Cabinet Refacing vs Painting: A Memphis Painter’s Honest Take

If you like the shape of your cabinet doors, paint them. If you hate the shape, paint won’t fix that, and refacing is the better call. That’s really the whole cabinet refacing vs painting decision in two sentences. Refacing puts new doors and drawer fronts on your old boxes and covers the frames in veneer. Painting keeps every piece you have and gives it a new, hard finish.

This is for Memphis area homeowners whose cabinet boxes are solid and who just want the kitchen to stop looking dated. I’m a painter, so I’ll tell you where paint wins and where it doesn’t.

What’s the difference between refacing and painting cabinets?

The difference is what gets replaced. With refacing, a refacing company takes off your doors and drawer fronts, installs brand new ones, and skins the visible cabinet frames and sides with veneer or laminate.

With painting, nothing gets replaced. We take the doors off, label them, clean, sand and prime them, spray them in our own shop, then finish the frames in place. Your layout, countertops and plumbing stay put either way. Our own employees do all the spraying. We don’t use subcontractors. That’s what separates both of these from tearing out cabinets.

Cabinet refacing vs painting at a glance

Here’s how the two stack up side by side. I’m not putting national averages in this table, because a kitchen in Collierville and a kitchen in some other state don’t cost the same, and an average doesn’t tell you anything about yours.

When is refacing the better choice?

Refacing wins when the doors themselves are the problem. Paint changes color. It does not change a cathedral arch into a flat Shaker door.

I’d point you toward refacing (or new doors) if:

• You dislike the door profile and always will.
• Doors are swollen or split, usually the sink base that took on water.
• Thermofoil is peeling off. You can’t paint over plastic that’s already lifting.
• You want a real stained wood look. Paint can’t give you grain.

Caldwell Painting doesn’t do refacing. I’m telling you this because I’d rather send you to the right fix than paint a door you’ll still hate. What we can do is get you in touch with some of the best local cabinet makers, who can swap out the doors and drawer fronts for you. So if new doors are the fix, you don’t have to hire a refacing company to get them.

When is painting the better value?

Painting is the better value when the boxes are sound, the doors are solid wood or good MDF, and your complaint is color, wear or an orange oak stain. You’re paying for labor and a finish, not for new wood.

A lot of kitchens around here fit that. The builder grade cabinets in a lot of newer homes in Collierville, Lakeland and Arlington have plain doors that take paint really well. Older East Memphis and Germantown kitchens often have solid wood raised panel doors. If you like that look, those are some of the best cabinets to paint.

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How long do painted cabinets last?

Painted cabinets last as long as the coating system under them. That means prep, primer and topcoat together, not just the color on top.

Here’s what we use. For the primer, we use Renner primer. For the finish, I still recommend General Finishes Enduro on cabinets, and we also like Centurion 2K Polyurethane Topcoat 2800 Series. A 2K cabinet coating is our toughest finish, and it runs about $500 to $1,000 more than a standard job. For gaps and joints we use Pro Stretch, Big Stretch or SherMax caulk, so the seams don’t crack open again a year later.

And prep matters more than any can of paint. If you’re wondering whether a painter can skip it, read why skipping sanding catches up with you.

What happened when we beat on two cabinet finishes with a hammer?

We didn’t want to guess which coatings hold up, so we tested them. In February 2024, we put out our Renner vs Sherwin Williams Gallery Series hammer test video, comparing Renner 851 2K against Sherwin Williams Gallery Series, both set up as 2K coatings, each on the primer its maker recommends. Then we hit the samples with a framing hammer to test impact.

Here’s what we reported. Renner had the stronger bond and held up better against peeling and chipping. Gallery Series came out ahead on chemical resistance, which counts on bathroom and laundry cabinets. On impact, both performed well.

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So which one wins? For us, Renner, because bond strength is what keeps a kitchen cabinet finish from chipping. Gallery Series is a good product, and if chemical resistance is the main concern, it earned its points fairly.

You can watch the whole thing here:

It’s also on our Facebook page.

There’s more detail in the full Renner vs Gallery Series writeup, and a homeowner friendly version in which paint we’d put on kitchen cabinets.

How much does cabinet painting cost compared with refacing?

Painting usually costs less than refacing because you’re not buying new doors. I can’t give you a fair refacing number since we don’t do that work, and I’d rather not guess at someone else’s prices.

In the Memphis area, cabinet painting usually starts around $4,000. A 2K coating adds about $500 to $1,000. There’s more on what drives the number in what cabinet painting costs. Every quote includes paint, and the estimate is free.

Painting cabinets around Memphis

We paint cabinets across Memphis, East Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Cordova, Lakeland, Arlington and Eads, plus Southaven and Olive Branch, MS. Caldwell Painting is family owned and has been at it since 2013.

The homeowner detail I see most on walkthroughs? A cracked caulk line where the cabinet meets the wall, or chipped paint on the lower drawer by the trash can. Those spots tell me how the last finish was done, and they’re the first thing we fix right.

What to ask your painter before you choose

Ask these and listen for straight answers.

1. What primer are you using, and why? You want a bonding primer named, not “we prime it.”
2. What’s the topcoat, and is a 2K coating an option? Get the product name in writing.
3. Do you spray the doors off site or in the kitchen? Ask where and who. Ours are sprayed in our own shop by our own employees, never subcontractors.
4. How do you prep? Cleaning, degreasing and sanding should all be on the list.
5. Is paint included in the quote? Ours always is.
6. Will you tell me if my doors aren’t worth painting? A good painter will.