Cabinet painting
An opaque color over the existing finish. The old surface is cleaned, scuffed and primed so the new coat bonds to it, then sprayed. This is the most common request, and it works on wood, MDF and previously lacquered doors.
Cabinet Painting and Refinishing in Austin, Without Replacing a Single Door
Austin Elite Cabinets offers cabinet painting in Austin, TX, and is a leading Travis County finisher for homeowners who like their cabinet doors but not their color, specializing in sprayed paint finishes, restaining and clear-coat refinishing. We offer grain filling for open-pored oak and full stripping back to bare wood.
- Free in-home design visit
- Shop drawings you approve
- One firm written price
Step 1 of 3Your project
Book a free design visit
About our cabinet painting & refinishing
Our team provides degreasing, scuff sanding and bonding primer on every door and drawer front, delivering a smooth, hard-wearing color for homes and a durable refresh for both residential and commercial projects. The same crew that measures and labels every piece at your walkthrough is the crew that sprays and rehangs it, and the finished work carries a written warranty.
From a 220-grit scuff over the old factory finish to at least two topcoats on every box face, door and drawer front, our team handles every detail. Serving Austin, Rollingwood, Sunset Valley and Lakeway, we give a dated kitchen a new finish without a single box or door being replaced.
Why Austin Elite
How We Work
No catalogue boxes and no handoffs. The people who measure your room are the people who build and install it.
Measured in your homeEvery run, wall and ceiling measured on site, never from a plan
Shop drawings firstYou approve the drawings and finish before anything is built
Same crew, start to finishThe people who measure are the people who install
One firm written priceThe number on the quote is the number at install
Painting, Restaining or Refinishing: Three Finish Jobs, One Page
Everything on this page keeps what you already own. The boxes stay on the wall and the doors stay your doors. Only the surface changes, and there are three ways to change it.
Restaining
A new wood tone that still shows the grain. Stain has to reach bare wood to soak in, so restaining means stripping the old finish first, then sanding through a schedule of grits before any stain goes on. It is more labor than paint, and it only makes sense on solid wood or thick veneer worth showing.
Clear-coat refinishing
For cabinets whose color you still like but whose topcoat has gone dull, sticky or worn through around the pulls. We clean and scuff the surface and lay a new clear coat over it, so the wood tone stays and the protection comes back. At the measure we look at your doors, tell you which of the three they can take, and explain why.
When Paint Is the Wrong Answer for Your Kitchen
Paint changes color. It does not change shape, fix damage or hold onto a failing surface. We turn down painting jobs that would fail, and these are the usual reasons.
- Peeling thermofoil. Thermofoil is a PVC film heat-formed over MDF, and heat from a range or dishwasher can soften the glue until the film lifts. Paint over peeling vinyl does not stop it lifting. Those doors need new fronts, so our cabinet door replacement service is the better fit.
- Swollen MDF or particleboard. Low-grade MDF can swell and break once it has been soaked, which is common on the sink base. Primer will not flatten it.
- You want a different door style. Paint will not turn a raised-panel door into a flat Shaker door. New doors, or refacing if the frames are worn as well, gets you the style change.
- Tired frames and end panels as well as doors. If every visible surface is chipped and you want a wood look rather than paint, refacing with new veneer covers it all at once.
- A layout that does not work. No finish fixes a kitchen that is laid out wrong.
If your doors are sound and the style suits you, painting or refinishing is the smallest, least disruptive way to change the room.
The process
Our Cabinet Painting Process, Step by Step
A painted kitchen fails at the prep, not at the paint. Grease from cooking and hands clogs sandpaper and stops primer from bonding, so every step here is aimed at adhesion.
Remove, label and protect
Doors, drawer fronts and hardware come off, and every piece is labeled to its opening so it goes back exactly where it came from. Counters, floors and appliances are masked.
Degrease
Degreasing always comes before sanding. Every surface is cleaned with a degreaser strong enough to lift the invisible film of cooking oil.
Scuff sand
The existing finish is sanded to a uniform profile, around 220 grit, to give the primer something to grip. The goal is a dull, even scuff, not bare wood. On slick thermofoil in sound condition or on an old lacquer, an adhesion promoter is added.
Bonding primer
A bonding primer goes on next. It improves adhesion, evens out color, and blocks tannins in some woods from bleeding through a light paint.
Spray the topcoats
Doors and drawer fronts are sprayed rather than brushed, in thin coats with drying time between, and at least two finish coats go on. Face frames and end panels are coated to match.
Cure and rehang
Once the finish has cured, every labeled piece goes back on its own hinges. We adjust each door and open every drawer with you at the walkthrough.
Finishes We Spray, and How They Hold Up in an Austin Kitchen
Austin's humid subtropical climate means long, hot summers and air that carries moisture, and a kitchen adds steam on top of that. The finish has to cope with both. Conversion varnish. A catalyzed finish rated for severe use, with excellent resistance to many household substances. It is the hardest wearing option for a busy kitchen. Two-part polyurethane. Very tough and fast to cure once mixed. Water-based polyurethane and waterborne paint. Fewer volatile organic compounds, which matters when the family is living in the house during the work. Water-based coatings can raise the grain slightly, so they need a light sand between coats. Lacquer. Available clear, satin or gloss, and recoats without sanding between coats.
