Cabinet Painting in the Twin Cities

Most Twin Cities kitchen cabinet painting projects fall somewhere between $3,000 and $8,000, with per-door pricing commonly landing around $100 to $200 per door or drawer front including the frames. What moves the number is how many doors and drawers you have, whether there’s an island or built-ins, how much prep the current surface needs (oak grain filling adds labor, for example), and the product tier. Cabinet interiors, new hardware, and any wood repairs are usually separate line items. We’ll give you a written estimate with everything spelled out before anything starts.

Most kitchens take a minimum of 3 to 5 days on-site. When doors are finished off-site in a spray environment, the full job can span one to two weeks from start to final rehang. Your kitchen stays partly usable during the work, though counters and boxes will be masked while we’re finishing. The enamel is hard enough to handle in a few days, but it takes about two to four weeks to fully cure. We’ll tell you exactly what to avoid (harsh cleaners, slamming doors) until you hit that mark.

Yes, but it takes extra steps. Oak has an open grain that texture shows through paint as subtle ridges if you don’t fill it first. For a completely smooth, grain-free finish, we use a grain filler or several coats of high-build primer sanded between applications. That adds labor and is worth building into the quote from the start. Some homeowners actually like the visible grain texture and choose to keep it. We’ll talk through both options so you know exactly what you’re getting before we start.

Painting is the right call when your boxes are structurally sound (solid wood or MDF, no water damage, no swollen particleboard) and the layout works for how you use the kitchen. Refacing makes sense when you want a completely different door style, like going from raised panel to flat Shaker, without touching the existing boxes. Replacement is really only necessary when the boxes themselves are damaged beyond repair or you’re changing the layout or appliances. Painting is almost always the lowest-cost, fastest, and least disruptive path when the bones are good.

Yes. We’re an EPA Lead Certified Contractor, which means we’re qualified and trained to handle pre-1978 homes where original cabinets or trim may contain lead paint. Any paid work disturbing more than 6 square feet of painted surface per room in an older home requires an EPA RRP-certified firm following lead-safe practices: containing the work area, using approved methods, and cleaning up and verifying afterward. We take that compliance seriously and handle it correctly every time.