Figuring Out the True Cost to Strip and Paint Kitchen Cabinets

Your kitchen cabinets are more important than you might realize. Not only are these features essential for storing dishes, glassware, mugs, and other necessities, but they’re also largely responsible for your kitchen’s overall appearance. Indeed, kitchen cabinets make up a large percentage of its visible surfaces. And since kitchens tend to be the most valuable spaces of any home, you can’t afford to take your cabinets for granted. At the same time, however, you might not be able to easily afford a major cabinet renovation, either. You won’t know for certain whether or not a kitchen cabinet paint job is within your budget if you have no reference for what this project will cost. A quick online search may reveal a wide range of project costs, anywhere from $800 to $4,000. Thus, determining the actual cost to strip and paint kitchen cabinets for your situation requires a bit more consideration. With that in mind, let’s go over the many factors that go into determining the true cost for a given kitchen cabinet painting project.

What Is the Real Price of Strip and Paint Cabinets?

Know What Goes into Painting Kitchen Cabinets

First, you must understand the various components and steps to paint kitchen cabinets. These components will vary depending on the precise nature of the project. For instance, more materials, labor, and time are required to strip, sand, paint, and glaze cabinets than are required to merely touch them up. In other words, the scope of your project is the primary determinant of what it will cost in the end. High-end projects involve more specialized materials, intricate processes, and time, which ultimately results in a more expensive project.

Breaking it Down by Square Foot

Size (as in surface area) is the next major consideration for determining the cost to strip and paint kitchen cabinets. After all, the more square footage there is to cover, the more materials and labor are needed to complete the job. Because kitchen and cabinet sizes vary so widely, the easiest way to get a grip on the numbers is to go by estimated cost per square foot. This way, you can multiply the dollar amount of materials and labor by the square footage of your cabinetry to get a decent estimate. Of course, there is a range of cost of materials and labor per square foot, too. Labor, for instance, might end up anywhere from $2/sq. ft. to $6/sq. ft. (materials, on the other hand, usually end up costing around $1/sq ft. across the board). So, while breaking things down this way can help you get a rough idea of your project’s cost, you’ll still be faced with a fair amount of uncertainty. All else being equal, though, more surface area equals a more expensive bill.

The Cost of Hiring Professionals

As tempted as you might be to tackle this project on your own, stripping and painting kitchen cabinets properly is a fairly complex and involved process. If you’re not confident in your DIY skills, it usually makes more sense to hire professional interior house painters to get the job done. Of course, hiring painters means you’ll have to consider labor costs in addition to material costs. As mentioned earlier, these labor costs are often posed in terms of labor per square foot, though some companies prefer to go by labor per hour, which can range from $20-$50/hour. So, if the whole project takes about two weeks to complete (say, 80 hours of work), labor alone can cost between $1,600 and $4,000.

These numbers are significant no matter how you slice it. But while you’ll save on labor costs by doing it yourself, you might encounter other costly problems along the way and after the fact. Simply put, dishing out this extra amount is beneficial in many ways. For one thing, you don’t have to exert the effort yourself. Moreover, you’ll avoid costly problems by leaving things to the pros. And lastly, if you’re asking yourself, ”how long does it take to paint kitchen cabinets,” the project won’t take nearly as long considering there will be multiple contractors at work as opposed to just you. If you value your time, then the benefits of hiring pros may easily outweigh the costs.

Additional Factors that Influence Total Cost

Labor and materials make up the brunt of the cost to strip and paint kitchen cabinets. However, there are other factors at play too, and they’re often less tangible. Where you live, for instance, can have a significant effect on what this project ends up costing you. If you live in an area that falls higher on the cost of living index, you’ll likely pay a premium on every type of home improvement. The time of year you hire kitchen cabinet painting services can make a difference, too; when the market sees higher demand, expect prices to go up (typically during the summer). A painting company’s reputation can also put them in a position to charge more for their services or force them to charge less, depending. And if a company is willing and able to handle additional tasks such as surface preparation, debris disposal, color consultations, etc., these services will often be reflected in their estimates.

Taking the Long View

When thinking about the “true cost” of something, more must be considered than merely the short-term price point. Projects such as cabinet painting bring additional value to a home, delivering a return on investment (ROI). While the percentage of this ROI will vary from one situation to the next, a proper, well-maintained cabinet paint job can boost your home’s value by an average of $1,500 and make it easier to clinch a sale when it comes time to sell your place. On top of that, refinishing your cabinets will also reduce the number of repairs and amount of maintenance you must perform over the years. In fact, you might easily end up spending more on this maintenance over a given span of time than you would investing in a cabinet paint job. By examining the big picture in this way, it becomes clear that the money you spend on your cabinets now will possibly get recouped in the future, making the true cost more of a wash, if not a net positive in your favor.

The Bottom Line

If you’re thinking about redoing your kitchen cabinets, you need to take an approach that suits your budget while providing long-lasting results. Various online tools can help you glean a rough idea of what such a project may cost you, but there’s no replacement for a thorough estimate by experienced professionals. At Nash Painting, we have the resources and experience to deliver a detailed estimate after going over your particular goals and needs. We offer competitive pricing that reflects our commitment to quality in everything we do. Whether you’re looking to paint or stain kitchen cabinets in Nashville, Brentwood, or Franklin, TN, we’ll work hard to find solutions that fit into your budget.

To learn more about us, our services, and our values, call us at 615-829-6858 today!