Cost & compare cabinet updates
Kitchen refresh | Affordable kitchens | Cabinet cost & compare | Replacing | Refacing | Refinishing | Classic Cupboards™ cabinet painting
Kitchen refresh
You’ve got older cabinets. Although the finish is showing wear, the cabinets are still in decent shape, so you perform a “kitchen refresh”, which allows you to update your kitchen while avoiding the expensive issue of the cabinets.
A kitchen refresh avoids updating the cabinets
You paint a new kitchen wall color, update your lighting, change your door hardware, and replace your appliances. But something still isn’t right. It’s the cabinets. You know it’s time to update your kitchen cabinets.
You get a price for new builder-grade kitchen cabinets, which are constructed of mostly mdf (wood chips and glue), but by the time the additional expenses are included for existing cabinet and countertop removal, disposal, and installation—ouch, sticker shock.
Hesitant to tear out your quality maple or oak kitchen cabinets, which are made from actual wood, you begin your search into the cost and comparison of cabinet replacing, refacing, refinishing, and painting.
Affordable kitchen makeovers
At Classic Cupboards™, we create affordable kitchen makeovers with our budget-friendly cabinet painting and design services. We save money by modifying and painting your existing cabinets.
Oak kitchen remodel on a tight budget Westerville, Ohio
Project #62—Tight budget kitchen remodel Westerville, Ohio
Our clients, who have explored cabinet updating options from other local Columbus, Ohio contractors, tell us that their decision to choose our Classic Cupboards™ cabinet painting was based not just on the cost savings over new or refaced cabinets, but on our unmatched painted cabinet quality and 10-Year Warranty as compared to other cabinet refinishing options.
Cabinet cost and compare
Updating your kitchen cabinets can cost as much or as little as you want—you can fork out the big bucks for brand new custom-built cabinets or invest just a few dollars for a gallon of paint, some elbow grease, and all of your free time for DIY cabinet refinishing.
Project #61—Painted maple cabinets Powell, Ohio
Ultimately, your choice of cabinet upgrade affects your entire kitchen remodeling budget.
To help you out we’ve put together a comparison of costs to update kitchen cabinets, which is based on our 20-year knowledge of our local Columbus, Ohio service area and the price quotes from other contractors shared with us by our clients.
Let’s compare the pros and cons of each cabinet updating option: cabinet replacement, cabinet refacing, and cabinet refinishing, and how they compare to our Classic Cupboards™ cabinet painting.
Once you understand your options, you’ll be ready to set your kitchen remodeling budget, and confidently update your kitchen and your cabinets!
New cabinet replacement
- Pros
- Cabinet style options
- Allows for layout changes
- Cons
- Most expensive cabinet update
- Expensive demo and installation
- No kitchen during entire demo/remodel
- Cheap quality stock cabinets
- Factory painted cabinets chip
- Custom cabinets crack & the paint flakes
- NO FINISH WARRANTY
Cabinet and countertop demolition and installation
Installation is added expense
Price ranges for the cost of new cabinets can be misleading by only listing the price of the actual cabinets.
Our price range for cabinet replacement is more realistic and includes the cost of professional installation, which is important for proper leveling and hanging of the new cabinetry, as well as the cost for removal and disposal of the old cabinets and countertops. Installers can’t guarantee that existing countertops won’t be damaged with the removal.
Factory painted cabinets chip
Factory painted cabinets are still just using “other paint”. These paints, even when properly applied in a temperature controlled factory environment, easily chip, peel, crack and flake under normal use.
Factory finished cabinets chip
They crack and peel
Check out these factory finished cabinets that chipped so badly they looked like a crackle finish. Watch our Westerville, Ohio client on NBC4 Daytime Columbus share her disappointment with her chipped factory painted cabinets and how our Classic Cupboards™ painted cabinet refinishing saved her cabinets and her expensive countertops.
Expensive custom cabinets crack
Custom-built cabinets are notorious for cracked joints and flaking paint as the new wood expands and contracts as it acclimates to the new environment.
Painted custom-built cabinets typically involve spray painting the doors off-site and the primed base cabinets are installed and either sprayed or hand painted on-site. The custom spray painted finishes are still just using “other paint”, which easily chip, crack and flake under normal use.
Custom built cabinets crack
The paint flakes off
Our client in Worthington, Ohio added on to her home creating her dream kitchen only to be terribly disappointed when her expensive custom built cabinets began cracking at the joints and the paint chipped and flaked literally everywhere.
