Stripping or sanding back to bare wood, a fresh stain and a new clear coat keep the grain visible instead of hiding it. Refinishing suits kitchens where the wood itself is better than the finish sitting on it.
Vaughan has more stain-grade cherry, walnut and white oak than a builder subdivision would, because so much of the cabinetry in Kleinburg, Islington Woods and the older Woodbridge streets was built to order. Wood like that is often worth keeping, and the custom kitchen cabinet painting page covers the same houses from the painted side.
Refinishing Beats Cabinet Painting When The Wood Is Worth Showing
Solid cherry, walnut, white oak and old-growth maple are worth more than any colour that could be put over them. Where doors are solid wood with tight joints and the only real fault is a clear coat gone yellow, cloudy or worn, refinishing beats cabinet painting and holds more of the kitchen's value.
Veneered doors change the answer. A thin veneer can only be sanded so far before it goes through at the edges, and a door that has already been sanded once may have nothing left to take. Those kitchens are better candidates for cabinet painting, and the visit is where that gets decided rather than after the sander is out.
Refinishing Runs Through Four Separate Stages
Stripping or sanding comes first, and the choice between them depends on the profile. Flat panels sand cleanly. Deep profiles, applied mouldings and glazed corners usually need a chemical stripper because a sander cannot follow the shape without rounding it. Either way the goal is bare, even wood with no old finish left in the grain.
Stain goes on next, wiped and timed so the colour sits evenly across stiles, rails and panel. Blotch-prone species like maple and birch take a conditioner first. Then two or three coats of clear finish, sanded between, in the sheen the kitchen calls for. The clear coat is what takes the wear, so it is sprayed for the same reasons cabinet painting is sprayed, as the cabinet spray painting page explains.
Going Lighter Is Much Harder Than Going Darker
Darkening is straightforward, because a new stain over sanded wood lands where it is asked to. Lightening is a different job: the old stain has soaked into the pores, and getting it out takes stripping, sanding and sometimes a wood bleach, with no certainty of an even result on oak or cherry.
An espresso kitchen from 2006 will not come back to natural maple, and saying so early saves everyone a disappointment. Where the target colour is light and the current one is dark, cabinet painting reaches it reliably and refinishing may not.
Refinishing And Cabinet Painting Often Share A Single Kitchen
Mixing the two is common and it looks deliberate rather than indecisive. An island in walnut or white oak keeps its grain under fresh clear coat while the perimeter doors are sprayed in warm white or greige, which is the pairing asked for most on the open-plan main floors north of Rutherford Road.
Both halves are quoted separately, because refinishing costs more per door than cabinet painting does. Colour pairing between a stained island and painted uppers is covered on the two-tone kitchens and island painting page.
Refinishing Costs More Per Door Than Cabinet Painting
Stripping is slow, staining is skilled, and the clear coat is unforgiving of dust, so a refinished kitchen sits above the Ontario cabinet painting ranges of $2,500 to $5,500 for a whole kitchen and $130 to $250 per door. Kitchens that mix a refinished island with painted perimeter cabinets land somewhere between the two.
Those are market figures rather than a quote. The written quote after the free visit prices the refinishing and the cabinet painting on separate lines so the choice is visible.
Refacing Puts New Doors On Sound Boxes And Cabinet Painting Does The Rest
Refacing means fresh doors, fresh drawer fronts and new end panels or veneer over the carcasses already there, with the face frames finished by cabinet painting to match. Layout, counters, plumbing and backsplash are all left alone. What changes is every surface that anyone actually sees or touches.
Refacing earns its money where the door profile is the objection rather than the colour. Deep cathedral arches, heavy oak ornament or a slab that is peeling cannot be made to look like a shaker kitchen with paint alone. It is the wrong call when the doors are sound and only dated in colour, because cabinet painting reaches the same look for less, as the kitchen cabinet painting page sets out.
Ask Whether Refinishing Or Cabinet Painting Fits The Kitchen
The honest answer depends on what the doors are made of, and that takes five minutes to establish in person. Book the free visit or call +1 (289) 201-7165, and a sample door can be stripped and stained so the result is visible before anything is committed. Every service, refinishing and cabinet painting alike, is listed on the Vaughan Cabinet Painting home page.
Good wood is worth keeping, and a kitchen that gets refinished instead of painted is a kitchen that was looked at properly first.
Cabinet Refinishing Questions
When is refinishing better than painting?
When the doors are solid wood with tight joints and the only fault is a clear coat gone yellow, cloudy or worn. Veneered doors change the answer, because thin veneer can only be sanded so far. The visit is where that gets decided.
Can dark stained cabinets go lighter?
Going lighter is much harder than going darker. Old stain soaks into the pores, and removing it takes stripping, sanding and sometimes a wood bleach, with no certainty of an even result. Where the target colour is light, painting reaches it more reliably.
Can one kitchen have both painted and stained cabinets?
Yes. An island in walnut or white oak keeps its grain under fresh clear coat while the perimeter doors are sprayed in warm white or greige. Both halves are quoted separately, because refinishing costs more per door than painting does.