Cabinet Refacing, Refinishing & Painting in Gold Coast

Cabinet specialists who understand a Gold Coast kitchen

The Gold Coast is one of Chicago's most storied neighborhoods, a stretch of lakefront just north of downtown lined with historic mansions and luxury towers. Cabinet painting, refacing, and refinishing are what we specialize in, not a service tacked onto general contracting, and that specialty is exactly what a Gold Coast kitchen calls for. The neighborhood rose after the Great Chicago Fire, when Potter Palmer and the families who followed built grand homes along the new Lake Shore Drive, and it has been one of the city's most prestigious addresses ever since. About half of our work is in condos and city buildings, and the design-forward homes here are some of our favorite kitchens to bring back to life.

The homes in the Gold Coast

The Gold Coast really holds two kinds of homes. There are the historic greystones, rowhouses, and mansions on landmark streets like Astor, many dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s, and there are the vintage co-ops and luxury high-rise condos that line the lake. Kitchens here run the full range, from grand, formal spaces in a historic home to compact but high-end kitchens tucked into a tower, and both deserve a finish worthy of the address.

Matching the color to the architecture

In a neighborhood this design-minded, the cabinetry is often the showcase. Some Gold Coast kitchens call for a crisp, elegant white in a classic Shaker, while others are the perfect place for something bold, a deep, dramatic tone or a two-tone look that turns the kitchen into a statement, and a clean Flat Panel suits the more modern towers. In a historic home, keeping a stained island or a run of real wood honors the period detail the house was built with. A designer consultation comes with every sizable project. Together you land on a cabinet color that works with your floors, your trim, your light, and the age of the home.

Condo and historic-home kitchens, and the quirks we plan for

Both kinds of homes come with their own considerations. In the towers, the builder-grade cabinetry is often reaching the age where finishes dull and the style dates, while the historic homes carry a century of settling, painted-over hardware, and layers of old finish. In most cases the boxes are still solid and well built, which makes them strong candidates for refacing, refinishing, or a fresh painted finish rather than a full gut. Because so many of these kitchens sit in shared buildings, containment matters more than anywhere: we seal the kitchen off under negative pressure so dust and fumes vent outside rather than drifting into a hallway or a neighbor's unit. All of it gets noted at the first walkthrough, so nothing catches you or your building off guard mid-project.

Working in the Gold Coast's high-rises and historic buildings

Nearly every Gold Coast job takes real coordination, and that is handled as part of the work: certificates of insurance for building management, reserving the freight elevator, working within building hours, and protecting lobbies, corridors, and common areas as we come and go. The Gold Coast is a short run north from the Fulton shop in Pilsen, so we are close by and easy to schedule. Expectations get set from the very beginning, and from the first coat to the last, the only job is to meet them and exceed them.