What cabinet painting costs in Milwaukee.
Kitchen cabinet painting starts at $2,500 for smaller kitchens. Here is what moves that number, what is included, and how it compares to replacing the cabinets.
The short answer
Cabinet painting at REDUX Paint and Fine Finish starts at $2,500 for smaller kitchens. The figure rises mainly with the number of doors and drawer fronts, and secondarily with how much preparation the existing finish needs before anything can be sprayed over it.
You get one fixed price in writing after a walkthrough, usually within a business day. It does not move afterwards unless you change the scope, and the walkthrough and estimate are both free.
We publish the starting figure because most contractors will not, and because knowing whether a job is a $2,500 conversation or a $25,000 one is the first thing anybody actually wants to know. What we will not do is publish a full price list — see why below.
What moves the number
In rough order of how much difference each one makes to a quote.
Door and drawer count
This is the big one. Almost everything in cabinet painting is priced by the piece, because almost all the labor is per piece — removing, labelling, degreasing, sanding, spraying both faces, and rehanging. A galley kitchen and a large island kitchen can differ by a factor of three on count alone, which is most of the difference between the starting figure and the top of the range.
What is already on the timber
A previously painted kitchen in sound condition is the straightforward case. Factory-lacquered doors, heavy grease around the range, a thermofoil surface that is lifting, or an old finish that is failing rather than just dated all mean more preparation before the first coat, and preparation is where the hours go. This is also the step that gets skipped by people quoting suspiciously low.
Whether the boxes are done
The doors and drawer fronts are what you see. The cabinet boxes — the face frames and the visible sides — are a separate decision. On some kitchens the existing box finish is close enough to live with; on others, particularly a color change, leaving them undone is obvious immediately. We quote it either way rather than assuming.
How far the color is moving
Refreshing a painted kitchen in a similar tone is fewer passes than taking a dark stained kitchen to off-white. The second needs more blocking and more coats to bury what is underneath, and that shows up in the price.
The finish specification
Most kitchens are sprayed in Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, which is our standard. A Renner Aquaris 2K catalyzed finish is an upgrade, priced as its own line on the estimate so you can see what it adds before choosing. It is genuinely not needed on every kitchen and we will say so when it is not.
Hardware and the small stuff
Reusing the existing hinges and handles costs nothing extra. New hardware with a different hole pattern means filling and re-drilling every door, which is real work. Interiors, shelving, glazed doors and any repairs to the boxes themselves are each priced as they arise.
What is included in the price
Everything below is in the figure you are quoted, not added later:
- Removing, labelling and rehanging every door and drawer front
- Full degreasing, sanding and a bonding primer suited to the substrate
- Spraying in a portable booth set up inside your house — nothing leaves the property
- Masking and floor protection through the working area
- Filling chips and dings before finishing
- Refitting the hardware and adjusting the doors so they sit true
- Clean-up, and a walkthrough with you before we call it finished
- 1-year written warranty
Note that the doors are sprayed in a booth we bring to you rather than taken away to a workshop. That is unusual for cabinet work in this market, and it is why your kitchen is not out of action for a month.
Painting versus replacing
The honest comparison, because it is the decision most people are actually making when they start looking at cost.
| Painting the cabinets | Replacing the cabinets | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | From $2,500 | Typically many times that |
| Time on site | About a week | Usually several weeks |
| Kitchen usable meanwhile | Mostly — boxes stay in place | No |
| Layout changes | No | Yes |
| Countertop | Stays | Usually re-templated |
| Demolition and disposal | None | Yes |
Painting is the wrong answer when the boxes themselves have failed — swollen particleboard, doors coming apart at the joints, or a layout you actively dislike. Paint changes the surface, not the carcass or the plan. We will tell you at the walkthrough if that is what we find, and we would rather lose the job than take it on a kitchen that needs replacing.
Why there is no full price list
Because a per-door figure published on a website is, in this trade, usually the number that gets you in the door rather than the number you pay. Two kitchens with an identical door count routinely differ by days of labor depending on what is already on the timber, whether the boxes are included and how far the color is moving.
Publishing the starting figure is useful, because it tells you whether this is a conversation worth having. Publishing a full list would mean either quoting for the easiest possible kitchen and revising upward once we are standing in yours, or padding every number to cover the worst case. Neither is a good deal for you.
So: the floor is $2,500, the walkthrough is free, and the written estimate is a fixed price we hold to.
Cost questions
How much does it cost to paint kitchen cabinets in Milwaukee?
Cabinet painting with us starts at $2,500 for smaller kitchens. What takes a job above that is almost always size — the number of doors and drawer fronts — followed by how much preparation the existing finish needs. We give you one fixed price in writing after the walkthrough, not an hourly rate that moves.
Why will not you publish a full price list?
Because a price list for cabinet work is usually a way of quoting low and adjusting later. Two kitchens with the same door count can be a week apart in labor depending on what is already on the timber, whether the boxes are being done, and whether the color is changing. We would rather look at the actual kitchen and give you a number we will hold to.
Is painting cabinets actually cheaper than replacing them?
Substantially, in most kitchens. Replacement means new cabinetry, demolition, disposal, usually a new countertop template, and a kitchen out of action for far longer. Painting keeps the boxes, the layout and generally the hardware, and changes the part you actually look at. If your boxes are failing — swollen particleboard, delaminating doors, a layout that does not work — we will say so, because paint does not fix any of those.
Does the 2K upgrade cost more?
Yes, and it appears as its own line on the estimate so you can see exactly what it adds before you decide. Most kitchens get Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, sprayed, which is the standard specification. Renner Aquaris, the waterborne 2K catalyzed polyurethane, is an upgrade we quote alongside it rather than assume. Read more on 2K cabinet painting.
Is the estimate free?
Yes — the walkthrough and the written estimate both cost nothing, and there is no obligation attached to either. You get a fixed price in writing, normally within one business day of us seeing the kitchen.
Do you charge more for a color change?
Sometimes, and it depends on the direction. Going lighter over a dark stained finish takes more coats and more blocking than refreshing a painted kitchen in a similar tone. It is not a surcharge so much as extra material and extra passes, and it is priced into the single figure you are given rather than added afterwards.
Find out what your kitchen would cost.
A walkthrough and a fixed written price, both free. Send a few photos first if that is easier — a wide shot and a close-up of the worst-worn door is usually enough for a ballpark.
(414) 436-1464