A full kitchen cabinet replacement runs $15,000 to $40,000. A professional cabinet refinishing job runs $3,000 to $8,500. That's not a small gap.

So which one is right? The honest answer: it depends entirely on the boxes. Here's how to tell.

When Refinishing Is the Right Call

Refinishing makes sense when the structure of your cabinets is solid and you just want them to look different. That means:

  • Cabinet boxes are plywood or solid wood — not particle board that's delaminating
  • Doors and drawer fronts are wood or wood veneer in good condition (no warping, no swelling, no water damage)
  • The layout of your kitchen actually works for you
  • You like the door style, you just hate the finish or the color
  • You want to go from dark wood to white, or white to navy, or oak to espresso

If all of that is true, don't spend $25,000 replacing what you already have. Spend $5,000 refinishing it and put the other $20,000 in the bank.

When Replacement Is the Right Call

Replacement is the move when something about the cabinets themselves is broken:

  • Particle board boxes are swollen, crumbling, or water-damaged under the sink
  • Doors are warped, delaminating, or made of thermofoil that's peeling
  • The layout is wrong — you want to move the sink, add an island, open a wall
  • You want a completely different door profile (shaker, slab, inset) and the current doors are raised panel or ornate
  • You're doing a full kitchen remodel and the cabinets are the last 1990s holdout

If you're going to replace the countertops, flooring, and backsplash anyway, and the cabinets are particle board, replacing them all at once usually makes more sense than refinishing and then redoing it 5 years later.

What $3,500 Actually Gets You at Eleven Coats

On a typical $3,500 cabinet refinishing job — say, 15 doors and drawers, standard kitchen — here's what we do:

  1. Remove every door and drawer front. Label them. Take them to the shop.
  2. Clean them. Degreaser, not a quick wipe. Old kitchen cabinets have 15 years of airborne grease. Paint will not stick to it.
  3. Sand them. Scuff sand the entire surface so primer can bond.
  4. Repair any chips, dings, or failing spots. Wood filler, sand smooth.
  5. Prime with a bonding primer. Not a paint-and-primer-in-one. A real bonding primer — we use Insl-X Stix or equivalent.
  6. Spray 2 coats of a cabinet-grade finish. We use Benjamin Moore Advance or Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane. These are harder, more durable finishes designed specifically for cabinets. You cannot use wall paint on cabinets. It will chip within 6 months.
  7. Mask and paint the boxes in place using the same prep and product.
  8. Let them cure fully before reinstalling hardware and doors.
  9. Reinstall. Check alignment. Adjust hinges.

Total timeline: 5 to 10 days. You have a kitchen you can (carefully) use for most of it — boxes are in place, doors are at our shop, coffee maker still works.

What $3,500 Does Not Get You

It doesn't get you:

  • New doors with a different profile (that's replacement or refacing)
  • New drawer boxes or soft-close slides (that's a hardware upgrade — we can quote it separately)
  • A layout change
  • Crown molding or trim changes
  • New counters or backsplash

Those are all real upgrades. They're just not part of a refinishing job, and anyone who tells you they are at that price is either cutting corners or lying.

The Brush-vs-Spray Question

You will hear "brushed cabinets" sold as premium. They are not. A sprayed cabinet finish is smoother, more even, and more durable than anything you can achieve with a brush. We spray every cabinet job, period. Brushed cabinets are either cheaper labor or a contractor without the right equipment.

How Long It Lasts

A properly prepped, properly primed, properly sprayed cabinet job with a real cabinet-grade finish will last 10+ years under normal kitchen use. We've been back to homes we painted in 2019 and the cabinets look essentially the same. We warranty them for 9 years.

A bad cabinet job — wall paint, no primer, brushed on, no sanding — will start chipping around hinges and drawer pulls within 6 months. That's not refinishing. That's a paint-over, and it's the reason cabinet painting gets a bad reputation.

The Decision Tree

Ask yourself three questions:

  1. Are the boxes solid?
  2. Do I like the layout?
  3. Do I like the door style?

Three yeses → refinish. Two yeses → probably refinish, maybe with door replacement. One or zero yeses → replacement is going to serve you better.

Not sure which category you're in? We'll come look at your kitchen and tell you honestly. If refinishing isn't the right move, we'll say so. Call (602) 888-1281 or request a free consult.