Start with the cabinet boxes
Before comparing prices, open your cabinets and look at the boxes. Are they solid wood or plywood, or particleboard with a thin vinyl or laminate skin? Are the shelves sagging, the bottoms under the sink swollen from leaks, or the face frames loose? Does the layout work for you?
If the boxes are sound and you like the layout, painting or refacing makes sense. If the boxes are damaged, swollen or poorly built, or you want to move the sink or add an island, replacement is the honest answer.
Cabinet painting
Painting keeps your existing doors, drawers and frames and gives them a new finish. Done right, it is a big change for the money. Proper cabinet painting is more than a quick roll and brush. The doors and drawers come off, everything is cleaned with a degreaser, scuff sanded, primed with a bonding primer, and finished with a hard enamel, often sprayed for a smooth look. Hinges and pulls come off and go back on, or new ones are installed.
Painting works best on solid wood, wood veneer and MDF. Thermofoil or slick laminate surfaces are harder to paint and often peel. Oak has open grain that shows through paint unless it is filled, which adds time. Some homeowners like the subtle grain showing through; others want a perfectly smooth finish. Decide before the work starts, because grain filling has to happen before primer. In a typical Wesley Chapel kitchen, cabinet painting commonly runs about $3,780 to $6,940.
Cabinet refacing
Refacing keeps the boxes but replaces the doors and drawer fronts, and covers the face frames and exposed sides with a new veneer or laminate. You get a new door style, such as going from raised panel to flat shaker, which painting cannot do.
It costs more than painting and less than replacement, often somewhere around $7,460 to $13,850 for an average kitchen. Results depend on the quality of the veneer and the installer. Refacing makes the most sense when the boxes are solid but the door style is dated, or the doors are damaged.
Cabinet replacement
Replacement means tearing out the old cabinets and installing new ones, which often leads to new countertops, a new backsplash, plumbing changes and sometimes flooring repairs. It is the most expensive option and the most disruptive, with your kitchen out of service for weeks.
For a mid-range kitchen in the Tampa Bay area, new semi-custom cabinets alone frequently run $14,700 to $31,600, before counters and installation extras. The upside is a new layout, new storage and boxes built to resist moisture.
Lead times matter too. Semi-custom cabinets often take several weeks to arrive after you order, and the kitchen is torn out only once they are on site if the contractor plans well. If you are watching the calendar around a move, a holiday or hurricane season, factor that in. Painting and refacing are usually scheduled and finished much faster.
How Florida humidity affects each option
Our humidity matters more than most people expect. Here is how each option handles it:
- Painted cabinets hold up well when the finish is a proper cabinet enamel and the paint is fully cured. Most problems come from rushing the cure or skipping the primer. The edges around the sink and dishwasher see the most wear.
- Refaced cabinets depend on the glue. Cheap peel-and-stick veneer can lift at the edges in humid kitchens, especially near the dishwasher and range. A good refacing job uses a quality adhesive and real wood or rigid thermofoil.
- New cabinets vary widely. Particleboard boxes swell if water gets in. Plywood boxes hold up better in our climate, especially under the sink.
- Any option lasts longer if you keep the AC running steadily and fix sink and dishwasher leaks right away.
How to decide
A simple way to choose: if you like the layout and the boxes are solid, paint. If you like the layout but hate the doors, reface. If the boxes are failing or the layout does not work, replace. Many homeowners in Wesley Chapel new builds choose painting to replace the builder's stained finish with white or a deep green or navy, and add new hardware for a big change at a fraction of the cost.
If you paint, ask about timing. Doors usually go to a shop or garage to be sprayed, while boxes are painted in place. Expect the kitchen to be partly usable for about a week. Pairing cabinet work with interior painting of the kitchen and family room walls in one visit can save setup time.
Call (813) 471-5995 for a free on-site look. We will check what your cabinets are made of, tell you honestly whether painting is the right fit, and give you a written estimate. Final price always follows the visit.