Most people will probably tell you that factory is better, no way around it. However, the advantage to doing it yourself is that you can touch it up if needed. I painted unfinished kitchen and bathroom cabinets with BM Advance, and they still look great 3 years later, despite being in a student rental property. I would never have paid for the factory paint finish in this property, for the very reason that any dings and chips could not be easily fixed.

Thank you catbuilder. That makes a lot of sense. It would also allow us to add some components like plain open shelves ourselves and paint them to match.

I'm following this thread, I'm interested to know just how much labor is involved. I'm assuming two coats of primer and two finish coats, with sanding in between. I'm considering it too, but...ugh.

If you buy unfinished from a place like Barker, are the boxes unfinished too, or do they come clear coated? I couldn't imagine painting the insides of all the boxes and the shelves too.

Good question. I'm sure many will argue the factory finish is almost always better, but I think painting yourself is fine too. I used Cabinet Coat and Advanced paint and painted my oak cabinets a couple of years ago. I have touched up two small chips. That's about it. I wouldn't hesitate to paint my own cabinets if I knew I had the time and it saved me a bunch of $$$.

You could order one cabinet door and paint just one door and see how it turns out. Remember, painting is a process. I don't know why, but I did two coats of primer using Cabinet coat, then I did two coats of BM's Advanced paint - four coats total. Plus I took off the doors and sanded them. It was a lot of work and took me a couple months because I painted after work and on the weekends.

I bought a sprayer but was afraid to use it LOL.. it was a cheap one anyway.. I would totally buy a sample door unfinished and trying painting it yourself.

Don't skimp on the paint either. BM's products level beautifully and I highly recommend them.

Painting them yourself will be a lot of work. A lot. And seeing as it is your first go at this, the results may not be as great as the posters above would get. Personally, considering the relatively small cost difference (esp after you factor in the cost of fancy paint - advance cost me $50/gal if I remember correctly- and a sprayer).... I think it is worth it to buy them fwctory- painted. Cab painting is a skill set i wouldnt be comfortable developing for the first time on a brand new kitchen. Id dtart with a bathroom vanity or low-budget update instead.

Also, Cabinrt joint will send you a can of touch up paint and I am sure barker will have something similar available. We have Conestoga doors and advance-painted boxes (b/c I was reusing old cabs) and the Conestoga finish is much, much nicer. Much more durable.

I agree with what is stated above (elizardbethday). Once you buy all the expensive/quality paint & brushes etc, and then figure in all the TIME and hassle, it's probably easier to just pay a little more and have the factory paint them. I also painted my bathroom vanity prior to attempting to paint my kitchen cabinets so I had an idea of what to expect.

For someone like me, I'm in a cookie cutter neighborhood and houses are selling for 250k-300k, I would consider painting new cabinets if it saved me thousands because my situation doesn't require top of the line IMO. Plus the average buyer in my neighborhood probably wouldn't even notice (but I also think I would do a pretty good job painting, not as good as the factory, but good enough for the kitchen to look fine afterwards).

I think it comes down to your personal situation and expectations.

Lots of previous threads on this topic. Here is one. You can search and find more.

I worked up my Barker quote and it was around 10,000 painted, but dropped to 6,300 unpainted. For my budget this a huge difference. The price difference between painted and unpainted is significantly more when you choose glass door cabinets because the inside has to be painted also, and I really, really want glass doors on some of my uppers.

I actually have painted cabinets before, just not good cabinets :-) About 5 years ago I gave my builder-grade "oak" cabinets a cheap facelift by painting them. The bar would definitely be higher for new cabinets.

Painting them yourself is a money saver. I ordered cabs from cabinet joint on the many recomendations here .be prepared to sand each and every piece. It might not have been necessary, but some pieces had a rough edges ( esp. The sides with the grooves )there is a lot of work if you want a smooth and professional finish. I also went back and forth regarding factory finish vs. diy paint. I chose to do diy. The paint will always be available for touchups and the pricedifference. I am retired but have 1 child at home . So I do have the time to devote to painting.

Space was an issue though. I ended up using most of the 2 car garage as my assembly space but did my spray painting outside on non-windy days. I ordered a sprayer from amazon called a critter. Small and easy to clean. Uses a compressor.

Still need to paint doors. But rain is expected today so that will have to wait again.

Lets just figure $3000 savings (we'll assume the paint and materials are expensive) - That's a lot of savings in my opinion and if you painted oak cabinets before then you should have an idea of what to expect.

I currently have builder grade oak. I had to sand them down and give them 4 coats of primer/paint. I would think unfinished cabinets would be easier to paint because they come unfinished/ready to paint (?) maybe I'm missing something.

"For my budget this a huge difference" - I would think about it some more, gather some more opinions and then decide. It sounds like you may be painting soon :) With $6300 invested, I'm sure you would do a good job painting. How did the oak cabinets turn out that you painted?

I only painted mine because I hated the orange color, but I told myself a while back that I would paint new cabinets someday if it saved me money. So I can totally see where you're coming from.

