Interior painting in Atlanta
Kitchen cabinet painting in Atlanta with a sprayed enamel finish
Orange oak, dated cherry or chipped white cabinets can date an entire kitchen. Painting them costs a fraction of new cabinets, but only if grease removal, priming and curing are done right.
We paint kitchen cabinets by degreasing, scuff-sanding and priming every surface with a bonding primer, then spraying a hard cabinet enamel. Doors and drawer fronts are sprayed offsite while the boxes are finished in place. Most kitchens take five to eight working days, and typical cost runs $4,385 to $9,760. Call (470) 458-0461 for a free walkthrough.
Cabinet painting fails for one reason more than any other: grease. Kitchen cabinets carry a film of cooking oil, hand oils and cleaning product residue that you can't see but paint can feel. Primer laid over it may look fine for a week, then chip at the handles and peel along door edges. So our first day is cleaning, not painting. Every door, drawer front and frame gets scrubbed with a degreaser and rinsed, then scuff-sanded so primer has something to grip.
We take doors and drawer fronts to our shop to spray them on racks, where dust and temperature are controlled and each piece can dry flat. Cabinet boxes, end panels and face frames stay in your kitchen and are sprayed or brushed there under plastic masking. That split gives the visible fronts a smooth, factory-like finish while keeping your kitchen out of commission for as short a time as possible.
Hardware matters too. We label every hinge and knob as it comes off, and if you're switching to new pulls with a different spacing, we fill the old holes and drill new ones before primer. Most kitchens have their doors back in place within five to seven days. If the walls around the cabinets need refreshing, it's easy to add interior wall painting to the same project.
When to call
When painting your cabinets makes more sense than replacing them
Solid boxes, dated color
If the cabinet boxes are plywood or solid wood and the doors close properly, the structure is fine. A new color and fresh hardware change the kitchen for far less than replacement.
Chipping on painted cabinets
Cabinets painted with wall paint or without primer chip around pulls and along door edges. Those need sanding back to a sound surface and repainting with a true cabinet enamel.
Worn finish near the sink and stove
Water and heat break down the clear coat on stained cabinets first. When the finish turns cloudy or rough on the sink base, it's time to refinish the whole kitchen.
Orange or yellowed oak
Clear finishes on oak amber over decades. Painting covers the color, and a grain filler can smooth heavy oak grain if you want a flatter, more modern look.
Selling soon
Painted cabinets photograph well and read as an updated kitchen in listings. It's one of the larger visual changes you can make to a house in about a week.
New counters, old cabinets
If you just replaced counters or a backsplash, painting the cabinets lets the kitchen match the new surfaces without tearing anything else out.
Scope of work
What our cabinet painting service includes
- Removing doors, drawer fronts and hardware, with every piece numbered
- Degreasing all surfaces with a cabinet cleaner, then rinsing them clean
- Scuff-sanding with fine abrasives and vacuuming dust out of the boxes
- Filling dents, gouges and old hardware holes if new pulls change size
- Masking counters, backsplash, appliances and floors inside the kitchen
- Bonding primer on every surface, plus a stain blocker on tannin-heavy wood
- Two coats of cabinet enamel, sprayed on doors and fronts in our shop
- Reinstalling doors and hardware and adjusting hinges for even gaps
How the job runs
Our cabinet painting schedule from day one to reinstall
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| A1 | Label and removeEach door and drawer front gets a numbered tag that matches a spot on the box. Hinges and pulls go into labeled bags so everything returns to its original position. |
| A2 | Degrease and scuffWe scrub every surface with a degreaser, rinse, and let it dry. Then we scuff-sand with fine pads, vacuum, and wipe with tack cloths so no dust ends up in the primer. |
| A3 | Prime and fillA bonding primer goes on next. After it dries, we fill dents, sand them smooth and spot-prime the fills. On oak, we can apply grain filler if you want less texture showing. |
| A4 | Spray the doors offsiteDoors and fronts are sprayed on drying racks in our shop, one side at a time, with light sanding between coats. Controlled conditions keep dust and insects out of the finish. |
| A5 | Finish the boxes in placeFace frames, end panels and visible interiors are masked and sprayed or brushed in your kitchen while the doors cure, usually across two working days. |
| A6 | Cure, reinstall and adjustDoors come back once they're hard enough to handle, usually five to seven days after removal. We rehang them, adjust hinges so the gaps line up, and reinstall the hardware. |
Atlanta conditions
Atlanta kitchens and what they mean for cabinet painting
The cabinets we see most often in Atlanta fall into two groups. Homes from the 1980s through the early 2000s, common in Marietta and the Gwinnett suburbs, have honey oak cabinets with deep grain that shows through paint unless it's filled. Intown kitchens in older bungalows and Tudors tend to have painted wood cabinets with years of layers and chips near the pulls. Each needs a different prep plan, and we'll tell you at the walkthrough whether grain filling is worth it for your doors.
