Painting costs a lot less than buying new cabinets and having them installed. If you need to make an economical choice, painting is the way to go. Even if you are not forced into making the most economical decision, painting is still an attractive option because it gives you more money to spend elsewhere.
The Pros Of Painting Kitchen Cabinets
You can make your cabinets look like new! Paint can help give them a fresh new look. Paint also gives kitchens a more modern feel. Plus, paint is pretty good at hiding dust.
According to Zillow.com and HGTV.com, repainting your kitchen cabinets as part of enhancing your kitchen can increase your home's value. Given how much time most of us spend in our kitchens, it's no surprise. Kitchens help sell a home. Take a good look at your kitchen.
Cost Savings- There's no question about it, a kitchen remodeling project can require a significant financial investment. Painting your kitchen cabinets will only cost a fraction of replacement. Most professional cabinet painting projects only cost $3000-$6000.
Either way, both choices give you a less expensive option in lieu of doing a full replacement, which is great for any homeowner on a budget. While painting tends to be the cheaper of the two, painted cabinets build up grease and dust more easily than refaced cabinets, so they'll require more maintenance.
Although properly painted cabinets will last 8-10 years, some factors may affect the longevity, requiring them to be repainted only 3-4 years after the initial painting.
One particular point of debate at the moment is whether or not painted cabinets are going out of style. The quick answer is that, no, they are not going out of style. In fact, cabinets painted white is still considered one of the timeless styles inside the kitchen.
The cons of painted kitchen cabinets
Unfortunately, they're not as durable as the alternatives. They're more likely to chip than vinyl, foil or PVC wrapped doors. Though chips are easier to repair, as I've said, they happen far more often. They cost more.
She says light neutrals are generally the best colors for resale because they appeal to most people, but she advises against painting cabinets taupe or beige. “There's the tendency for people to accidentally go too warm—with golden or tan overtones—and then that would be a mistake that's hard to correct.”
Most real estate agents will tell sellers that neutral colors will appeal to the widest audience. While white is a very popular color for kitchen cabinets, other neutrals like gray, black, and beige are also good. Stained wood cabinets have an appeal, especially if they are of high quality.
On top of X-ing bright reds, steer clear of bright green, bright yellow and pink. Zillow's study found that kitchens painted these colors hurt buyers' intentions to purchase and overall decrease the likelihood of offers. The biggest takeaway here: Red and other bright colors might read too loud for buyers' taste.
Satin and eggshell paint finishes work well for kitchen walls, while semi-gloss proves best for kitchen cabinets.
Con: White Cabinets Are Difficult to Clean
White shows fingerprints, food splatters, grease, and other dirt more easily than other colors. If you have ornate white cabinets with multiple trim depths, they may be even harder to clean.
There are many types of paint to choose from, but the best paint for kitchen cabinets is semi-gloss, gloss or satin. Matte is not practical in kitchens and baths where you will need durable paint you can easily clean.
We usually use professional-grade lacquer because it has a lovely, silky-smooth feel to it, and is what cabinet manufacturers use. We think it's the best paint for cabinets, hands-down (although there are some great pro-level water-based options as well).
Arguably, the most timeless kitchen cabinet color is white. Bright white cabinets suit a variety of beautiful kitchens, including modern, contemporary, and farmhouse styles. Brilliant whites work to give kitchens a light and airy feel, and off-white options, like the White Dove shade, provides warmth.
The two most timeless colors of all, are white, and black. No one can deny the appeal of bright white cabinets streaming across a kitchen, they lighten the entire room and give it an airy, refreshing ambience. Likewise, black cabinets are equally timeless.
Use lighter colors.
A light color on the walls and cabinets instantly brightens a space making it look larger and in turn, more expensive. Light colors reflect light and hide a multitude of sins, including those scratches, dings and dents in your old cabinets.
If you want to protect your cabinets and extend their lifespan, sealing them is recommended. However, if you prefer the look and feel of unsealed cabinets, it's not necessary.
Painted cabinets typically cost more than stained cabinets. By how much? It depends on the colour, but you can expect painted cabinets to cost roughly 10-15% more than stained cabinets. Take a paint-grade wood like birch, for instance.
Because most cabinets are painted with a high-gloss or semi-gloss paint, they will be more durable (and easier to wipe clean) than, say, a matte finish wall paint, but you do want to take care not to use anything so harsh that you end up striping the paint or damaging the finish.
White is still the most popular kitchen cabinet color in 2023 and beyond. However, we are seeing a shift towards warmer and more natural tones. We cover the best colors for cabinets from Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams like Simply White, Dove White, and Chantilly Lace.
And while gray might be falling out of favor, white is still holding on strong—it's still the number one kitchen color with 35% of people choosing it from 2022 to 2023. Beige nabbed the third top spot with 18%, followed by blue with 6% and green with 5%.
For kitchen colors, they're loving dusty greens and blues, as well as soft hues like terracotta, natural browns and creamy whites. We're seeing designers experiment with bolder choices like mixed metals, high-contrast color palettes, double islands and overstated cabinet hardware.