Painting vs Refacing Kitchen Cabinets in Delta, BC
If the cabinet boxes are solid and the layout works, painting is the first option to price. Here is what painting, refacing and replacing each change in a Delta kitchen, and how to tell which one you need.
Kitchen cabinet painting in Delta, BC usually comes up when a kitchen still works but looks tired: honey oak doors, a chipped finish, or laminate fronts you never liked. There are three ways to change how those cabinets look. You can paint them, reface them or replace them, and each one keeps a different part of the kitchen.
We are Texora Painting & Drywall, a painting and drywall contractor based at 1299 56 St in Delta. We do kitchen cabinet painting across Delta, Ladner and Tsawwassen. Refacing and new cabinets are cabinet-maker jobs, so this guide is about knowing which kind of quote to ask for.
What each option keeps and what it replaces
| Option | Cabinet boxes | Doors and drawer fronts | Layout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Painting | Kept, then painted | Kept, removed and sprayed | Stays the same |
| Refacing | Kept, covered with a veneer | Replaced with new ones | Stays the same |
| Replacing | Torn out | New | Can change |
Painting keeps everything you already own and changes the colour and finish. On a Texora job the doors and drawer fronts come off, every surface is degreased, sanded to take off the old sheen and primed with an adhesion primer, and the doors are sprayed. Frames are sprayed or brush-finished with a levelling primer, and the topcoat is a waterborne alkyd or a catalyzed urethane made for cabinets, not ordinary wall paint.
Refacing keeps the boxes but gives you new doors and drawer fronts, with a veneer over the face frames and exposed sides so they match. Replacing takes the boxes out, which is the only one of the three that lets you move the sink, add an island or change where the cabinets run.
When painting is the right call
Painting makes the most sense when three things are true:
- The boxes are sound: no swelling or soft spots, including under the sink.
- You like the layout and the shape of the doors, just not the colour or the finish.
- The doors are wood, or laminate, melamine or thermofoil that can take an adhesion primer. We check the door material at the quote visit.
A kitchen in Ladner Village, part of Delta, is a good example. It had honey oak cabinets with arched door panels around a white range hood. The doors were removed, shop-sprayed with Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane and reinstalled in 3 days, and the kitchen came out sage green. The full write-up is on the Ladner Village kitchen cabinet repaint page.
When refacing or replacing makes more sense
Paint changes colour and sheen. It does not change the shape of a door. If those arched raised panels are the thing you dislike and you want flat slab doors, painting will give you arched panels in a new colour. That is the point where refacing earns its place.
Damage is the other limit. Paint and veneer both sit on top of the boxes, so neither one fixes a box that has swollen from a leak under the sink. And if you want a different layout, neither painting nor refacing can give you that. Only new cabinets can.
Open the sink cabinet and press the floor and the lower edges of the sides. If they are firm and flat, the boxes are probably fine to paint or reface. If they are soft, swollen or flaking, deal with that first.
Why prep decides whether painted cabinets last
Cabinet paint usually fails when the degreasing, sanding or the right primer gets skipped. Kitchen grease and a slick factory sheen are exactly what stop paint from bonding, which is why all three steps happen before any topcoat on our jobs.
Spraying matters too. Brushing or rolling cabinet faces leaves visible texture and brush marks, so doors and drawer fronts are taken off and sprayed. Ask any painter you talk to whether hinges, handles and knobs come off or get taped over, because taped-over hardware is a common way to end up with a rough edge once the tape is pulled.
Then give the finish time. Cabinet paint can feel dry to the touch within hours, but the topcoat needs longer to harden before it can take a pot lid swinging into a door. Go gently with doors and drawers for a while after they are rehung.
What to decide before you get cabinet painting quotes in Delta
Quotes are easier to compare when everyone is pricing the same job. Settle these first:
- Doors and drawer fronts only, or the frames and the inside of the boxes too.
- Hardware: reused, replaced or moved to a new position.
- Colour: matched to what is there now, or a full change.
- Door material: solid wood, laminate, melamine or thermofoil.
- How long the kitchen can be out of use. Our written estimate sets out the schedule for removal, spraying, cure time and reinstallation.
On warranty, cabinet projects carry the same written warranty as any other job, stated on your estimate, one to three years depending on scope. The details are on our warranty page.
If the walls around the cabinets need paint as well, ask for both on the same quote. Our interior painting page covers walls, ceilings and trim, and our painters in Delta page lists the other work we take on around the city.
Get a cabinet painting quote in Delta
One of the two partners looks at your cabinets and door material with you, and the written estimate names the scope, the topcoat and your 1, 2 or 3-year warranty term. Or call (604) 417-6483.
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