Oak grain under paint
Oak is ring-porous, meaning its open pores show through paint as a texture. Some homeowners like that. If you want a smooth, furniture-like surface, the pores need grain filling before primer so the coating can bridge them. Tell us at the measure which look you want, because it changes the prep.
Stain choices
Pigmented stains sit in the grain and highlight it, along with any sanding scratch left behind. Dyes are more transparent and do not exaggerate the grain. Stain can absorb unevenly on some woods and look blotchy, which is why we test on the back of a door before committing a kitchen to a color.
Painting Cabinets in a Home Built Before 1978
A good share of west-side Austin houses predate 1990, and the oldest of them predate 1978, sometimes with painted cabinets or trim from that era. The EPA estimates that about three quarters of U.S. homes built before 1978 still contain some lead-based paint.
Federal rules under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting program govern paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in those homes, and sanding cabinets is exactly that kind of work. If your house predates 1978 and the cabinets have been painted before, tell us at the measure. It changes how prep is planned, how dust is contained and how the schedule runs, and we would rather plan it properly than find out halfway through.
Homes in Rollingwood, West Lake Hills and Shady Hollow are the ones most likely to raise this question, since those communities hold a large share of older houses.
What Drives the Cost of Cabinet Painting and Refinishing
There is no honest flat rate for painting a kitchen, because the prep varies far more than the paint. These are the drivers.
- Number of doors and drawer fronts. Each one is removed, labeled, prepped, sprayed on both sides and rehung.
- Linear footage of face frames and end panels painted in place.
- Door style. A slab door is quick to spray. A raised-panel door has profiles and corners that need more care.
- Painting versus restaining. Stripping to bare wood for a new stain is far more labor than scuffing and priming for paint.
- Grain filling. A smooth finish on oak adds a full prep step.
- Existing finish. Heavy grease, failing old paint or slick thermofoil each add work before primer can go on.
- Finish system. A catalyzed conversion varnish, a two-part polyurethane and a waterborne paint differ in material and handling.
- Lead-safe prep in a pre-1978 home, where it applies.
- Hardware. New hinges and pulls, and filling old pull holes if the new hardware sits differently.
Painting is the smallest of the keep-the-boxes jobs because nothing is built new. Your real figure comes from the free in-home measure, where we look at the doors in person. Call to book it.
Cabinet Painting on Austin's West Side and Beyond
We paint and refinish kitchens across Travis County: Austin, Rollingwood, West Lake Hills, Sunset Valley, Shady Hollow, Barton Creek, Lost Creek, Steiner Ranch, Lakeway, The Hills and Volente.
The job looks different by neighborhood. Builder-grade kitchens from Steiner Ranch's 2000s growth often have sound doors in a finish chosen for price, which makes them strong painting candidates. Older Shady Hollow and West Lake Hills kitchens more often have solid wood doors that can be stripped and restained. Newer lake homes in Volente sometimes simply want a color change on cabinets that are barely worn.
Same Room, New Cabinet Fronts
Drag the handle. The room and layout stay; the cabinet fronts change.
BeforeAfter
More of What We Build
Questions
Cabinet Painting & Refinishing: Common Questions
What affects the cost of painting my kitchen cabinets?
The number of doors and drawer fronts, the length of frames and end panels, the door style, whether you want paint or a new stain, how much grease and old finish has to be dealt with, the finish system and any new hardware. We give you a real figure after the free in-home measure.
Can you paint thermofoil cabinet doors?
Sound thermofoil can be scuffed, treated with an adhesion promoter and painted. Peeling thermofoil cannot, because the vinyl keeps lifting under the paint. Those doors are better replaced.
Can you make my cabinets a lighter wood tone?
Going lighter means removing the old finish and color, which is a strip-and-refinish job on solid wood. We check at the measure whether your doors have enough wood to strip, or whether paint or new doors is the better route.
Will the oak grain show through the paint?
It will unless the pores are filled first. Some people like the texture. If you want a smooth surface, we grain fill before priming.
Should I paint, reface or replace the doors?
Paint if the doors are sound and you like their style. Replace the doors if they are damaged or you want a new style but the frames are fine. Reface if frames, end panels and doors are all worn. We tell you which fits at the measure.
How long will my kitchen be out of use?
The boxes stay in place, so the kitchen remains usable, though the doors are off while they are prepped, sprayed and cured. We give you the schedule in writing before work starts.
Is the painted finish covered?
Yes, the work comes with a written warranty.
Which areas do you serve for cabinet painting?
Austin and the west side of Travis County, from Rollingwood and West Lake Hills out to Lakeway, The Hills and Volente. Call and we will confirm your address.
Free design visit
Talk to us about cabinet painting & refinishing
Free in-home design visit across Austin and the west side. We call you back to set a time.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.