Cabinet refinishing leaves the wood on display: the worn finish gets stripped or sanded away, fresh stain goes on where the colour is shifting, and instead of paint the doors get sealed beneath a sprayed clear coat.
Barrie has plenty of kitchens worth refinishing rather than painting. The cherry and dark maple kitchens of the 2000s in Painswick South and along Big Bay Point Road, the walnut-stained plywood of Allandale and the East End, and the white oak in newer custom homes in Midhurst and Shanty Bay are all good wood under a tired finish.
Refinishing Beats Cabinet Painting When The Wood Itself Is Good
Refinishing is the right call when the species is attractive, the doors are solid, and only the finish has failed. Cherry darkens and its lacquer yellows and crazes around the sink and the range. Maple stained sienna or natural goes orange and shows wear at every handle. Walnut goes dull. In each case the wood is fine and the top few thousandths of an inch are the problem.
Cabinet painting is the right call where the wood is plain, the doors mix species or veneer, or the owner simply wants colour. At the free visit we say which side of that line a kitchen falls on, and we never push cabinet painting onto a kitchen that would look better refinished.
Cabinet Refinishing Means Stripping Or Sanding, Then Stain, Then Clear Coat
Doors and drawer fronts come down, get tagged and travel to the shop. The old finish is chemically stripped or sanded to bare wood, depending on its thickness and whether the doors are solid or veneered. Veneer is thin and tolerates little sanding, so it gets stripped. Solid raised panels can take sanding.
Fresh stain goes on where the colour is changing, wiped and tested on a door back first. The clear coat gets sprayed in the booth in thin passes, sanded between, using either a waterborne clear or 2K clear polyurethane, both of which shrug off water and cleaners. Boxes get refinished in place inside an enclosure, just as they would for cabinet painting. The booth itself is described on the cabinet spray painting page.
Going Lighter Is Harder Than Going Darker
A cherry kitchen cannot go blond. Stain adds colour rather than removing it, so refinishing can move maple from orange to mid brown or cherry from red to a deep walnut tone, but neither can reach a pale Scandinavian look. Owners wanting light wood from a dark kitchen usually settle on cabinet painting in warm white or greige, or a two-tone with a refinished island. That gets said at the visit, not after stripping.
Refinishing And Cabinet Painting Are Often Combined In One Kitchen
The pairing we see most in Barrie is a painted perimeter with a refinished wood island, or painted uppers over refinished lowers. Each gets quoted separately so the owner sees both prices. The island and two-tone page shows the combinations. Refinishing generally lands toward the top of the cabinet painting market range because stripping is slow, and your price is the written quote.
Refacing Puts New Doors On Boxes That Are Still Sound
Refacing is the next cabinet painting step up. Once most doors are beyond saving while the boxes stay square, dry and firmly anchored to the wall, every door and drawer front gets replaced, exposed box ends get new panels, and the whole kitchen goes through cabinet painting as one job. Layout, counters and plumbing stay where they are.
Refacing followed by cabinet painting is the way to get a shaker kitchen out of a cathedral-arch oak kitchen without demolition. New MDF or maple shaker doors take paint cleanly, need no grain fill, and cost far less than new boxes.
Ask Whether Refinishing Or Cabinet Painting Suits The Kitchen
Twenty minutes at the free visit settles the question, and the quote that follows prices whichever answer fits. Request it here or phone +1 (705) 230-7220. The painted side of what we do for kitchens across Barrie, Innisfil and Springwater is on the Barrie Cabinet Painting home page.
A good cherry or walnut kitchen deserves a refinish before anyone reaches for a can of paint, and honest cabinet painting advice says so plainly.
Cabinet Refinishing Questions
When is refinishing better than cabinet painting?
When the wood is attractive, the doors are solid and only the finish has failed. Cherry, maple and walnut often fit. Cabinet painting suits plain wood, mixed species or veneer, or owners who simply want colour. We say which side of that line your kitchen falls on at the free visit.
Can a dark kitchen be refinished lighter?
Not much. Stain adds colour rather than removing it, so maple can move from orange to mid brown and cherry from red to a deep walnut tone, but neither reaches a pale look. Owners who want light cabinets usually choose cabinet painting in warm white or greige instead.
What does refinishing involve?
Doors come down and go to the shop, where the old finish is stripped or sanded to bare wood. Stain goes on where the colour is changing, then a waterborne clear or 2K clear polyurethane is sprayed in thin passes, sanded between. Boxes are refinished in place inside an enclosure.