The doors, drawer fronts and boxes already in the room are stripped of grease and old sheen, primed to suit what they are made of, then sprayed in a colour that hardens for daily use. That is cabinet painting.
Kitchens here range from birch slab doors hung in German Mills during the 1970s, through golden oak across Raymerville and Milliken Mills East, to thermofoil in Victoria Square and the Downtown Markham towers. Every substrate wants its own primer. The oak cabinet painting page deals with the one we meet most often.
The Order Of A Kitchen Cabinet Painting Job Never Changes
Tag, degrease, sand, prime, fill, spray, sand again, spray again, cure. Skip one of those to save a day and the cabinet painting chips by the following summer. Down come the drawer fronts and doors first, each labelled to its own opening so no hinge goes back in the wrong hole. Cooking wax and grease then come off with a cleaner genuinely strong enough for them, because kitchen cabinet painting applied over grease releases inside a few months.
Next the surface is sanded until it is dull and even, and primer is chosen by substrate. Oak and cherry get shellac, which holds tannin back. Laminate, thermofoil and melamine all want a bonding primer. Standard cabinet primer suits maple, MDF and anything already coloured. A scuff sand follows, then two or three thin topcoats sprayed on, sanded between each. Those steps, not the colour, decide whether cabinet painting holds for a decade or fails inside a year.
A Kitchen Cabinet Painting Quote Names Everything It Covers
The written quote tallies doors, drawer fronts, end panels and boxes, then records substrate, primer, topcoat family, sheen, coat count, grain fill and price. A kitchen cabinet painting quote also states whether the island, the crown moulding, the pantry or a basement second kitchen is inside the number or outside it. A single lump sum for a kitchen cannot be compared with anything and leaves room for extras once the doors are already off.
That quote comes out of a free visit lasting roughly half an hour. We count the doors, open a few so the hinge side can be checked, the sink base is inspected for swelling, and colour comes up. Houses in Raymerville and Berczy Village often turn out to have more doors than their owners expect, because four-bedroom detached kitchens here are large.
Most Of The Work Happens Off Site Over Roughly Two Weeks
Most kitchen cabinet painting spans about two weeks, with two or three of those days spent inside the home. Day one goes to removal, masking, degreasing and sanding. Box cabinet painting follows behind containment across the next day or two. Doors meanwhile sit at the shop for seven to ten days, primed, filled where agreed, sprayed and left to harden.
Through that stretch the open boxes do duty as shelves, while sink, range and fridge stay in service. Houses with a basement kitchen barely notice the gap. When the doors return, hanging, adjusting and fitting hardware all happen inside one day. Why doors leave the house at all is explained on the cabinet spray painting page.
Dry In Hours, Cured In Weeks
Touch-dry arrives within hours on a waterborne alkyd enamel, ordinary use about a week on, and full hardness near the close of the first month. 2K polyurethane moves far quicker and is nearly hard in a couple of days. Either way, fresh cabinet painting wants a soft cloth through its opening weeks and nothing abrasive at all. Chips around the pulls, and along the cutlery drawer, nearly always come from heavy handling before the cure was done, which is why care notes are part of the job.
What Kitchen Cabinet Painting Costs Against Ontario Market Ranges
Across Ontario, cabinet painting a whole kitchen usually lands between $2,500 and $5,500. Kitchens at the small end open near $1,500, while big ones and two-colour ones climb to $6,000, $9,000 and higher. Priced by the door, the market runs about $130 to $250. Filling oak grain, bonding primer under thermofoil and a big colour shift each raise the figure. Those are market numbers rather than ours, and what governs your own kitchen is the signed quote, which does not move afterward.
Pantries, Laundry Rooms And Mudrooms Wear Differently
A butler's pantry takes very little abuse and usually needs nothing more than a degrease and a colour change. A mudroom locker takes boots, bags and wet coats, so it needs a harder topcoat and more attention to the bottom edges. Laundry cabinets sit above a heat and moisture source and often have a detergent film on the doors that has to come off before cabinet painting starts.
Each of those carries a separate quote line instead of being lumped in together, because the prep varies so much. Laundry cabinets in melamine, common in Markham basements, also want bonding primer in place of standard cabinet primer.
Soft-Close Hinges Are The Upgrade People Notice Most
Cabinet painting does nothing for hinges thirty years old, which sag, rattle and leave doors hanging crooked. European soft-close units usually drop straight into the existing cup bore, so swapping them costs little labour while the doors are away for cabinet painting. Doors then shut quietly and sit level.
Drawer boxes can get soft-close undermount slides too, though that depends on the box construction and is checked at the visit rather than promised. Older side-mount slides in melamine boxes sometimes cannot take the change, and we say so before quoting.
Book A Free Kitchen Cabinet Painting Visit In Markham
Half an hour at the house is enough, and a day or two afterward the written quote arrives. Use the contact form or call +1 (289) 201-7026, giving an approximate door tally and naming your part of the city, whether Unionville, Cornell, Box Grove or Milliken Mills. Everything else on offer, from islands to vanities to basement kitchens, is laid out on the Markham Cabinet Painting home page.
Kitchen Cabinet Painting Questions
How many days are we without the kitchen?
Two or three days of work happen inside the house, with the doors away at the shop for seven to ten days. The sink, range and fridge stay in service, and the open boxes work as shelving until the doors return.
Will the finish chip at the pulls?
Chipping at handle height usually comes from coating over grease, a skipped primer or heavy use before the cure finished. Degreasing, the right primer and thin sprayed coats prevent most of it, and written care notes cover the first month.
Do you paint the inside of the cabinets?
Not by default. Interiors are usually sound factory melamine that spends its life closed, so coating them adds labour with little gain. A separate quote line covers them for owners who want open shelving or glass-front uppers done.