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How Often Do Kitchen Cabinets Need to Be Repainted?
Are you wondering, “how long do painted cabinets last?” Cabinet refinishing and painting is one of the most popular home improvement trends in 2022. It’s perfect for homeowners who want a quick makeover but don’t want to take on a full-gut remodel. We come across many homes around Newton with wooden cabinets that are in great shape and have so much character – perfect for cabinet refinishing. Don’t throw away your money by investing in new materials when you might have perfectly good cabinets already in your kitchen. Refinishing your cabinets is a quick way to transform your existing space with just a bit of paint. Cabinet refacing in MA is a cost-effective remodeling alternative that can transform your kitchen without all the fuss of demolishing old cabinets and ordering new ones.
How Long Will Painted Cabinets Last?
With proper care of professionally painted kitchen cabinets, you can expect your newly painted cabinets to last 8-10 years! While new cabinets will last you much longer, they will also cost thousands more, which can be an unnecessary expense in some cases. By refinishing or painting your cabinets rather than replacing them, you can put that budget towards other aspects of your remodel. If you’re the type of homeowner that likes to redesign their home every decade or so, then this remodeling option is perfect for you. Cabinet painting gives homeowners a durable, long-lasting product at half of the cost of buying new! In 8-10 years you might be selling your house, or you might want to change your cabinets again, so if you don’t need new cabinets, consider cabinet painting for a quick makeover.
What Affects How Long Painted Cabinets Last?
Although professionally painted cabinets should last 8-10 years there are a few factors that can drastically impact your cabinet’s lifetime, requiring repainting only 3-4 years later. How long your kitchen cabinets will last depends largely on the way the paint was applied, and with what tools. To ensure the best results, hire a professional painter who follows a tested process, uses the best tools, and is meticulous about keeping your home protected. That said, even with the best painter providing the best paint job, your cabinets may start to show signs of wear due to natural elements over time. Cabinets that are in high-traffic areas of your home will naturally start to deteriorate sooner than those that you don’t frequently open.
If you’re considering refinishing versus replacing, read more to understand what factors would impact how long the painted cabinets may last.
Hiring A Cabinet Painter Who Pays Attention to Detail
If you hire a painter who cuts corners and doesn’t properly prepare your cabinets before painting, your cabinets will not last the expected 8-10 years. In order to achieve a factory-finish look, it’s important to hire a professional cabinet refinishing company that will be thorough and meticulous when it comes to the cabinet painting process. Preparation is an important step for any task, but it’s especially critical when painting cabinets to ensure a quality finish that will last. If cabinets are improperly prepped or painted, they won’t last longer than a couple years.
Our process begins by setting up floor and wall protection around the entire room, so the dust and smell doesn’t permeate the rest of the home. We completely seal off the room with plastic protection and zipper walls for easy access when needed. It’s important to set up proper ventilation to create a negative airflow pushing the air out of the home. Once the room has been properly sealed off and every inch has been protected, it’s time to get to work on the cabinets!
We’ll begin removing all of the cabinet faces and hardware. Once the doors and drawers have been removed, we’ll scrape and sand them using HEPA dust-extracting sanders to ensure no excess dust gets in your home. One major step that many painters neglect, is applying grain filler to the cabinets. This extra step is the difference between seeing wood grains poking through the final paint job, or having a smooth, factory-finish look that feels brand new. If the wood has especially deep grains, we’ll repeat these steps multiple times to create a smooth, factory-finish.
Finally, once the cabinets have been prepared, we apply two coats of primer and three (or more) coats of lacquer to the cabinets. We apply at least three coats of lacquer to ensure that there is a thick finish that is durable enough to last. While you might be tempted to try and ‘DIY’ painting your kitchen cabinets, if you’re not willing to dedicate the time, energy, and cost for materials, then you’re better off hiring a professional.
Hiring a Cabinet Painter with the Right Tools
For long-lasting results, cabinet painting requires adequate experience, technical expertise, and the correct tools. Unfortunately, it’s you and your cabinets that will suffer the consequences if you hire a painter that cuts corners by using cheap products, or not applying grain filler in hopes to saving themselves a few bucks. Many painters skimp on buying the nicer products because it saves them money, but unfortunately it ultimately costs the homeowner by producing a subpar result.
Painters have a range of tools available to them for the application process which can produce different finishes and styles; for example, using a sprayer will yield different results than using a hand brush. A spray brush creates a solid finish on uneven surfaces without leaving any texture– ideal for cabinet painting, whereas brushes and rollers leave texture marks from the application process that can look messy and unfinished– not something that you want to be looking at on your kitchen cabinets.
There are also tools outside of the application process that are very important to the safety of your family and your home. It’s not adequate for your painter to put a drop cloth down and paint your cabinets – it’s unsafe with all of the fumes. HEPA dustless- vacuums, large window fans, zipper walls and plastic wrap are all needed to avoid a long-lasting dust and smell problem in your home. Without proper setup and protection, your home will smell like dust and paint for months or years.
Deterioration in High-Traffic Kitchens
Your kitchen is a high-traffic area, so naturally, your cabinets will show signs of wear over time, whether re-painted or brand-new. The cabinet faces that you use most frequently– around the trash, stove, and sink, will show signs of aging much sooner than others. Chipping or cracking, discoloration of the paint, and wear on the finish are common signs of aging that can appear on your cabinets if they’re not well maintained. Most often you’ll notice these signs appearing around the cabinet’s hardware as a result of the oils from our hands being deposited on the painted surface when we open and close cabinets.
Kitchen cabinets are constantly being exposed to everyday grime like oily fingerprints and dirty hands – especially if you have little ones running around! Homeowners that frequently cook on their range also have to worry about the little grease and oil splatters that naturally get on their cabinets and backsplash.
If you’re concerned that your kitchen is in a high-traffic area and that your cabinets won’t last the full 8-10 years, don’t worry! Even cabinets in high-traffic areas can last a long time as long as you’re keeping up with light maintenance. Every so often you should wipe down the cabinet faces with some water, soap, and a microfiber cloth to ensure that all the grease and oils are removed from the cabinet faces and they’ll keep their new look longer.
Professional Cabinet Painting Company in Newton
Tom Curren Companies’ standard of practice is to ensure the highest quality on all of our jobs. As a professional cabinet refinishing company in Massachusetts, our team takes pride in our workmanship and our dedication to superior craftsmanship. We want to provide you with the information you need to understand what affects the longevity of your cabinet painting project, so you’ll be able to ask the right questions to any prospective painter or contractor. For more questions about cabinet painting, or to chat with one of our cabinet consultants about your project, please give us a call at 617-969-4900!
*Read our latest blog on the average cost of a cabinet painting project, and what affects it
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