Humidity changes the cure schedule. Cabinet enamels dry to the touch quickly but need days to harden, and summer moisture in Atlanta can slow that noticeably. That's one reason we spray doors in our shop, where we can control air movement and temperature. Inside the house, we keep the HVAC running during box work. In pollen season we keep kitchen windows shut, since yellow pine pollen settling on wet enamel leaves specks that have to be sanded out.
Where we do this work most
Built pages for neighborhoods and cities we cover, with ZIP codes.
Typical costs
What kitchen cabinet painting costs in Atlanta
Cabinet painting is usually priced per door and drawer front, with the boxes included. Kitchen size, wood type and whether you want grain filled or two colors all move the total. The ranges below assume solid wood or plywood cabinets in sound condition. See the Atlanta painting price guide for how cabinets compare with other interior projects.
| Work | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Per door or drawer front, boxes included | $115 to $245 |
| Small kitchen, about 20 to 25 fronts | $2,765 to $5,240 |
| Average kitchen, about 30 to 40 fronts | $4,385 to $9,760 |
| Kitchen island only | $635 to $1,470 |
| Oak grain filling, per front | $35 to $65 |
Typical Atlanta ranges, not a quote. Your written estimate follows a free walkthrough. Compare other jobs on our painting price guide.
What moves the price
- Number of doors and drawer fronts
- Oak grain filling or textured finish
- Two-tone colors or a separate island color
- Changing hardware size and drilling new holes
- Previous paint that has to be stripped
Cabinet primers, enamels and spray equipment
We degrease with a dedicated cabinet cleaner, then prime with Sherwin-Williams Extreme Bond, or with Zinsser BIN shellac when tannin bleed from oak or cherry is a risk. Our usual finish coats are Benjamin Moore Advance or Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, both waterborne enamels that level out smoothly and cure hard. Doors are sprayed with a Graco air-assisted sprayer using a fine-finish tip. Satin is our usual sheen recommendation for kitchens because it hides small imperfections while still wiping clean after cooking splatter.
Paints, primers and stains our painters work with every week, from Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore to PPG and Romabio.
Questions
Kitchen cabinet painting questions from Atlanta homeowners
Can I use my kitchen while the cabinets are being painted?
Mostly, yes. The cabinet boxes stay in place, and we keep the sink, refrigerator and at least part of the counter usable. Expect open shelves while the doors are at our shop, and plastic masking on some surfaces for a couple of days while we spray the boxes. We help you clear the most-used shelves before we start.
Will the oak grain show through after painting?
On oak, yes, unless it's filled. Paint follows the open grain, so you get a painted surface with visible texture, which some people like. For a smoother look, we apply a grain filler to doors and drawer fronts before priming. It adds cost and a day or so, and we'll show you a sample door both ways.
How long until painted cabinets are fully hard?
Most cabinet enamels feel dry in hours and can be handled in a day or two, but full cure takes about three weeks. During that time, avoid scrubbing, skip sticky tape on the surfaces, and close doors gently. After the cure period, the finish resists cleaners and daily wear much better.
Do you paint the inside of the cabinet boxes?
Usually we paint the face frames, end panels and the backs of doors, and leave interiors as they are, since they're typically a different material. If you have glass-front doors or open shelving where the inside is visible, we can paint those interiors too. That adds time and is priced per cabinet.
Can laminate or thermofoil cabinets be painted?
Laminate can be painted with the right bonding primer, but it's less forgiving, so we test adhesion on one door first. Thermofoil is a different story: the vinyl skin often peels on its own near heat sources, and paint won't stop that. If thermofoil is already lifting, painting isn't a good use of your money.
Related work
Jobs that often go with this one
Built-In & Furniture Painting
Bookcases, built-in cabinetry, mantels, vanities and painted furniture finished with sprayed, hard enamels that resist daily wear.
Interior House Painting
Walls painted room by room or across the whole house, with furniture moved, floors covered and two full coats rolled over clean cut lines.
Trim, Door & Baseboard Painting
Baseboards, crown, casings and interior doors sanded, caulked and finished in a hard enamel that resists scuffs and wipes clean.
Color Consultation
Interior and exterior color selection with large sample boards, undertone and LRV checks, and whole-house palettes that work with your fixed finishes.
Talk through your kitchen cabinet painting job
Call any time. We will ask a few questions, set a walkthrough time and put the scope and price in writing.