, and because the doors are sprayed away from the building, the unit stays livable while its boxes get sprayed inside two days.
See Condo Kitchens
With the doors already down, the old handle holes are filled and hidden under paint, a template guides fresh drilling, and worn hinges are exchanged for soft-close units sized to the same cup.
See Hardware and Hinges
Cabinet painting for pantries, laundry and mudroom cabinets, built-in wall units, bookcases, window seats and fireplace mantels covers the cabinets that are not in the kitchen, and most of these pieces get finished on site.
See Pantries and Built-Ins
A colour consultation pins down colour and sheen before any spraying starts, with a sample door finished in the real colour and checked in the kitchen's own light against the counters, the floor and the backsplash.
See Colour ConsultationWe arrive, count the doors and put the quote in writing. The visit costs nothing and there is no pressure to go ahead.
Describe the kitchen as fully as suits you. We phone back to book the visit. Two things send the form: who you are and how to reach you. If you would sooner talk, the number is +1 (905) 367-8017.
