Cabinet Painting right here in Sharon, Massachusetts.

Kitchens don't always share the age of the house around them. The median build year for homes in Sharon is 1970, yet a given kitchen might still have its original boxes, cabinets from a later remodel, or something installed in the last few years. For a paint job, the material, door style and existing finish matter more than the year on the deed.

Owners occupy 87.7% of the town's occupied homes, according to Census estimates, so in most households the decision to paint or replace sits with the family itself.

What the doors are made of

Census figures place 28.7% of local housing units in the 1980–1999 range. If a kitchen from those decades still has its first cabinets, check whether they are oak, because its grain decides how the painted result will look. The common materials behave like this:

• Solid oak or oak veneer: deep, open grain that shows through paint as texture. Grain filler or a high-build primer gives a smoother face; skipping it leaves a visible wood pattern.
• Maple, birch or cherry: tight grain that paints smoothly once the factory lacquer is deglossed and primed.
• MDF doors and panels: flat and stable, though cut edges soak up primer and need sealing.
• Thermofoil or laminate: vinyl-wrapped or plastic faces. Thermofoil that is already peeling can't be painted reliably, and laminate needs a specialty bonding primer.

Paint them or replace them

Painting is the sensible spend when the boxes are solid wood or plywood, the doors are flat and square, and the layout already works. Replacement wins when particleboard at the sink base has swollen from leaks, drawer boxes are falling apart, or you plan to move appliances and plumbing. Our refinish vs. replace guide and the post on cabinet painting vs. replacement weigh the two in detail.

Where the work actually happens

Cabinet faces near the range collect a film of cooking grease, and no primer bonds to it. Doors and drawer fronts come off and get numbered, hinges and pulls are bagged, and every surface is degreased, scuff-sanded and coated with a bonding primer before two coats of cabinet-grade enamel. Doors finished lying flat in a controlled space level out without sags, while the face frames are painted in place with counters and floors masked.

Hardware is a good time to rethink. Filling old pull holes and drilling for new ones is far easier before primer than after. The full sequence is in our kitchen cabinet painting process post.

Older built-ins and lead

Painted cabinetry isn't limited to kitchens. Houses from 1939 or earlier, 14.7% of the local housing stock, may have pantry cupboards, china cabinets or bathroom built-ins carrying many coats of old paint, and 62.7% of the town's homes predate 1980. In a pre-1978 home those layers may contain lead, and sanding them comes under the EPA renovation rule: plastic containment, dust-controlled sanding and HEPA cleanup. The lead-safe page explains how that works indoors.

Using the kitchen during and after

Part of the kitchen can usually stay in use, though counters will be covered and the cabinets off-limits while frames are wet. Enamel is dry to the touch within hours but needs weeks to reach full hardness, so adding soft-close bumpers and going easy on the doors for the first few weeks protects the finish. If the walls around the cabinets need fresh paint as well, see interior painting in Sharon.