Cabinet Refinishing Scope Guide
Kitchen and bathroom cabinet painting quote guide.
Painting kitchen or vanity cabinets is furniture-grade finish work, not wall painting. Two cabinet quotes can sit far apart because one painter plans to brush standard wall trim paint over lightly scuffed doors in place, while another removes every door and drawer front, degreases, fills open oak grain, sprays shellac or urethane bonding primer, and applies two coats of cabinet enamel.
Six scope decisions that separate cabinet painting quotes
Count your cabinet doors and drawer fronts before asking for bids, and check whether each quote answers these six points in writing.
| Scope item | Standard options | What to check on the quote |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Door and drawer removal | Doors removed and labeled vs painted on hinges | Whether doors and drawer fronts are taken off, numbered by opening, stripped of hardware, and sprayed flat on racks off-site or in a contained spray booth. |
| 2. Degreasing and sanding | Chemical degreaser + mechanical scuff-sand | Cooking oils around the range hood, oven, and pulls will cause paint to peel if sanded into the finish without degreasing first. |
| 3. Open wood grain (Oak / Ash) | Grain filler applied vs grain texture left visible | Oak cabinets have deep pores that show through paint even after priming. If you want a smooth slab-like finish, the scope must include a dedicated grain-filling coat and extra sanding. |
| 4. Primer chemistry | Shellac or urethane bonding primer vs drywall primer | Factory clear coats and stained wood bleed tannin and resist latex primers. The quote should name a stain-blocking, high-adhesion primer. |
| 5. Finish enamel | 1K/2K waterborne urethane or alkyd cabinet enamel | Standard wall or trim acrylic sticks to itself when cabinet doors close (blocking). Cabinet quotes should specify a hard-curing cabinet enamel in satin or semi-gloss. |
| 6. Cabinet boxes and interiors | Face frames and exposed ends vs full interiors and shelves | Most cabinet repaints cover the doors, drawer fronts, face frames, and exposed side panels, leaving maple or melamine interiors unpainted unless glass doors are present. |
Hinges, hardware holes, and caulk seams
Small details on cabinet doors often become surprise change orders if not settled before work starts.
- Changing pull spacing or knob locations. Moving from single knobs to two-screw bar pulls (or vice versa) requires filling old holes with two-part wood epoxy, sanding flush on both sides of the door, and drilling new holes with a jig.
- Hidden vs exposed hinges. Painting over exposed metal hinges leaves chipped paint as soon as the doors swing. Either reuse unpainted metal hinges, swap to new concealed Euro hinges (which requires boring 35mm cups), or install new matching hinges.
- Floating center panels. Solid wood five-piece doors expand and contract across seasons. Painters should avoid caulking the floating center panel into the stiles and rails, or the paint line will crack when humidity drops.
- Related interior painting guides. Compare Drywall Patching, Skim Coating & Interior Paint Prep, Painting Occupied Homes vs Empty Rooms, or return to the Interior Room Calculator.
Send this checklist for a scoping document
Planning to paint kitchen or bathroom cabinets, or including cabinets in a larger interior repaint? Fill in the checklist here and a person at finalist.cc will reply by email with a scoping document.
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