How Much to Paint Kitchen Cabinets
Cabinet painting is one of the highest-return projects in a kitchen remodel, and also one of the hardest to quote. Two painters can look at the same kitchen and come back several thousand dollars apart, because the price is driven by how many door fronts and drawer fronts are in the room, not by how large the room is.
Why the front count matters more than the kitchen size
Two kitchens of identical square footage can differ by fifteen doors, and each door carries its own prep, priming and two topcoats. A compact galley with 12 doors is a two-day job for one painter; a large island kitchen with 40 doors and 20 drawer fronts is a five-day job that also needs far more masking and drying space. When you compare quotes, line up the front count first, because that single number explains most of the spread between bids.
Slab doors are the fastest and cheapest to finish. Shaker doors add a recessed panel and four inside corners. Raised-panel and glazed doors take the longest of all, so expect the top of the range for ornate profiles.
Cost per door and per drawer front
| Front type | Typical range each | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Base cabinet door, up to 24 in | $75 - $120 | Usually flat or shaker |
| Upper cabinet door | $60 - $100 | Smaller, less edge work |
| Tall pantry or oven door | $120 - $180 | Large surface, more passes |
| Glass-front door | $100 - $160 | Extra care masking the glass |
| Standard drawer front | $50 - $90 | Removed and sprayed flat |
| Deep pot drawer front | $70 - $120 | More area, more handling |
| Finished end panel | $150 - $350 | Priced as a surface, not a front |
Those figures assume the boxes stay in place and only the fronts, face frames and visible end panels are refinished. Painting the interior of every cabinet adds a great deal of labour and pushes the total well beyond the ranges above.
What a typical kitchen totals
| Kitchen layout | Fronts | Professional cost | DIY materials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small galley, 10-12 ft | 12-16 doors, 6-8 drawers | $1,300 - $2,000 | $200 - $320 |
| Standard L-shape | 22-28 doors, 10-14 drawers | $2,200 - $3,400 | $280 - $420 |
| Large kitchen with island | 35-45 doors, 16-24 drawers | $3,500 - $6,000 | $400 - $650 |
What the materials cost if you do it yourself
Cabinet-grade products cost more per gallon than wall paint, but the surface area is far smaller than most people assume, because a door has two faces and four edges and still measures only about four to six square feet per side.
Budget $35 to $55 for a bonding primer, $90 to $140 for two gallons of a waterborne alkyd or acrylic topcoat, $10 to $18 for a degreaser and $15 to $30 for sanding pads or liquid deglosser. Brushes, foam rollers and tape add $50 to $80; an HVLP or airless sprayer adds $150 to $350 if you do not already own one, and spraying is what produces the factory-smooth finish most homeowners are hoping for.
Repaint, reface, or replace
| Option | Typical cost | Timeline | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repaint existing fronts | $1,300 - $3,500 pro; $200 - $650 DIY | 3-6 days | Same layout, new colour |
| Reface with new doors and veneer | $4,000 - $9,000 | 1-2 weeks | New fronts, original boxes |
| Replace with stock cabinets | $5,000 - $15,000 | 2-4 weeks | New boxes and layout options |
| Replace with semi-custom | $12,000 - $25,000 | 4-8 weeks | Full redesign |
Refinishing wins whenever the boxes are solid and square, which is most of the time in homes built after about 1980. Replace only when the boxes are water damaged, the layout is genuinely wrong, or you want to change the footprint.
What a professional quote should include
A complete bid covers degreasing every front and box edge, sanding or chemical deglossing, filling old hardware holes and drilling new ones, a bonding primer, two coats of cabinet-grade topcoat, and reinstallation of doors, drawers and hardware. It should also state whether the fronts are sprayed off-site, sprayed in place, or hand-painted, and it should give a curing window. Waterborne products are recoated in hours but keep hardening for a week; oil and lacquer need genuine drying days before heavy use, so plan on the kitchen being out of service longer than the paint schedule suggests.
Spraying versus brushing and rolling
Spraying gives the smooth, even film that reads as factory-finished and is the single biggest quality upgrade in the budget. It also costs more, typically $400 to $900 extra on a standard kitchen, because every surface in the room needs masking and the painter spends a day on containment alone. Brushing and rolling a good self-levelling product can look excellent on shaker and slab fronts, and it is the sensible choice when the budget is tight or the doors will be reinstalled the same day.
Count your fronts before you call anyone, then run the numbers twice: once in the Painting Cost Calculator for the labour and finish cost, and once in the Paint Calculator to check that your material list is realistic.