Visit her unbelievable before & after project photos to find out how our Classic Cupboards Paint™ filled in all of the chips and cracks for a flawless, durable painted finish with a 10-Year Warranty.
No warranty on factory finishes
That lifetime warranty on brand new replacement cabinets excludes the finish, so you just bought very expensive cabinets with NO FINISH GUARANTEE. Be sure to read the fine print.
Cabinet refacing/resurfacing
- Pros
- 20%-50% less cost than cabinet replacement
- Less disruptive than cabinet replacement
- Cabinet door style options
- Cons
- More expensive than refinishing cabinets
- More expensive than painting cabinets
- Does not allow for layout changes
- Cheap quality replacement doors
- Factory painted doors chip
- Thin adhesive laminate covers base cabinets
- Plastic and wood veneer laminate chips easily
- On-site painted base cabinets chip, show grain
- NO FINISH WARRANTY
Doors removed for refacing
Cabinet refacing explained
Cabinet refacing, also known as resurfacing, involves hiring a contractor to remove the old door fronts and drawers and replace them with new factory finished doors and drawers.
The base cabinet boxes are either covered with an adhesive-backed thin, plastic laminate to match the new factory painted doors or they are wrapped with a thin wood veneer to match the new stained wood door.
Some contractors will paint the old base cabinet boxes on-site to match the new factory painted doors. The resurfaced base cabinet that has been hand painted with “other paint” will chip and peel.
Refaced factory painted doors chip
Factory painted replacement doors are still just using “other paint”. These paints, even when properly applied in a temperature controlled factory environment, easily chip, peel, crack and flake under normal use.
Factory replacement doors
Chip & flake under normal use
Refaced base cabinets chip
The thin plastic laminate or wood veneer covering a refaced base cabinet is prone to chipping, usually at the bottom edge of a base cabinet because of shoes or boots that get caught under the cabinet at the kick plate.
Refaced base cabinet
Thin wood veneer chipped
No warranty on refaced finishes
If your refaced or resurfaced cabinets come with a warranty, the warranty excludes the finish, so you just bought very expensive refaced cabinets with NO FINISH GUARANTEE. Be sure to read the fine print.
Other cabinet refinishing
- Pros
- Less expensive
- Quicker than refacing or replacing
- Cons
- Cheap, quick fix
- Not a long term solution
- Chips & peels very easily under normal use
- Added hardeners cause flaking & cracking
- Doesn’t fill oak grain
- Requires pre-sanding
- Requires priming
- Still doesn’t stick well
- Definitely doesn’t stick to laminate
- Thin paint leaves spray drips
- Roller & brush marks
- High gloss for better wear
- 0 - 2 year warranty
Other paint is just paint.
• Shows oak grain
• Lousy adhesion
• Easily chips
• Warranty??
Cheap & quick. Chips & drips.
By choosing cheap and quick cabinet painting, you’ll forever be dealing with chipping paint. The annoyance of constantly repairing your painted cabinets along with the household disruption and repeated cost of having your kitchen cabinets painted every few years means that maybe the cheap, quick fix wasn’t really a fix at all.
“Other paint” doesn’t really stick
And if it doesn’t stick, it chips. Other cabinet paints and even primers, don’t stick and they definitely don’t stick to plastic laminate cabinets. Even with pre-sanding and priming, other cabinet paint still has lousy adhesion and ends up chipping, peeling and flaking.
“Other paint” doesn’t fill oak grain
Unfortunately, when it comes to painting oak cabinets, other cabinet paint is really thin and thin paint doesn’t fill oak grain. Even grain-filling primer, wood filler, and spackle don’t really fill oak grain, so grainy, oak cabinets just end up looking like painted, grainy oak cabinets.
Other paint chips easily and shows wood grain
Latex paint is less durable
Latex cabinet paint is water based and less durable than oil based. High gloss latex paint wears better but shows every imperfection and actually highlights wood grain. Latex paint chips very easily under normal use and becomes brittle and prone to flaking when a hardener is added.
Paint hardeners prone to flaking
Hardeners are added to paint either by the manufacturer or by painters. They create a hard, smooth finish, but they don’t make the paint adhere any better. The hard, brittle paint cracks, chips and flakes off very easily.
Oil-based paint will yellow
Oil based cabinet paint will yellow over time, definitely not a good choice for white cabinets. Oil based paint takes longer to cure than water based. If not allowed to cure between coats of paint, the cabinet doors will stick to the base cabinets and pull off the paint.
