Painting current cabinets will almost always be a more affordable alternative than buying new custom-built cabinets or even stock units. Painting or refinishing your cabinets is also a good investment in your home's value, with many residents in Murrieta, CA reporting an return as high as 70%. Refreshing your existing cabinets in this way offers you the chance to personalize your kitchen and stay up-to-date with present design trends, as well as follow through with your commitment to sustainable values.
The cost of new cabinets varies in Murrieta, CA, but could be up to three times more expensive than painting. This is even when considering that cabinet paints are typically more expensive than wall paints due to them containing more resins that defend surfaces from fading, scratching, and staining.
Hiring a professional for your project rather than do the job yourself will add labor costs, but this, too, will likely be much cheaper than replacements. An experienced contractor will know what your cabinets are manufactured with and how to apply different materials to ensure they come out the way you've imagined when finished. If your cabinets have minor wear like chips and cracks, they will use wood filler and paint to cover them up. Painting cabinets is a more difficult task than it sounds, but a vetted painting contractor will be an invaluable resource in helping you stretch your investment to the max.
An often asked question is about the kind of paint used on cabinets and if there is any difference between it and the paint used with walls. There are differences due to the fact that cabinets and walls are very different surfaces, and the variety of paint preferred for interior walls will encounter many difficulties when attempting to apply them to kitchen cabinets.
Most kitchen cabinets have slippery surfaces due to the materials used in their design to give them that sophisticated appearance. Common wall paints may not stick adequately to cabinets or start chipping or flaking off prematurely. The kind of paint contractors choose for cabinets has adhesives that helps it stick to these slippery surfaces better, and is also generally thicker to ensure longer durability. The chemicals and composition of cabinet paint also needs extended time to dry and cure than those generally applied to walls.
Comparing cabinet painters to uncover the best one for your needs and vision takes a substantial amount of work. The best place to focus on is by understanding exactly what aesthetic you want to accomplish with your kitchen cabinets. You should ask candidates to see a sample of their past work similar to your vision beforehand to gain a sense of their experience and skill. Dependable contractors would be pleased to accommodate this request, and many retain a portfolio for potential customers to browse through on their website.
You should have a set budget worked out while shopping around for professional cabinet painting contractors, as costs sometimes fluctuate widely. Check that any contractor you consider provides written statements of all material and labor expenses and gives clear verbal communication during the process about it's timeline. The last thing you want is for any surprises to occur after the project begins that can raise costs above what you planned for.
Give attention to the contractor's dependability by evaluating their online customer reviews. Most experienced painters will have feedback and reviews from previous customers available online, and these can be an efficient way to find out if they have a history of delivering the services you expect on time and on budget.
It's always enticing to quickly start painting and get your kitchen remodeling project going, but there is some prep that needs to happen beforehand to ensure your cabinets look as envisioned and are protected from the heavy-use they will likely see in the future. Cabinet painting will quickly become an overwhelming task when attempting it alone, but an expert can quickly and effectively bring your vision to reality beginning with the most common prepping phase of cleaning, sanding, and priming:
- Cleaning: It's critical that all dirt or grime are fully cleaned from cabinet surfaces prior to painting or staining or it could affect their adherence. The cleaning stage is also a good time to disassemble the cabinets and their components, such as drawers, knobs, hinges, etc., to make the next steps easier and more effective.
- Sanding: The good news is that efficiencies in home improvement have made notable advancements, and there are products that contractors use to make some of these prepping steps easier. Deglossers, also called liquid sandpaper, is a chemical product that easily removes gloss from cabinet surfaces so that the long process of sanding in the traditional way is virtually obsolete. Deglossers will also reach those places that are exceedingly challenging to get to with regular sandpaper.
- Priming: Priming will be necessary in most cases, and it serves many important purposes for the painting that comes next, such as enabling better adhesion, preventing stains and imperfections from bleeding through, and providing a protective layer over the cabinet surface. If the existing paint is oil-based and you cover it with a latex paint without priming, it will only flake off and need to be repainted sooner than expected.