A real job in Santa Rosa Beach: same cabinets, same layout, a different kitchen. With the five-day breakdown.
Refinishing kitchen cabinets takes 3 to 5 days against 4 to 6 weeks for a replacement, and the kitchen stays usable for almost all of it. If the boxes are structurally sound, refinishing is the better answer nearly every time — carcasses outlive their finish by decades, and what has actually aged is the colour, the sheen and the grease.
When is replacing the right call instead?
Three cases, and we will tell you if you are in one of them at the estimate rather than after taking the deposit:
- Water damage to the boxes. A swollen particleboard base does not come back, and a beautiful finish on a failing box is money thrown away.
- The layout is wrong. Paint does not move a cabinet. If the kitchen does not work, refinishing makes a kitchen that does not work look better.
- Doors that will not hold a coating. Rare, but some vinyl-wrapped doors with lifting edges are not worth the prep hours.
What actually happens, day by day
- Day 1 — doors and drawer fronts come off, get labelled, and go to a controlled space. Everything is degreased, sanded to a mechanical key, and masked.
- Days 2 to 3 — bonding primer and two sprayed coats on the boxes, in place. You can still reach the shelves.
- Days 3 to 5 — doors sprayed, left to harden, rehung, hinges adjusted, hardware fitted.
Why does a bad cabinet job peel at the handles?
Because of the step nobody photographs: degreasing. Kitchen grease is invisible, it is concentrated exactly where hands go, and no coating on earth bonds through it. A job that skips it looks perfect for eight months and then lifts at every door edge.
The second reason is the wrong primer. Laminate, thermofoil and raw wood each need a different bonding primer, and a general-purpose one on laminate is a slow-motion failure.
Dry is not cured. The finish handles normally after a day and keeps hardening for about 14 days — so for two weeks, do not stack heavy pans against a painted door.
Does it have to be white?
No, and there is a practical argument for not going white on the lower run: it is the half that takes shoes, mops and dog tails. A darker base with a lighter upper wears better and is easier to touch up.
See cabinet painting and refinishing for the full process, or ask for a free estimate — we will tell you honestly whether your boxes are worth refinishing.
