Cabinet Painting throughout Concord, MA.

Cabinet painting makes sense when the boxes are solid and the layout works, and only the finish has aged. Whether that describes your kitchen depends a lot on when it was installed, and houses here span a long run of construction decades.

Census estimates count 1,014 of today's housing units as built in the 1960s; only the 1939-or-earlier group is larger, and the 1950s and 1970s add another 1,721 together. A further 1,096 units were built from 1980 through 1999. Whether a given kitchen is original or was redone later, each generation of cabinetry brings its own prep questions.

What the cabinet material tells you

A useful first check is to open the doors, test the hinges and look at the sink base for water damage. Soft particleboard under the sink, sagging shelves or loose face frames are repairs to settle before deciding to paint.

• Solid wood or wood-veneer doors with intact faces: the best candidates; they sand, prime and hold enamel well
• Open-grain oak: the grain shows through paint unless it is filled with a grain filler or several primer coats first
• Cherry and other tannin-rich woods: need a stain-blocking primer so color does not bleed into a light finish
• Thermofoil or laminate fronts: paint adhesion is poor; peeling or delaminating wrap usually means replacing the doors
• Previously painted cabinets: the old coat must be sound, and in an older house it should be tested for lead before sanding

Painted cupboards in older houses

In the 22.6% of homes dating to 1939 or earlier, kitchens and pantries may still have built-in cupboards that have been painted many times. Built-ins like these can carry lead-based paint in their lower layers. Under EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, paid work in pre-1978 housing that disturbs more than six square feet of paint in a room requires lead-safe practices, and sanding a run of cabinet doors and face frames can easily exceed that.

Lead-safe cabinet work means testing first, containing the kitchen with plastic, using wet sanding or HEPA-attached sanders, and a verified cleanup before the room goes back into use. The lead-safe painting page has more detail. For an old cupboard whose character you want to keep, a brushed finish is an alternative to a sprayed factory look.

Paint, refinish or replace

Painting keeps the existing boxes, counters and backsplash in place, which avoids the cost and disruption of demolition. Replacement makes more sense when the layout no longer fits how you cook, when boxes are failing, or when doors are thermofoil that cannot be painted. The refinish vs. replace guide and cabinet painting vs. replacement walk through the trade-offs.

Newer kitchens are a separate case. With 19.6% of units built in 2000 or later, a dated factory finish on otherwise sound maple or painted MDF doors can often be updated with a color change alone, after a scuff-sand and bonding primer.

How the work proceeds

Doors and drawer fronts come off and are labeled, hardware is removed, and every surface is degreased, since cooking residue left on the surface keeps cabinet paint from bonding. After sanding and priming, an enamel made for cabinets goes on in thin coats. Doors need several days of curing before they are rehung and used normally. The kitchen cabinet painting process article lays out each stage.