Painting vs replacing kitchen cabinets: a guide for Bethesda homeowners

Painting keeps your existing doors, drawer fronts and boxes and gives them a new factory-like finish. Refacing keeps the boxes but replaces doors and drawer fronts and covers the frames with veneer. Replacing removes everything, usually along with countertops, backsplash and often plumbing and electrical work.

Many kitchens in Bethesda, Potomac and Chevy Chase were built or remodeled in the 1980s and 1990s with solid oak or maple cabinets. The boxes are often in better shape than anything at the same price today. If the layout still works for you, painting is usually the best value.

Painting works best on solid wood and on wood veneer over plywood or MDF that is still well bonded. Look for doors that hang straight, boxes without water damage under the sink, and drawers that still run smoothly.

Some cabinets are poor candidates. Thermofoil (a vinyl wrap over MDF) and plastic laminate do not hold paint well, and thermofoil often peels on its own near the range. Boxes swollen from leaks, or a layout you want to change, point toward refacing or replacement instead.

A painted cabinet that peels at the edges after six months almost always had a prep problem. Kitchen doors carry years of cooking grease that ordinary cleaners leave behind, so every surface is degreased, scuff-sanded and coated with a bonding primer made for previously finished wood.

The finish coats matter just as much. We use waterborne alkyd or urethane enamels that level out smooth and cure hard, sprayed on doors that are removed and finished on racks. Wall paint is not a cabinet finish. Our cabinet painting page shows the full coating system layer by layer.

Red oak has deep open grain, and paint alone leaves that texture visible. Some homeowners like the look. If you want the smooth finish of a new painted kitchen, grain filler goes on before primer. It adds time and is priced as an option, so decide before the estimate.

If you would rather keep the wood look, refinishing may be the better route. Our wood staining and varnishing crews can clean, restain darker or recoat worn clear finishes.

A typical kitchen takes about one to two weeks. Doors and drawer fronts leave the room for finishing, while frames are masked and sprayed or finely brushed in place. You can usually keep using the sink and refrigerator during most of the project.

Cabinet enamels are dry to the touch the same day but take several weeks to reach full hardness, longer in a humid Maryland summer. Go easy on doors for the first few weeks: no heavy scrubbing, and no wet dish towels hanging over doors.

Many clients repaint the kitchen walls and trim at the same time so colors are chosen together. See interior painting for how we plan that. If your home was built before 1978, also read about lead-safe prep in older homes.