Cabinet Painting throughout Bedford, MA.

The year a house was built is only a first clue to its kitchen. Locally, the 1950s are the largest decade in the census housing table, at 19.6% of units, and 37.9% of units were built from 1990 through 2019. A postwar house may still have site-built painted cabinets, or it may have had its kitchen redone two or three times since. A 1990s or 2000s house may have its original factory cabinets in oak, maple or cherry, or a thermofoil finish over MDF.

Painting makes sense when the boxes are solid and the layout works. It is a coating job, not a rebuild, so it cannot fix sagging shelves, delaminated veneer or a floor plan you dislike. The refinish vs. replace guide lays out where that line usually falls.

What the material tells us

Whether oak grain should show is a matter of taste. Leaving it keeps a visible texture under the color; a flat, furniture-like face takes filler and extra sanding on each door.

• Solid wood and wood veneer: good candidates once degreased and sanded; open-grain oak shows its grain through paint unless a grain filler is applied first
• Maple and cherry: tighter grain gives a smoother painted face, but a bonding primer is essential on a slick factory finish
• MDF doors: paint well, though edges that have swollen from water need repair first
• Thermofoil or laminate: the plastic skin can peel away from the core, so painting over it is usually a poor bet
• Previously painted cabinets: the old layers have to be sound, and in a pre-1978 home they should be tested before sanding

Old paint on old cabinets

Of the housing in town, 54.1% was built before 1980. In those homes, cabinets that were painted decades ago, along with built-in china hutches and pantry shelving, can carry lead-based paint under newer coats. Indoors, sanding more than six square feet of that paint in one room brings the job under EPA's lead-safe renovation rule, and a full kitchen of doors is far past six square feet.

So when painted cabinets may predate 1978, a lead test belongs before the first sheet of sandpaper. The lead-safe painting page describes the containment involved. Cabinets built and finished after 1978 are far less likely to raise the question.

How the work runs

Doors and drawer fronts are removed, labeled and taken out of the kitchen for finishing, which keeps spray and dust out of the room. The boxes are masked, degreased and sanded in place. Every surface gets a bonding primer, then two finish coats of a cabinet-grade enamel that cures harder than wall paint. Hinges and pulls go back on once the coating has cured enough to handle.

Expect the kitchen to be usable but cramped for the duration, with the cabinet doors gone for several days. The kitchen cabinet painting process post goes through each day in more detail.

Townhouses and rentals

Attached single-family homes are 10.9% of units and 31.2% of occupied homes are rented. In a townhouse the kitchen is the owner's to change, but association rules on contractor hours, parking or spraying near shared ventilation can still apply, so read them before scheduling. For a rental kitchen, a scrubbable mid-tone can be a practical alternative to bright white, which shows wear faster.