Vetting cabinet painters to uncover the most suitable one for your specifications and vision requires a substantial amount of work. A good place to focus on is by understanding exactly what aesthetic you're trying to accomplish for your kitchen cabinets. You should ask candidates to see a sample of their previous work aligning with what you're looking for beforehand to get a feel for their experience and skill. Reliable contractors would be more than happy to grant this request, and many retain a gallery of pictures for potential customers to browse through on their in-person or online.
You need to have a set budget in mind while shopping around for professional cabinet painting contractors, as prices sometimes fluctuate significantly. Ensure that any painter you consider provides documentation of all material and labor expenses and gives clear verbal communication during the project about it's expected completion. The last thing you need is for any surprises to occur after the project has started that will raise costs higher than you planned for.
Pay close attention to the contractor's dependability by checking any online client reviews. Most experienced painters will have feedback and reviews from past customers for view online, and these are also a great way to find out if they have a history of delivering the services you expect on time and within budget.
It's may be tempting to quickly start painting and get your kitchen remodeling project moving forward, but there is some prep that needs to be done first to ensure your cabinets look great and hold up to the heavy-use they will likely see in the years to come. Cabinet painting will quickly become an overwhelming task when doing it on your own, but an expert will quickly and effectively bring your vision to life starting with the most important prepping stage of cleaning, sanding, and priming:
- Cleaning: It's very important that any dirt or grease are fully cleaned from cabinet surfaces before painting or staining or it might affect their adherence. The cleaning step is also a good time to take apart the cabinets and its hardware, such as drawers, knobs, hinges, etc., to make the following steps easier and more effective.
- Sanding: The good news is that innovations in home improvement have made great leaps, and there are products today which contractors use to make some of these prepping steps a breeze. Deglossers, also called liquid sandpaper, is a chemical abrasive that easily removes gloss from cabinet surfaces so that the messy method of sanding in the old way is virtually obsolete. Deglossers will also penetrate to any places that are exceedingly difficult to get to with regular sandpaper.
- Priming: Priming is mandatory in some 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 current paint is oil-based and you cover it with a latex paint without priming, it will only peel away and need to be repainted sooner than expected.
Determining if your existing cabinets can be painted or not mostly comes down to their quality. Nearly any solid wood cabinets can be refinished many times within their lifespan, though the techniques necessary may be a little more difficult for “open grain” woods such as oak. Solid hardwoods absorb stains or paints more effectively than most other varieties of cabinets and can be repeatedly sanded to hide imperfections that accumulate over time from use. Engineered woods like Medium-Density Fibreboard, wood laminate, or even metal models can all undergo painting relatively easy.
The most difficult kind of kitchen cabinets to paint are economical thermofoil cabinets, which is an engineering process of applying a thin sheet of plastic over engineered fibreboard. Some painting contractors will recommend against painting these as the surface repels the paint trying to stick to it, and even when scuffing and priming methods are employed, the paint will likely peel off much sooner than a high-quality material like hardwood.
A more straightforward question many people might want to ask themselves is should their cabinets undergo painting. If your cabinets are too aged and worn out, it could be more cost-effective to buy new ones.
Painting current cabinets will typically always be the cheaper choice than buying new custom-built cabinets or even stock units. Painting or refinishing kitchen cabinets will be a great investment for your property's value, with many residents in Yucaipa, CA reporting an ROI as high as 70%. Refreshing your existing cabinets in this manner offers you the ability to beautify your kitchen and stay up-to-date with present design trends, not to mention uphold your commitment to sustainable living.
The cost of new cabinets fluctuates in Yucaipa, CA, but could be up to three times more expensive than painting. This is also considering that cabinet paints are often more expensive than wall paints because they contain more resins that protect surfaces from fading, scratching, and staining.
Employing a contractor for your project rather than do the task yourself will add to the expense, but this, too, will likely be significantly cheaper than replacing them. An experienced painter will understand what your cabinets are made with and how to apply different materials to ensure they look the way you've envisioned when finished. If your cabinets show small damage like chips and scratches, contractors will use wood filler and specialized finishing techniques to cover them up. Painting cabinets may be a more difficult job than it seems, but a trained painting contractor will be an invaluable resource to help you stretch your investment further.