If 3K is the difference between getting a professionally done result and a not so great DIY one, and the money alone is enough to sway you to that poorer quality less durable result, then your budget is insufficient for your project at this time. Cabinets are the largest component in a kitchen redo, and you need to purchase the best quality that you can afford. Even if that means waiting to do the project when you have more funds.

Read the KCMA Testing Proceedures paying special attention to the ones regarding the finish durability. Then, replicate those tests on your sample that you finish. See what results you can really achieve without choosing professional grade products.

it seems that the biggest cost savings is by barker not painting the inside of the glass-front cabinets. Is that right?

If so, I'd price out painting *just the inside of those cabs* myself; and the rest in factory-paint. (Benjamin Moore can color-match their advance paint to the factory color on the outside of the cabs/doors. It may not be exact, but it'll be close enough.)

Depending on how Barker/whoever finishes the inside of those cabs... yes, you may end up needing to sand their insides before you apply the paint. But they'll be shipping to you flat, right? So that would be no big deal. And even if you're sanding after they're assembled, I still think it'd be not a huge deal... certainly not as intense as painting allllll the boxes and alllll the fronts. If you use glass shelves in those cabs, the only place your glasses/plates/etc. would have regular contact with the DIY painted finish would be on the bottom shelf. And you could lay a piece of glass over that, if you like. So, potential for chipping would be minimized.

This would give you the durable factory finish on the most important areas (doors/drawer fronts + exterior cabinet boxes), and would limit your DIY painting to a manageable amount and less traffic-y areas. And it should result in a significant cost savings, too.

Mrsshayne, the ones that I painted turned out okay. Durability seems fine -- no scratches or peeling and they wash up good. It is a little hard to gauge my painting skills with those grainy oak cabinets. I just washed everything with mineral spirits, primed with killz, and painted two coats of paint (minimal sanding). The problem with my current cabinets is not the paint job, it's that they are falling apart and are ugly and they leave a lot of wasted space in my small kitchen.

I have more considerations that just my tight budget. We have to be mindful not to over-improve our home. Let me rephrase, we need to not over-improve more than we already have. Sophie, how much would a 100 yr old restored solid brick craftsman bungalow with 2500 sq. feet of living space, 2 baths, 5 bedrooms, a 1500 sq. foot unfinished basement, sitting on a double lot, two detached garages, original woodwork, exterior restored, and decent landscaping go for in your neighborhood? I would be hard pressed to get $125,000 for mine. Our house is by far the largest and most valuable in my neighborhood also. A 30k kitchen redo just does not make sense for us for many reasons.

I live in a home that has 100 years of wear and tear in it, and it is part of the charm. Brush marks in paint on well-built, period-appropriate cabinets doesn't really bother me.

Believe it or not, some prefer the look of hand painted cabinets over sprayed, especially in a vintage or vintage-style home. We prefer the brushed look (if it's done well), and custom cabinets are way out of our budget, not to mention having them finished. I built our entire kitchen, partially to save money, and partially because all of the cabinets came out oddball dimensions. I'm currently finishing everything in BM Advance in White Dove, and I love this paint! It does take a lot of patience and skill to get a good paint job, though. Lots of sanding, tacking, and careful brush work. You need lots of good light, too. I have 33 drawers, and varnished the insides so they look better and stay clean. Ironically, this paint is so good that it doesn't look brushed, but it doesn't have the plastic look of factory sprayed, either. So far, I've spent about $800 on my cabinets, and untold hours!

Sophie tends to tell everyone to either up their budget or lower their expectations. I have a different perspective and I don't always assume 100% that just because something isn't top of the line or $$$ that it's "cheapchinese" or won't last.. This is coming from someone who has builder grade kitchen cabinets that have lasted several years without any issues. I sure in the hell think if I replaced them with new Barker cabinets and painted them myself I would be upgrading significantly regardless of my painted finish vs the factory finish.

And after reading your personal situation, I think you are fine to paint yours.

"Brush marks in paint on well-built, period-appropriate cabinets doesn't really bother me." - couldn't have said it better.. Go with what feels right. It will be a lot of work though if you paint them yourself but I think it will make you appreciate them even more :)

We just ordered from Barker. Perimeter cabinetry was ordered prefinished in Dover White and island cabinets I ordered unfinished so that we can paint ourselves another color. We also ordered all toekick unfinished and we will purchase/build/paint the crown molding ourselves. We are saving quite a bit doing that. Barker told me to take one of their prefinished pieces we get and take that to the paint store to match instead of using the store's paint #. If your budget is larger than ours, perhaps doing something similar will offset the cost of having some upper cabinets with glass prepainted (glass is not provided) .

The more I think about it, the more I'm in camp brush strokes. Because, you know what? The most optimal scenario imaginable would be if I still had the original 1913 cabinetry for the home. I might change it up and refinish it, but I would for sure be keeping it and loving it. We have one piece of it handed down from owner to owner that we currently use as a dining room buffet. I admit to trolling craigslist occasionally in the unlikely hope of finding someone who's gutting original 1910's cabinetry out of an old house. I would snatch that right up and do whatever retrofitting necessary to make it work.