Cabinet Painting & Refinishing in Chicago

Professional cabinet painting and refinishing runs $4,500–$8,500 for a typical Chicago kitchen. Where yours lands depends on door and drawer count, two-tone colors, oak grain filling, glass doors and trim detail, laminate that needs a bonding primer, and the condition of the existing finish. Vanities and smaller jobs are quoted after measuring. For more on what moves the price, see our cabinet painting cost guide.

Both, and that's deliberate. Doors, drawer fronts, and removable panels go to our off-site spray shop, where we control dust, humidity, and ventilation in a way no garage tent can match. The cabinet boxes — the frames attached to your walls — are sprayed on-site inside a contained spray area with air scrubbers. While the doors are in the shop, we work on the boxes, which is how most kitchens finish in about a week.

Yes — please empty all drawers and most door cabinets before day one. We'll confirm at the estimate which ones, if any, can stay full. Empty cabinets let us prep and spray the frames properly and keep your things clean.

Plan on 3–4 days without full use of the kitchen; most projects take about a week start to finish. We prioritize the cabinet boxes while the doors are in our shop. Partial access is possible if you need it, but it stretches the schedule.

Very little. We spray waterborne coatings, which keep the odor low, and the on-site spraying happens inside a contained area with air scrubbers. Counters, floors, and appliances stay covered the whole time.

Your choice of color, including two-tone kitchens, in sheens from a low matte to semi-gloss. We spray Sherwin-Williams Gallery Waterborne Lacquer or ILVA waterborne polyurethane, and we sample your color and sheen on a board before we start so you can see it in your kitchen's light.

Very, when it's prepped and sprayed correctly. Sherwin-Williams rates its Gallery Series topcoat as meeting the cabinet industry's KCMA standards for hardness and household-chemical resistance — tests that expose finishes to coffee, vinegar, fruit juice, olive oil, and detergent — and it reaches 6H pencil hardness after seven days. On kitchen cabinets, ILVA's polyurethane is used with its hardener for added chemical resistance. Prep is what decides whether paint chips: degreasing, sanding, and a bonding primer. All cabinet work carries our two-year workmanship warranty.

As soon as they're back on — but the finish keeps hardening through the first week, so go easy on edges and corners until then.

Wipe with a soft cloth dampened with mild soap and warm water, then dry. Avoid abrasive pads, magic erasers, steel wool, and cleaners with ammonia, bleach, silicone, wax, or polish. Wipe up spills promptly, and keep kettle steam and damp dish towels off the doors.

Sometimes a hairline line shows at those joints, usually in late winter. That's the wood itself moving as indoor humidity swings, not the paint failing. Keeping indoor humidity around 30–50% helps limit it.

Only where it shows — glass-front and open cabinets. Closed cabinet interiors aren't painted.

Removing, labeling, and reinstalling every door and drawer front, with adjustment and alignment; hardware bagged by location and hinges back in their original holes; new bump stops; glass panels removed and reinstalled where possible; crown and toe kicks attached to the cabinets painted to match; and touch-up paint left with you. Every estimate is free, itemized, and in writing.

Yes. Installing new knobs or pulls, filling old holes, and soft-close hinge upgrades are add-ons we price on your estimate. Not every hinge style can take a soft-close upgrade, so we'll check yours during the walkthrough.

Oak has open grain that can show through paint. Grain filling — a filler worked into the pores plus extra primer — gives a smoother look and is priced as an add-on. We can show you painted oak with and without grain filling so you can decide.

Yes — laminate and melamine can be refinished with the right prep. Laminate needs a bonding primer and extra care on edges and seams where delamination may have started. For a full breakdown, see our guide: Can You Paint Laminate Cabinets? A Chicago Contractor's Complete Guide.

No. Thermofoil is a vinyl film heat-bonded over MDF, and that bond tends to fail near heat sources like ovens and kettles — paint won't fix it. Replacing or refacing thermofoil doors is the better path.

Yes. Vanities, laundry cabinets, and built-ins get the same process and finish as kitchen cabinets.

Yes. Doors and drawer fronts go to our shop, and the cabinet boxes are sprayed in your unit inside containment. We submit your building's certificate of insurance, reserve the freight elevator, and work within the building's allowed hours. See our Chicago condo painting page.

Cabinet painting and refinishing costs significantly less than replacement — see the cost answer above for typical pricing. The math works when your existing cabinet boxes are sound. Painting isn't a fix for water damage, broken frames, or a bad layout, but for sound cabinets with a dated color it comes in well under what new cabinets cost.

Professional-grade spray coatings — primarily Sherwin-Williams Gallery Waterborne Lacquer and ILVA waterborne polyurethane — the same finishing-shop products used on factory-finished cabinetry. They're a different product class than brush-grade cabinet paints like Benjamin Moore Advance. When a customer specifically requests a brush-grade product for a smaller vanity or built-in, we'll use Benjamin Moore Advance.

A 40% deposit holds your start date and locks your price. The balance is due after the final walkthrough.