Cabinet Painting Questions From St. Catharines Homeowners

Across Ontario in 2026 a whole kitchen most often comes in at $2,500 to $5,500. A small galley or condo kitchen can start near $1,500, and a large kitchen or a two-tone kitchen with an island runs $6,000 to $9,000 and up, which comes to about $130 to $250 a door. Those figures describe the market, and your own price is the one written down after the free visit.

Spraying means the doors travel to a booth, the kitchen is sealed in plastic, and each thin coat is sanded before the next, which is more labour than brushing in place. The result has no brush marks and lasts two to three times longer. On a kitchen you will look at every day for a decade, the difference in price is small against the difference in result.

It depends on the doors. Cabinet painting is the answer for sound doors with a profile you like, at $2,500 to $5,500 in most cases. Refacing fits new doors to the same boxes, at $3,000 to $10,000, once paint cannot save the old ones. Replacement at $15,000 to $40,000 or more makes sense when the layout or the boxes themselves are the problem.

The choice is between waterborne alkyd enamel and 2K polyurethane, both low-VOC, sprayed thin over whichever primer the substrate calls for. The enamel offers the widest colour range and takes a few weeks to cure. The polyurethane is hard within about a day and wears best. Which one goes on your kitchen is stated in the quote.

Not as standard, because the insides are rarely seen and doubling the sprayed surface roughly doubles the labour. Interiors are quoted separately when they are wanted, and glass-front uppers or open shelving usually get their interiors done. Drawer boxes are cleaned but not painted unless asked.

Yes, over a waterborne bonding primer after a thorough degrease and scuff sand. Ordinary primer slides off melamine and laminate, and that is why a lot of DIY melamine jobs peel in sheets. Intact thermofoil is painted the same way, but thermofoil that is already lifting has to be stripped or the door replaced first.

If the old paint is sound and well bonded, it is scuff sanded, primed and painted over. If it is peeling, it has to come off first, because new paint over a loose layer fails with it. Old site-applied paint in a house built before 1980 is tested before it is sanded hard.

Yes, when grain filler goes on twice or three times and gets sanded smooth ahead of the primer. Without it the finish is still sound but the oak texture shows through, which is a look some people prefer. The shellac primer goes on either way, because that is what stops tannin bleed.

Yes. The doors are away for seven to ten days, and the boxes need a couple of days at the house, so between those the kitchen keeps working without its doors. The stove, the sink and the fridge stay in use. The only days the kitchen is hard to use are the box-spraying days, when it is behind plastic.

The finish feels dry within hours and can be rehung in a day or two, but a waterborne enamel keeps hardening for two to four weeks and a 2K polyurethane for a few days. Gentle use over that window is what keeps the area around the handles from marking. After that, the finish is as hard as it will get.

With a soft cloth, warm water and a little dish soap, and nothing abrasive. Scouring pads, magic erasers and strong degreasers scratch or dull any cabinet finish, painted or factory. Wipe splashes near the range and the sink when they happen rather than letting them sit.

Those are the two highest-wear spots in any kitchen, and a thin, fully cured sprayed cabinet painting finish holds up there far better than a thick brushed one. The finish is hard to the touch in a day but keeps hardening for two to four weeks, so we ask for gentle use over that period.

No. The visit costs nothing, and the quote arrives in writing a day or two later. It counts every door and drawer front, states the prep, names the primer and topcoat, gives the coat count and sets out the price, so you can compare it with any other quote.

Yes. The service area covers St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake with Virgil and St. Davids, Beamsville, Jordan, Vineland, Niagara Falls and Welland. Farmhouses and vineyard houses in Lincoln come up regularly on the schedule.

Yes. The work is fully insured, and the insurance covers every cabinet painting job from the day the doors come off to the final walk-through. Some condo buildings ask for an insurance document first, and we can supply one when the building asks.