How Much Does It Cost To Paint Kitchen Cabinets In San Diego In 2023?

We get asked a lot of great ques­tions about cab­i­net paint­ing in San Diego, but the one we hear the most? You guessed it: how much does it cost to paint kitchen cabinets?

Well, it depends. 

Let’s drill down into the ques­tion and take a look at what’s involved and what you can expect at dif­fer­ent price points. At Chism Broth­ers Paint­ing, we believe in full trans­paren­cy and help­ing you make the right deci­sion for your home, goals, and budget. 

3 pric­ing options for your kitchen cab­i­net repaint

Option 1: Cheap

The most basic cab­i­net repaint will include a brushed and rolled fin­ish. Your painter won’t remove doors or draw­ers, but will do a sol­id job keep­ing every­thing masked and in place. Will it look like it came from a fac­to­ry? No. But it’s eco­nom­i­cal and decent, prob­a­bly cost­ing about $1,500 depend­ing on the size of your kitchen, and it will like­ly last a few years. 

Option 2: Mid­dle of the Road

Your cab­i­net painter has a good han­dle on the process, remov­ing all the doors and draw­er faces. Either on-site or at a spray shop, they spray your doors and draw­ers, but still use a brush and roller on your cab­i­net box­es. They like­ly use a bet­ter qual­i­ty paint too; maybe even a pre-cat­alyzed lac­quer. The fin­ish looks much bet­ter than the ​“cheap” option and will last longer too. This paint job will cost more like $4,000 – 5,000.

Option 3: Best 

This cab­i­net painter knows their stuff. Doors, draw­er faces, and hard­ware are removed and thor­ough­ly prepped (degreas­ing, sand­ing, prim­ing, and mul­ti­ple top­coats), and your cab­i­net box­es are sprayed too for a uni­form fin­ish qual­i­ty. Mask­ing and project con­tain­ment is metic­u­lous. Every step is designed for per­for­mance, and the fin­ish looks like it came right from the fac­to­ry. This option costs more like $5,000‑7500, or as much as $10,000 – 12,000 if you have a very large kitchen and/​or island. 

Is cab­i­net paint­ing less expen­sive than a remodel?

Yes! Even if you choose the ​“best” option, cab­i­net paint­ing costs much less than a full remod­el. 50 – 75% less in many cases.

What should you keep in mind?

Cer­tain­ly con­sid­er your bud­get, but also your goals and how long you’ll be in your home. If you’re refresh­ing a rental prop­er­ty or just doing a quick update, the cheap­er route might be fine. But if you’re invest­ing in your for­ev­er home, we would strong­ly rec­om­mend a bet­ter qual­i­ty, longer-last­ing paint job. Ulti­mate­ly you know best, but we do want to be sure you know what to expect.

We would also cau­tion you, espe­cial­ly if you’re pay­ing the ​“Best” rates, to ask your painter for sam­ples of their work and a detailed overview of their process. Cab­i­net paint­ing is a big deal, and you deserve to have a trust­wor­thy professional.

Do you have more ques­tions about cab­i­net painting?

Con­tact us at Chism Broth­ers Paint­ing! We’re here to help and would love to share more details about our approach, process, and paint­ing philosophy.