Lacquer finish shows fingerprints and scratches
A sprayed lacquer finish is like a plastic coating, shows fingerprints, scratches easily and will crack at corner joints with expansion.
“Other paint” warranty?
Other painted kitchen cabinets ALL chip, peel and scratch—generally within 6 months - 1 year, even when the surfaces are properly prepared.
Classic Cupboards™ Painting
Project #70—Painted maple kitchen cabinets Worthington, Ohio
- Pros for Cost
- 40% - 50% less cost than new cabinets
- 10% - 30% less cost than cabinet refacing
- 4 price points to fit different budgets
- Pros for Durability
- Sticks to all cabinet surfaces
- Doesn’t chip, fills oak grain
- 10-Year Classic Cupboards™ Warranty
- Better warranty than new cabinets
- More durable than refaced cabinets
- Outlasts all other painted cabinets
- Pros for Remodeling
- Full kitchen use during process
- Cabinets can be modified before painting
- Doors can be replaced before painting
- Trim detail can be added before painting
- Cons
- Original base cabinet boxes
- Longer cabinet painting process
Our cabinet paint is different.
• Fills oak grain
• Smooth finish
• Seriously sticks
• Does not chip
• 10-year warranty
Do it right. Do it once.
Our Classic Cupboards™ painted cabinets outlast all other painted finishes, including new factory replacement cabinets, refaced and refinished cabinets.
There is a reason why our cabinet painting process takes a little longer and costs a little more than other painters. We do it right so you only have to do it once.
What our customers say
“People who want average workmanship, finish and durability can certainly spend less. But if you want a high-end, custom finish with first class workmanship, service, communication and a team of perfectionists, this is the only way to go. There is a reason a new Jaguar XJ costs more than a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle. As with anything, you get what you pay for.”
—Lee C. in Westerville, Ohio
“I did shop around and compare offerings. You get what you pay for and I found the price was reflective of the high quality of the finished product. Worth the investment!”
—Laura L. in Granville, Ohio
Project #79—Painted maple kitchen cabinets Columbus, Ohio
“We believe we got a great value for the money. The work is so detailed and labor intense. The cabinets look better than new; and have a better warranty!”
—Dennis J. in Powell, Ohio
“The value of a completed home project is always difficult to place a number on since this sort of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In our eyes the beauty goes well beyond the price paid. We have no doubt that the value of the house was increased at least as much as what was invested. But for now we just want to enjoy how our kitchen was transformed into something that is just marvelous.”
—Mark W. in Hilliard, Ohio
Project #69—Painted oak kitchen cabinets Hilliard, Ohio
“I do believe in the old adage 'You get what you pay for.' It was not inexpensive, but it was worth every penny. We enjoyed watching the process and the progress.”
—Marlene S. in Powell, Ohio
“Compared to doing a complete kitchen renovation, this makeover was a much higher value. Two of the nicest and respectful people you will find.”
—Tim G. in Marysville, Ohio
“It has been over five years since we had our cabinets painted. They still look brand new. Excellent value! Half the cost of replacing cabinets. Our cabinets were in great shape, just an outdated stain. You can't go wrong with this company!”
—Lori H. in Westerville, Ohio
Project #12—Painted oak kitchen cabinets Westerville, Ohio
“This is not an inexpensive project, but the quality of their work is worth the price I paid for the cabinet painting.”
—Sally H. in Pickerington, Ohio
“Exceeded my expectations. The value is priceless and is better quality than if replaced from the big box store.”
—Melissa P. in Grove City, Ohio
“Definitely worth the investment. Saved thousands over a complete cabinet replacement.”
—Becky F. in Marysville, Ohio
“The only thing that rivals their workmanship and final product is their friendliness. Amazing people to work with.”
—Josh L. in Westerville, Ohio
Ready to get started?
10-Year Warranty
Whether you just need painted cabinets and nothing more or your kitchen needs it all, you’ll want to know where to start.
Our simple Order of Events explains how to get from that first phone call to your completely transformed kitchen at the end. Contact us today!
Cabinet painting service area
You can find us painting kitchen cabinets all over Columbus, Ohio: Bexley, German Village, Grandview, Upper Arlington, Clintonville, Hilliard, Plain City, Dublin, Powell, Lewis Center, Worthington, Westerville, New Albany, Gahanna, Blacklick, Pataskala, Buckeye Lake, Granville, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Canal Winchester, Groveport, Ashville, Lancaster, Circleville, Chillicothe, Washington Courthouse, London, Grove City, and Galloway.