What You Need To Know About Repainting Kitchen Cabinets

Your kitchen cabinets should be the star feature of your kitchen, tying together all the visual elements of the room and creating a space you can be proud of. As the years progress, you might feel as if your kitchen needs a bit of an upgrade. Rather than forking out thousands on a full kitchen renovation, many homeowners opt to simply repaint their cabinets instead.

But is this the right decision for you and your home? Keep reading as we discuss all the factors you should consider when deciding whether or not to repaint your kitchen cabinets.

DIY vs Professional Contractors

While repainting your kitchen cabinets as a DIY project might seem easy enough, the truth is that there’s a lot more work that goes into the process than just buying some brushes and your favourite colour of paint. There’s considerable prep work that goes into such a task, as well as primers, tools and particular types of paint that all need to be just right to ensure a job well done.

If you work with a professional painting company, you can rest assured that all of these components will be taken care of to the highest of standards. Rather than worrying about paint, primer and prep work, you can sit back and relax as the professionals do what they do best and help make your kitchen feel brand new again.

Replacing or Repainting

Another question you’ll have to ask yourself is if repainting is the best option for your kitchen, or if you should replace your cabinets entirely. If your kitchen cabinets are still in great shape and you’re just looking for something fresh and different, repainting should be more than enough to satisfy your needs. You’d be surprised just how much a fresh coat of paint can elevate your cupboards and your kitchen as a whole, despite being such a simple task.

On the other hand, if your cabinets are on their last legs and struggling to function as they used to, you might want to consider replacing them instead. Although this will require a larger investment of both time and money, it’ll save you from repainting cabinets that will soon need to be replaced anyway.

Cabinet Material

When it comes to your cabinet material, any type of wood will work for you to repaint over. Whether the wood is unfinished, painted, stained, compressed or faux, a well-applied coat of paint will get the job done and help cover up any scuffs or imperfections.

In general, any material that can be prepped with sandpaper will be okay to paint over. This is why laminates won’t work, as the results won’t be long-lasting as the paint will struggle to adhere to them. Make sure that if you’re working with stained wood or anything with a glossy finish that it’ll have to be de-glossed beforehand for the best results.

Practicality Over Style

When choosing the finishes for your kitchen cabinets, try to prioritise practicality over style. Matte and eggshell finishes might look nice, but they’re not durable and can be extremely difficult to clean. This means you might end up having to repaint your cabinets again in just a few years’ time, which is far from ideal.

However, gloss, semi-gloss or satin finishes are the way to go, as they’re both visually appealing and wipeable, meaning they’re easy to clean and keep looking sparkling new for years to come.

Colour Scheme

One final thing to take into consideration is the colour scheme of your kitchen and your home as a whole. Perhaps you might like to stick to the classics and paint your cabinets white, an option that’s hard to go wrong by. White remains such an enduring choice because it never goes out of style and is perfect for opening up and brightening kitchens that are on the smaller side or lack natural light.

Or, maybe you want to do something a bit more bold and experiment with some pops of colour. Nature-inspired hues are all the rage for 2023, with dark greens and natural neutrals finding their way into thousands of kitchen remodels around the world. However, don’t forget to take the rest of your home into account and keep things both consistent and complementary.