The kitchen- the most used room in your home. The room in the house with the most expensive case goods. YOUR CABINETS. The one room that will make or break your investment when you go to sell your home. An update in this room must be done correctly or it will cost you money and days on the market. "Kitchens and baths sell homes."
Kitchen cabinet update by Bella Tucker Decorative Finishes
Painting your dated kitchen cabinets is an economical and stylish option for a kitchen update. But who should you trust to complete this project? Want to know a secret? Your house painter is not really interested in painting your cabinets. Or, I should say- painting your cabinets correctly.
Wall Painters Are Not Cabinet Painters
They are pro's at walls, trim, and ceilings. They know what it takes to prep, paint and deliver a beautiful smooth surface in the least amount of time possible. They get in- they get out- and they make a profit. When it comes to painting cabinets they have that same mind-set. F-A-S-T. A prime example is illustrated in this email below that one of my colleagues received from her potential customer:
I ended up going with a cheaper cabinet painter who came out for two days, it's been nearly a week and the cabinets are peeling with the slightest bump / scrape. I am so beyond devastated. I'm so upset and regret not going with you but just felt rushed and the two days of in and out seemed great but obviously was a bad choice in the end. I'm just ready to cry I'm so unhappy with how low grade the cabinets look compared to the rest of the kitchen.
regrets her decision to hire low cost painter
Why Your House Painter's Estimate is Low
Do you want to know why the estimate you get from your wall painter is significantly lower than an estimate you get from a professional? Because they often do not do the prep that is required to get the surface ready for painting. They don't clean the doors, or remove the doors from the frame, and they don't use the proper products. All resulting in finished projects that cause their client's stress and sleepless nights over their decision to hire the lowest bid house painter to paint their cabinets and now must spend more money to fix the problem.
We often get emails from desperate customers looking for repairs or fixes for these botched jobs. In most cases, they have used the wrong paint over a cabinet that has years of cooking grease built up- a recipe for disaster. No paint in the world will stick to a greasy surface. Cabinet prep requires light sanding, degreasing, and thorough cleaning. All before the first coat of product is ever applied.
Speaking of application. There are lots of ways your house painters can get it to go wrong. Drips, orange peel texture, brush strokes in the paint, etc... Proper technique would be to spray the doors and drawers in a controlled environment with proper drying time in between coats.
Here is a sample of what we see on a weekly basis.
These cabinets have too much paint globbed on and visible brush strokes.
These are recently painted cabinets that were already peeling and chipping due to improper prep
Paint drips on cabinets are a very common problem that we are called in to correct. Too much paint buildup also causes the orange peel texture.
As cabinet painting professionals we network with experts all over the country. We recently participated in a discussion on this topic. Here is some helpful insight from Kass Wilson of Atlanta GA.
The cost to repair a finish is much more complex than when we begin with the original project. Clients tend to think that we just need to paint over it and start again. Adhesion is our primary concern to ensure durability. The quality of any finish is only as good as the weakest link. When the original finish is already failing, anything we put over it will continue to fail. Therefore, our only choice is to first remove the problem. That adds to the prep that is needed . . . $$$$. In the end, they were very pleased with the results and admitted that considering the time, aggravation and cost, it would have been best to go with us to begin with.
Kass Wilson of WallsTreat Studio collaborated with Henri Menendez of DeHuelbes Designs,Inc to come up with a solution for this failing cabinet finish
Cabinet Glazing Is An Art
I could write a whole post just on the bad glaze jobs we have seen. I have written a post on why you should hire a professional artist to paint your cabinets. You can read that HERE. Wondering what cabinet glazing is? You can read about that HERE. Here are a couple of bad cabinet glazing photos provided by Brenda and Eric Deeter of MorningStar Faux in Kansas City.
Eric and Brenda Deeter of MorningStar Faux were called in to fix this bad glazing job.
Bad cabinet glazing will make the cabinets look dirty like these that MorningStar Faux was called in to fix
cabinet painting cost
The average cost to paint a kitchen correctly and professionally in the Nashville, TN area is around $4000
Cost to repair botched paint job
Most botched paint jobs require stripping of the existing finish. This will add about $1500+ of prep on top of the cost of repainting.
cost to replace kitchen cabinets
Replacing kitchen cabinets starts around $15,000 + In most cases, you also have to replace countertops too.
Who Should I Hire to Paint My Cabinets?
- Someone who has projects you can visit, see and touch and speak to satisfied clients
- Someone who takes the time to clean and prep properly
- Someone with a professional spray system in a controlled environment
- Someone who has an artistic approach to the project and not an In and Out mentality
- Someone who is trained in coatings and know's what type of products to use on different surfaces
- Someone who specializes in cabinets and isn't adding it on to a straight painting job. Most cabinet painters do not paint plain walls.
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[…] Dana Tucker has a great blog post about one experience using a house painter to paint some cabinets. […]