You may have heard the terms kitchen cabinet refinishing, kitchen cabinet repainting, and kitchen cabinet refacing. These terms are often used interchangeably, but technically they mean different things. If you are looking to update your kitchen cabinets, it would be helpful to know what you are looking for. Let’s explain these terms to help you with your quest.
Kitchen Cabinet Repainting
This is probably the most self-explanatory term. It is the process of adding more coats of paint to your existing cabinets. Here, kitchen cabinet painters will go through the process of removing the doors and hardware, preparing the surfaces and spraying new paint onto the cabinet body and the doors. Often this happens when people are changing the colour scheme of their house and the cabinets need to be included to tie it all together. The current trends of colour are off-whites and light grays, but many people’s cabinets are dark, and the contrast is too great. So, kitchen cabinet repainting is the way to go in this case.
Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing
This term can also mean to apply new coats of paint to cabinets. It can indeed be used interchangeably with kitchen cabinet repainting; however, it has the added distinction of also meaning to remove the existing coats of paint, or stain, or lacquer, and apply new coats.
Sometimes existing cabinets are stained and sealed with clear lacquer. Kitchen cabinet refinishing in this example could be the process of adding more clear lacquer to rejuvenate the look, but not change the colour. So, you would be adding more finish to the cabinets, but technically not repainting them.
Kitchen Cabinet Refacing
This is probably the most misused term of the three. Although when you hear people talking about refacing their cabinets, they are generally meaning repainting or refinishing, the actual process of kitchen cabinet refacing doesn’t involve any paint, stain, or lacquer. What refacing is, is adding a skin to the cabinet body. It is a sheet of veneer that is glued overtop of the existing surface. It is more akin to resurfacing the cabinets.
Refacing is useful when kitchen cabinet refinishing is going to be too difficult, when you want to switch from a solid finish (painted cabinets) to a stained look. Once cabinets have been painted, it is very difficult to remove the existing paint to the point of being able to apply stain. Every little bit of the paint must be removed. Getting into the nooks and crannies of the cabinets with paint strippers and sandpaper is very time consuming and costly. This is a wonderful time to consider refacing your cabinets. A new skin can be applied on top of the paint, completely hiding the old surface, and giving the impression of stained and lacquered wood. In this process it is sometimes possible to reface the doors as well, but often the doors will need to be replaced. If you are going for a stained look, it can really improve the look if the doors are genuine wood.
So, does that help to clear things up? Hopefully this brings some clarity to what you have envisioned for your kitchen and helps you move forward.
If you are interested to do your own kitchen cabinet refinishing, let me recommend our DIY blog. It will give you a complete run through of the steps as well as the tools and materials needed for the project.
As always, we are just a phone call or form fill away. If you would like some advice on your project or a FREE ESTIMATE, please reach out!
For more information on our kitchen cabinet repainting services, please visit our website.
-Jeremy